The 21st Century

Image courtesy of Animated Comedy Network

The 21st Century for the Saskatchewan film industry started with the grand opening of the Saskatchewan Production Studios. The building is still a historic landmark in Regina. It was originally a branch of the University of Regina called the Normal School. Normal Schools were teacher’s colleges before they became main branches of universities. The building was opened in 1913 and carried on as a Normal School until 1940 when it was taken over by the Canadian Air Force as a base during the Second World War. After the war, the building returned to being a Normal School until 1964 when teacher training moved to the University of Regina main building. It then became the temporary home of the Faculty of Education until they had their new building finished in 1969. From 1970 until 1997 it became the home of the University of Regina’s Fine Arts program. The building then closed for five years to be renovated. On September 20th, 2002 the Saskatchewan Production Studios opened its doors to 1200 filmmakers and production staff.

One of the first projects of Saskfilm in the 21st century became one of Canada’s greatest hits. “Corner Gas” began production in 2003 and was released on Canadian television in 2004. The series, written by comedian Brent Butt, saw huge success. The show ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. In 2014 “Corner Gas the Movie” premiered to a limited run in theaters. In 2018 the show spawned an animated spin off with all actors reprising their roles. To this day it is one of the most influential Canadian television series with over one million views per episode. It was nominated for over 70 Gemini Awards and won six of them. This decade also saw award winning shows such as “Little Mosque on the Prairie” which celebrated the works of Muslim writer and actor Zarqa Nawaz, and hit movies like “Escape from Iran”. Over those ten years from 2002 to 2012 Saskfilm was averaging 45 projects a year and over 450 projects overall. Saskfilm was on an upwards spiral, until 2012 and the cuts.