The Yorkton Film Festival wrapped its 79th edition in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, May 20-24, 2026, with the documentary Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man named Best of Festival at the Golden Sheaf Awards gala Saturday evening. Filmmaker Sinakson Trevor Solway of the Siksika Nation in Alberta accepted the top prize.
The 2025 documentary looks at contemporary Indigenous masculinity through intimate portraits of Blackfoot men from Siksika Nation. Solway has described the film as a search for clarity about masculinity after growing up in Siksika where those ideas were present but unclear.
Siksikakowan had already earned festival attention before Yorkton, taking home awards on the 2025 circuit. The film lists the National Film Board of Canada among its production partners, and producer Coty Savard is credited for working alongside Solway with a “kind, compassionate lens.”
The festival programme was large: 149 volunteers contributed 2,699 hours to review 300 film entries, producing 110 nominations across 27 categories. The Golden Sheaf Awards gala was held on the final Saturday evening. Regina-born filmmaker Lowell Dean’s Die Alone was among the films nominated for the Ruth Shaw Award for Best of Saskatchewan and for Best Director (Fiction).
Organisers said the event drew about 200 visiting filmmakers, with roughly 85 per cent travelling from outside Saskatchewan, and included industry sessions such as an “in conversation” with Valerie Creighton, President and CEO of the Canada Media Fund. The festival’s scale and visiting talent underscore its economic and cultural role for Yorkton as Canada’s longest-running film festival.
