Synopsis: Resting Potential  tells a story over nine chapters of a woman named Lucy Oser, who experiences a profound change in her understanding of existence, and struggles to find someone who will believe her. The film is an inquiry into the nature of belief: How do our beliefs shape our actions?

Resting Potential (restiNG pəˈten(t)SHəl) the electrical potential of a neuron or other excitable cell relative to its surroundings when not stimulated or involved in passage of an impulse. (Oxford Languages)

Resting Potential is a feature film, structured in nine chapters designed for online release. Producer/Director Mark Wihak says, "It was exciting to have the creative opportunity Resting Potential offered to work in a new way of telling a long-form story, and to explore different paths to bring that story to audiences. We're in a post-film-festival world. While festivals still have important roles to play in bringing new work to audiences, online platforms have freed filmmakers from the traditional gatekeepers of festivals, distributors, and broadcasters, and significantly altered the way many of us watch films."

Resting Potential was shot over 12 days in August, and two days in March, with a six-person crew in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Temperatures ranged from 40 degrees on the first day of pre-production, to -37 with windchill during the March shoot.

Kaitlyn Semple and Kate Herriot, who play BFFs Lucy and Sara in Resting Potential, first crossed paths in utero and have been friends since infancy.

The role of Taylor was created for Micaele Johnson after meeting her during an open audition.

Resting Potential is an adaptation of a screenplay first written by Mark Wihak in 2002, called A Grain of Sand. Subsequent work on the story over the past 20 years led to new titles: Immanence, and then Golden, with the central character’s name shifting from Molly, to Sam, to Lucy. To adapt the much-smaller budget Resting Potential, the project moved from a 88-page screenplay with 156 scenes and 20 speaking roles to a 59-page screenplay with 121 scenes and 9 speaking roles, and from a linear film for festival release to a serialized film for online release.

Lucy Oser’s surname is a homage to Jean Oser, an influential and beloved filmmaker who taught film in Regina in the 1970s and 80s. Jean’s film career started in 1928 with an appearance in Hans Richter’s Ghosts Before Breakfast, and he went on to be the editor of several films by GW Pabst, before moving to France, and then Hollywood, where he directed the Oscar-winning short film Light InThe Window. Resting Potential director Mark Wihak took several classes from Jean.

Greg Harder writes about the film for The Leader-Post

Writer/Director Mark Wihak speaks about the film on CBC Radio - The Afternoon Edition

Raphaële Frigon writes about the film for Radio Canada

Resting Potential takes home a Saskatchewan Independent Film Award

Resting Potential Cinematographer Jeremy Ratzlaff is profiled in The Leader-Post

Resting Potential Director Mark Wihak and Sound Designer David Roman sat down to chat about the film for Roman Empire Studio’s podcast series