The Golden Age
The Saskatchewan Film Industry was created in 1989 by the Saskatchewan government. This allowed for films to be funded through a tax refund system called the Film Tax Credit. The next 11 years saw the industry grow from minuscule television productions to giant feature films.
History from 1989 On
I consider the Golden Age of the Saskatchewan film industry to have taken place from the first series that they worked on in 1990 until 2002 when the Soundstage was created. Over those twelve years there were roughly 240 projects done by Saskfilm, both in and outside of the country. The Golden Age was kicked off by a series of short TV dramas titled “The Great Electrical Revolution'', created by Minds Eye Pictures. This show, although short lived, was the pinnacle of Saskatchewan filmmaking at the time. Minds Eye Pictures is probably the most important Saskatchewan film company. Minds Eye was founded in 1986 and has been producing movies ever since. They are one of the few companies that survived the tax credit cuts in 2013 and are still operating all over Canada with their main office located in downtown Regina.
Gemini and other Awards
In 1992, Saskatchewan received its first real award for film. 1992’s “The Garden'' won Saskatchewan’s first Gemini Award. Director Will Dixon was nominated and won for ‘Best Director’ that year. The movie was a made-for-TV special with a 48 minute running time. In 1994 Saskfilm worked on its first out of country project in the film “Decoy”. Two years later, the action movie “Crisis” was the first feature film to be shot entirely in Saskatoon. Later in 1997 Saskatchewan brought home its second Gemini for directing with Chris Triffo’s “Dad”. After this the industry was averaging over 40 individual projects a year, more than doubling the project count in the early 90’s. This truly shows how much the industry was growing, and many were excited for even more growth after the Saskatchewan Production Studios finished construction.