The 2014 DCISFF’s first slate of short films took place at 7 p.m. in KIAC’s Oddfellows’ Ballroom, and played to a packed house. Titled Yukon and Beyond, nine of the 11 films in the line-up came from Yukon filmmakers, including several local Dawsonites. In fact, in making the introductions, festival producer Dan Sokolowsky pointed out that there was someone in the audience representing each and every one of the films.
Yukon Minister of Tourism and Culture Mike Nixon (who’s son Kyle, by the way, is showing a film in tomorrow’s Yukon Youth screening) gave some official greetings and acknowledgements, and then the audience was treated to a cinematic smorgasbord of shorts.
The offerings were eclectic, but all engaging. They included Cent-Free Nation Meg Walker’s tribute to the now-defunct Canadian penny, Wedding on Mussel Island, a poignant family memoir by Lulu Keating, Kerry Barber’s Pieces, an edgy experimental piece, the imagery-ridden animated Self Portrait with Migraine by Kathryn Hepburn, and the whimsical Drifting Home by Karen McKay (who also manages the festival’s front of house operation).
Look for more great Yukon-generated content throughout the rest of the festival.
— Dan Dowhal