Sarah Abbott was born in Montreal, Quebec and grew up in both Hudson, Quebec and Calgary, Alberta. She holds a BA, Hon. in Film Studies and Drama from Queen’s University and earned her MFA in Art Video from Syracuse University on a three-year fellowship. Her work ranges from personal expressions to producing and directing a cast and crew. Her subject matter engages the experience of being, memory, the body, sexuality, human rights and the environment. She works in a variety of genres and mediums, with an aim to push boundaries of expression and stimulate viewer involvement.

Sarah’s film and video work has received numerous grants, awards and international festival selections, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. She received the Mayor’s Award for Innovation in the Arts for producing Out In The Cold, a half-hour narrative film inspired by the “starlight tour,” the non-sanctioned police practice of taking individuals, mainly First Nations men, to the edge of town and abandoning them, often in freezing weather. The film featured her third-year film production students working alongside industry professionals and emerging filmmakers. The award recognized the film’s connection to “a wide range of community sectors through the educational process, community outreach and social awareness.”

Between degrees, Sarah taught English in Kyoto, Japan, tended sheep in southern France, interned at The Human Rights Media Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, and freelanced in various capacities in Toronto's film and video community. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Santa Fe Art Institute and the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture in Dawson City, Yukon.

Sarah currently teaches as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Production and Studies at the University of Regina. She is the founding member of mispon – A Celebration of Indigenous Filmmaking, Regina’s non-profit film festival and advocacy collective.

Sarah’s other film and video work is distributed through the CFMDC in Toronto, Moving Images Distribution in Vancouver and Light Cone in Paris.

Artist Code: 333