A Calgary writer and director is shooting his first feature-length film in Calgary this week.
Titled 'Events Transpiring Before, During, and After a High School Basketball Game', it's a comedy about a sad sack high school basketball team in the late 1990s.
Writer\Director Ted Stenson says the script is largely autobiographical. "I played high school sports, high school basketball, and I actually went to Queen Elizabeth where this is being filmed,” he said. “I have always been interested in telling a sports story that shows the other side of sports, sort of the mundane reality I guess for the majority of people that play sports.”
The script attracted Andrew Phung, who plays the part of a teacher at the school.
The star of Kim’s Convenience says a big part of the draw was being able to work in his home town, where he cut his acting chops at Calgary’s Loose Moose Theatre.
“I love their idea that I get to play something a little different,” Phung says. ”But more so that I get to come to Calgary and work wth a Calgary crew and Calgary performers, some of which I taught when they were in high school, and some of them are still in high school. I taught them improv and to do it here means so much to me.”
The micro-budget film is funded through a grant from Telefilm Canada.
Stenson is the only director chosen in Alberta to receive the money through Telefilm’s 'Talent to Watch' program.
