荔枝视频

Editor's note: This article first appeared in U荔枝视频 News on Aug. 15, 2019. The film makes its Alberta premiere on Oct. 2, 2020, during the 荔枝视频 International Film Festival. The film is available online to stream until Oct. 4.  to watch the trailer or unlock the livestream on Eventive. about the film project and its appearance at other Canadian film festivals. 
 

鈥淪torytelling鈥� is a word that gets a lot of play these days, whether it鈥檚 in print, at an indie folk festival 鈥� or at a 荔枝视频 high school.

For three weeks, in the gym at Queen Elizabeth High School (a.k.a. Queen E), we found a posse of U荔枝视频 alumni doing just that 鈥� telling stories 鈥� for the film Events Transpiring Before, During and After a High School Basketball Game. 

On a bench, under a banner that transforms Queen E into fictional Middleview High School, sits superstar Andrew Phung, BA鈥�06, of Loose Moose fame and most recently the award-winning CBC series, Kim鈥檚 Convenience, looking glum as he watches a ragtag team of local high school kids try to play basketball. Directing Phung and the players is another alumnus, Ted Stenson, BA鈥�09, MFA鈥�14, who also wrote the 100-page script based on his time at this school. Alumni Nicola Waugh, BA鈥�06, and Kevin Dong, BA鈥�16, are the film鈥檚 producers.

鈥淚 played a lot of sports in this very gym,鈥� explains Stenson, who graduated from Queen E in 2002. 鈥淪ure, we won one city championship in volleyball, but what I most remember isn鈥檛 the winning shot or the action of the game. It鈥檚 the stuff on the sidelines, in the bleachers . . . and, oddly, what the drama students were doing at the time."

The absence of actual basketball action in this film was very intentional.

What Stenson strove to avoid while penning this script were the classic tropes behind so many sports movies, such as the underdog who comes out of nowhere to win the final match, or the star player who gets corrupted by outside authority figures. No ham-fisted, heartstring-tugging sappy stereotypes here, says the only director in Alberta to receive funding through Telefilm鈥檚 Talent to Watch program, which helped finance this production.

Phung, who just wrapped his fourth season as Kimchee on Kim鈥檚 Convenience, says, 鈥淚t was the uniquely 荔枝视频 voice of the film鈥� that brought him back to his hometown. 鈥淣ot a cowboy voice but a 荔枝视频 voice . . . one that sounds like everyday, grounded people. Plus, I was a teenager myself in the late 鈥�90s, so I felt like I was reading myself when I first saw the script.鈥�

As for his character 鈥� a middle-aged assistant coach frustrated by the head coach鈥檚 direction and the players鈥� lack of talent 鈥� Phung was searching for something different than his typical roles as Kimchee (in Kim鈥檚 Convenience) and Eddie (The Beaverton).

鈥淚 want to be sure I don鈥檛 just settle into one type of character,鈥� explains the owner of 400 pairs of sneakers.

That鈥檚 what I love so much about improv ... you get to play so many different characters. And this character certainly wasn鈥檛 my usual.

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