Frost
As the title suggests, this short, set in the frozen tundra of desolate Canada, is filled with a chilling palette of whites, blues, and grays. More eerie, however, is the landscape. A young, female Inuit takes to the outside world, exploring and hunting an environment that is both the past and the future. From a snowy, barren outpost to a dense city that is equally cold and empty, the hunter walks the desolate world, seeking sustenance.

Written and directed by Jeremy Ball, Frost is a well-crafted and clever commentary on the way we treat our world and the cyclical nature of life, with a very interesting twist that sure is to entertain and unnerve.

Broken Heart Syndrome
Before you can even get settled into the darkly lit bedroom where a young couple is fornicating in bed, Russ is being broken up with.

A quirky, bizarre, and of course, sad look on the nature of relationships, where one side naturally sees things differently than the other, Broken Heart Syndrome makes physical the emotion responses one feels when they lose their partner. Russ is traumatized day and night, failing miserably and spectacularly as a teacher, lover, and dreamer, all while seeking medical treatment for his ever swelling and literally broken heart.

It is a universal story, based on a true one another to writer and director Dusty Mancinelli so simple, yet so charmingly and creatively told, captivating through to the dramatic finish where Russ seeks radical treatments to his chronic illness.

Asian Gangs
Lewis Bennett’s investigative documentary about gangs in Vancouver is as funny as it is charming. Impelled by an absurd comment made from his middle school teacher, warning that should Lewis not change his reckless ways, he would become part of an Asian gang, Lewis embarks on a mission to discover if he is in fact already in a gang, Asian or otherwise, and doesn’t yet know it. Often hysterical, with interviews from his mother, friends, policeman, and at last a childhood bully, Asian Gangs is some silly fun with a bit of heart and eventually some meaning.