Regina movie about epic floor hockey game opens at Rainbow

A Regina film director is hoping local movie fans will give his underdog story a chance when it hits the big screen at Rainbow Cinemas this Friday.

Lucas Frison made the feature-length movie Talent in Regina through a crowdfunding campaign along with a funding award from Telefilm Canada and the Talent Fund’s Micro-Budget Production Program.

“I’m super excited, it’s always a huge challenge, obviously, to get any kind of Canadian movie – let alone a Saskatchewan movie – into a theatre here,” Frison said in an interview with the 980 CJME Morning Show. “So to give people the opportunity to see it, people outside of the film community and the arts community, you know, it’s really exciting for sure.”

He admits his independent movie might be a big change for local audiences who normally only see big-budget Hollywood productions when they go to the theatre.

The comedy follows the exploits of a girl named Kaylee with a passion for hockey and floor hockey who happens to suck as a player.

“The film is kind of about her finding a different avenue to still be involved doing what she loves, so that avenue that she finds is organizing this world record attempt for the world’s longest floor hockey game to help out her school,” Frison explained.

In an interesting twist, the attempt for a world record floor hockey game is not fiction. Frison said the crew had a crazy idea to actually try for the record during the last three days of production on the film back in August 2016.

“We had 24 volunteer players that played for 62 hours straight at a high school gym here in Regina and they dedicated their August long weekend. So yeah, it was crazy and bizarre but they actually managed to set the world record so it was pretty awesome.”

Some of the footage from the floor hockey game appears in the movie. The movie features a local cast, crew and a soundtrack of all Saskatchewan music from bands like The Dead South, Rah Rah and The Sheepdogs.