Local producer and screenwriter Dustan Hlady’s film Nolan: Here Nor There has been named Best Feature Film at the 2020 Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards, an accolade he is proud to have received.
“It’s great validation and it feels good to be officially welcomed into the Saskatchewan independent film family,” said Hlady, about the award win.
Nolan: Here Nor There, written by Hlady and directed by Wilfred Dieter, is a coming-of-age story of a young man growing up on a reserve that is experiencing a suicide epidemic, prompting him to move to a small town in southern Saskatchewan.
The film debuted earlier this year and is the first feature-length film that Hlady — and a large portion of the production crew — has produced.
“I wrote the script and I produced it, organized it all,” said Hlady. “And feature-length films are a lot more work than shorts, for sure, but it was an amazing experience.”
Lead actor Braden Jon King, who plays title character Nolan Harper, also received the award for Best Performance at the SIFAs, for his work in Nolan: Here Nor There.
As primarily a screenwriter, Hlady said took on a lot of extra roles to produce the film, but he feels the hard work has certainly paid off — if the industry response is any indication.
In addition to the SIFA Award, Nolan: Here Nor There has also been accepted and featured in 11 different film festivals internationally, including the Lift-Off Film Festivals in Tokyo, Toronto and Paris, Gimli Film Festival and Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival in Manitoba, American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, Native Spirit Film Festival in the UK, Reelworld Film Festival in Toronto, and the Culver City Film Festival and the Red Nation International Film Festival in Los Angeles.
“We’ve been accepted into about 60 per cent of the festivals we submitted to, which is kind of crazy,” said Hlady. “I think the first response we got back was a rejection, and I just thought, ‘I guess no one likes it.’ And then one of the festivals accepted it, and I thought, ‘OK, so maybe people are liking it.’ And then another one and another one.”
Winning at the SIFA awards is just more confirmation for Hlady, who admitted he wasn’t expecting to win in the Best Feature category against other impressive submissions like Saskatoon filmmaker Gavin Baird’s newest release, The Caring Only Cry at Night.
“When you make your own art, it's hard to know if what you’re making is good or not,” said Hlady. “(Gavin Baird) is one of my favourite Saskatchewan filmmakers and his film is a great work of art, and then when we did win, it was like, maybe we did make something really great.”
Hlady is already working on some new projects, while Nolan: Here Nor There continues to collect acclaim, including another feature-length project filmed this summer and a script collaboration with fellow local filmmaker Jeremy Ratzlaff expected to hit production this winter.
He feels as though the Saskatchewan film scene has an enormous amount to offer filmmakers, not only himself but those just dipping their toes into the industry.
“Anyone wondering about making their own films, I would say just try it,” said Hlady. “I encourage everyone to be as creative as possible and maybe you’ll get that validation, maybe you won’t but I think it’s always worth it to express yourself. Even if it feels like in Saskatchewan, filmmaking is a thing that happens in other places, it’s not. It happens here, and we really don't have any limits anymore on artistic expression.”
