YORKTON, Sask. — Filmmakers across Canada are being invited to submit their work for the 2027 Yorkton Film Festival as the organization prepares to mark a major milestone.
The festival, recognized as North America's longest-running film festival, has opened its call for submissions ahead of its 80th anniversary celebration, scheduled for May 26 to 30, 2027.
Yorkton Film Festival executive director Randy Goulden said the annual call for entries is one of the most exciting times of the year for festival organizers as they begin searching for the next group of Golden Sheaf Award winners.
Submissions are being accepted until Jan. 31, 2027, with filmmakers able to enter works in 26 categories, including the festival's main competition categories as well as craft, technical and special awards.
Goulden said the festival continually reviews its categories to ensure they reflect developments and trends within the film and television industry.
Festival organizers are once again hoping to attract about 300 entries from across the country. Goulden said those submissions help build audiences nationwide through the festival's screening and judging process.
One area organizers are particularly hoping to grow is feature films.
"We'd like to see more entries in that category," Goulden said.
Feature films, defined as productions longer than 60 minutes, were added to the competition two years ago. Historically, the Yorkton Film Festival focused primarily on short films, which run less than an hour.
As more Canadian filmmakers have shifted toward longer-form productions, Goulden said the festival expanded its scope to better reflect the industry and has been encouraged by the response so far.
The 2027 festival also provides an opportunity to celebrate a unique piece of Yorkton's history.
Founded in 1947, the Yorkton Film Festival is older than nearly every film festival in the world. Goulden said only the Cannes Film Festival in France predates Yorkton's event, and only by a matter of weeks.
"As we celebrate 80 years, we can say we're the longest-running film festival in North America," he said.
Early-bird submission rates are available until Dec. 16, 2026, which is also the deadline for student entries.
More information, including category descriptions, rules and submission guidelines, is available at the festival's website.
