Cash and Western Arctic Moving Pictures (WAMP) credit totalling $10,000 was on the line as the Yellowknife International Film Festival hosted its 2021 Pitch This! event on Nov. 26.

The winner of the $10,000 prize was Sadet艂o Scott, who pitched the idea of an animated short film titled Land of the Daylight.

鈥淭hank you, mashi cho,鈥� said Scott. 鈥淚 was not expecting to win. Now I have another thing to make, which is actually really awesome because I鈥檓 really excited about this project.鈥�

The six participants had five minutes to pitch their idea and eight minutes to go through a question-and-answer session with the three judges: Mike Gravitis, Jay Bulckaert and Jeremy MacDonald.

Ideas presented at the event, held at Elks Lodge #314, included burlesque documentaries and short films about bipolarity.

According to festival director Jeremy Emerson, the event 鈥渨ent really well,鈥� despite some nerves.

鈥淲e were concerned that we wouldn鈥檛 have that many pitches,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut, when it came down to it, we had quite a few 鈥� so much so (that) we kind of ran out of time. I鈥檓 glad that so many people got out, got to practice pitching.鈥�

Emerson noted that the other projects pitched still had potential regardless.

鈥淪ome of the projects that weren鈥檛 selected are still going to go ahead anyways,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 encouraging to hear. Now they kind of know who to contact at Northwestel if they want to further develop a project, if they want to start a conversation about that. It just goes to show that there鈥檚 a lot of talent in this town, and people are being creative, keeping busy even though the pandemic is happening.鈥�

On top of the Pitch This! event, there was also a table read that took place afterwards, where three scripts were submitted to be read by 快盈v3 performers.

鈥�(It went) even better than I expected,鈥� said Emerson. 鈥淧eople got chills.鈥�