Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan film premiering at the Whistler Film Festival

A Regina film will be making its debut at the Whistler Film Festival this December.

The Sabbatical was directed and co-written by a University of Regina film professor

Actors James Whittingham and Laura Abramsen co-star in The Sabbatical. (Submitted by Brian Stockton)

A Regina film will be making its debut at the Whistler Film Festival this December. 

The Sabbatical is a comedy about a photography professor who has a mid-life crisis while on his sabbatical.

It was co-written and directed by Brian Stockton, a University of Regina film professor, whose own sabbatical is quickly approaching.

Stockton and lead actor James Whittingham, along with a few others, were fascinated by the idea of a sabbatical. They wrote an outline of the script. The rest was improvised while filming.

"I've never been good at sticking to the script," said Stockton.

Stockton said his biggest challenge was making the feature on a low budget. He was able to enlist help from his own film students and recent grads. 

"It was great thing for me to be able to give some of my students perhaps their first job on a feature film. I love doing that. It was an extension of my teaching," said Stockton.