Aram Kouyoumdjian

A behind-the-scenes documentary about Jason Eisener's grindhouse exploitation film Hobo with a Shotgun.

A documentary that follows Corey Lucas, a 21-year-old African Canadian, as he tries to reconcile his urge to be a hustler with his need to be a responsible father and a supportive partner. Life in Jellybean Square, a housing project in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was a world away from the things Corey grew up wanting: a fancy car, a big house, a great job and a bright future. With a head full of dreams and empty pockets he turned to selling drugs on the street. Central to the film is the transformative power of a weekend retreat for young Black males, organized by BROS (Brothers Reaching Out Society) together with the film's director, Russell Wyse. At the heart of the film lies Wyse's conviction that despite all the odds against them young Black men can succeed if they have the will, the opportunity, and the support of a community. -NFB

Burning Rubber is a provocative re-framing of burnouts and rural car culture - a filmmaker's search for meaning in a disregarded and often maligned form of self-expression. Based primarily in rural Nova Scotia, Burning Rubber weaves a predominantly male car culture together with artists and the curiosity of outsiders, stimulating larger questions about identity, creativity, gender, freedom, and how we decide what is valued and given meaning as art.

Burning Rubber is a provocative re-framing of burnouts and rural car culture - a filmmaker's search for meaning in a disregarded and often maligned form of self-expression. Based primarily in rural Nova Scotia, Burning Rubber weaves a predominantly male car culture together with artists and the curiosity of outsiders, stimulating larger questions about identity, creativity, gender, freedom, and how we decide what is valued and given meaning as art.

Burning Rubber is a provocative re-framing of burnouts and rural car culture - a filmmaker's search for meaning in a disregarded and often maligned form of self-expression. Based primarily in rural Nova Scotia, Burning Rubber weaves a predominantly male car culture together with artists and the curiosity of outsiders, stimulating larger questions about identity, creativity, gender, freedom, and how we decide what is valued and given meaning as art.

For ancient Mayans, cocoa was as good as gold. For subsistence farmer Eladio Pop, his cocoa crops are the only riches he has to support his wife and 15 children. As he wields his machete with ease, slicing a path to his cocoa trees, the small jungle plot he cultivates in southern Belize remains pristine and wild. His dreams for his children to inherit the land and the traditions of their Mayan ancestors present a familiar challenge. The kids feel their father's philosophies don't fit into a global economy, so they're charting their own course. Rohan Fernando's direction tenderly displays a generational shift, causalities of progress in modern times and a man valiantly protecting an endangered culture. Breathtaking vistas of lush rainforests contrast with the urban dystopia that pulled Pop’s children away from him. Will one child return to carry on a waning way of life

Watchmaker is a feast for the eyes and ears, mesmerizing and hypnotizing the viewer on a visual roller-coaster ride for the senses. Set to the energetic and dynamic music of The Tom Fun Orchestra, the film is a layered collage of hand drawn, painted, scratched and exposed images.

High school is over, summer is ending, and Jake must say goodbye to his best friend Sarah but can’t. Instead, he confesses his true love and his desire to go with her. When Sarah rejects him, Jake seeks out escape by any means necessary: random sex, violence, going crazy, even buying into Charles’ deluded dream of driving to Toronto to become a stand up comic. But Jake’s real escape route leads not along the open road. It leads in the direction of a crazed dancing stranger.

High school is over, summer is ending, and Jake must say goodbye to his best friend Sarah but can’t. Instead, he confesses his true love and his desire to go with her. When Sarah rejects him, Jake seeks out escape by any means necessary: random sex, violence, going crazy, even buying into Charles’ deluded dream of driving to Toronto to become a stand up comic. But Jake’s real escape route leads not along the open road. It leads in the direction of a crazed dancing stranger.

Four Feet Up is an intimate portrayal of child poverty in Canada by award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Nance Ackerman. Twenty years after the promise of the House of Commons 'to eliminate poverty among Canadian children,' 8-year-old Isaiah contemplates what 'less fortunate' means as he finds his voice through his own magical drawings and photographs. Four Feet Up invites us into the lives of this determined family, revealing an intimate and touching experience of child poverty in one of the world's richest nations.

In this feature-length documentary, photographer Nance Ackerman describes the havoc prescription painkiller OxyContin wreaked in the already weakened Cape Breton town of Glace Bay. The film guides us through a culture of economic and social depression where we encounter men and women at different stages of dependency. Demystifying the world of the addict while showing us the complex social nexus that led to such despair, Cottonland emphasizes the importance of a collective approach to tackling addiction.