Your Cinema Needs You: RIFFA Nomination

This feels like a full-circle moment. 

Last week the official selections for the 2024 Regina International Film Festival & Awards in Regina, Saskatchewan were announced and there was something particularly special in seeing the notifications about Your Cinema Needs You popping up in my inbox this time.

 

Since February 2024, the feature-length documentary about Canada's oldest, surviving, purpose-built movie theatre has been selected and screened at over 20 international film festivals in 11 countries. In what will likely be one of the last festivals of this tour at the end of August, the reason this selection hits differently is because not so long ago I was an ambitious, but clueless film student at the University of Regina. In fact, I launched "Editing Luke" while living in the dorms on campus at College West. 

If that bit of poetry and nostalgia isn't enough though, it also doesn't hurt that Your Cinema Needs You has picked up a nomination in the Best Documentary (Canadian long form) category at this year's festival - not that I needed much of an excuse for a reunion, but it's a great reason to celebrate all the same! I'd also like to shout out all of my film profs - "See? I wasn't sleeping in class, I was brainstorming for future moments like this!"

Autumn in Wascana Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan

A few visuals from around Wascana Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan.

 

A Travel Photographer on the Canadian Prairies

Over the last 6 weeks I've found myself scouring the Canadian prairies in an effort to make up for some of the lost opportunities over the last year and a half. While some of this was planned, the majority of these shoots snowballed as a result of the extended warm weather, overdue visits, and frankly, because I just seemed to be on a roll. This autumn has seen new travel shoots across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, with features in Winnipeg, Brandon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Calgary, Lethbridge, and of course, Medicine Hat.

Many of these shoots will continue to be added to the Hey, Canada series as they're completed, but below is a collage of some of the random snapshots from the last few weeks.

Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina, Saskatchewan

A few visuals from inside the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina, Saskatchewan.

 

Roadside Prairie Views in Saskatchewan

A few prairie snapshots captured from the roadside across Saskatchewan.