HIGHLIGHTS, WINNERS & VIDEOS: June 2021 Female FEEDBACK Film Festival

Showcase of the winner FEATURE FILM from 2021.

YANKEE, 87min., Canada, Drama
Directed by Stéphan Beaudoin

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

Skylar, a poverty-stricken American girl, is illegally hiding in Canada following a family tragedy in her hometown near Albany, in upstate New York.

Taken in by her French-speaking cousin Kev, a small drug dealer living in the Quebec city of Drummondville, Skylar now finds herself indebted towards him. Having to survive, she is extremely limited in her options.

Wanting to avoid prostitution, Skylar surrenders to pressure from Kev to participate in illicit fights. Although she possesses certain aptitudes for combat, she fails miserably on her first attempt.

Seeing an opportunity to turn Skylar’s skills into a possibility for quick cash, Kev seeks a “coach” to improve his cousin’s natural fighting skills. He approaches one of his clients, Chuck, a renowned ex-fighter, with an offer : in return for Skylar’s training, and only if it results in a victory, Kev will rid Chuck of a considerable drug debt.

Still psychologically affected by a fight gone awry, Chuck is reluctant, but eventually agrees to train Skylar. This particular trio, longing for self-esteem and perverted in their intimate relationships, will now have one common goal: to win the next fight. The more they prepare for it, the more they will all get bogged down in their own personal battles.
As Skylar and Chuck get closer, Kev’s enduring sentiments for his cousin come to light, jeopardizing their fragile plan.

Yankee sheds an under light to violence, revealing the story of a girl trapped in the vicious cycle of aggression and who, in by trying to escape, gets trapped into its spiral.

By femalefilmfestival

The irony of this festival is that its goal is to not be around in 5 years time. To eventually not be relevant because there is zero need to have a festival geared for female talent and female stories because the stories presented in Hollywood and around the world are a balanced showcase of the human experience from both sexes. Our goal is to achieve a lot of success and then fold into oblivion simply because there is no need for this festival. This festival was created by the FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival as a simple reaction to a strong need to showcase female talent from around the world in a more profound way. When putting together the weekly festival, the administration noticed a lack of a female presence in the stories being shown at the festival. A classic example and analogy to the frustration is how the festival noticed that even the smaller roles in a screenplay were written for a man to play. There was zero reason for this in many stories. How a police officer, or a political campaign manager, for example with 3-4 lines in a screenplay was a "HE" character. Why? And these are the screenplays written by the winners! The talented one who have obtained agents and have began/beginning their careers as a writer.

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