Peg Campbell

Five women are black belts in karate, which to them is more than self-defense, it's a philosophy for life.

Nick, a high school basketball player who is fired from his after-school job at a video store when his boss is informed of his HIV status. As the information spreads, some of Nick's friends immediately reject him because they incorrectly assume that he is gay; however, some of his other friends rally around him and start to work on an educational video about HIV and homophobia, inserting the film's educational component as they interview real people living with HIV about the disease.

The women who seek help at Aurora House share a common illness: they are physically and psychologically dependent on alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs, or a combination of these. This documentary focuses on the lives of five women at various stages of their rehabilitation. In the supportive and healing atmosphere of women helping other women, they are confronting the issues and feelings they had previously drunk or drugged out of consciousness.

In this short documentary, a succession of black and white photographs provides a gritty look at juvenile prostitution and at the young people, male and female, struggling to get off the streets. Highlighting the links between being sexually abused as a child, loss of self-esteem, and turning to the streets, the film quickly dispels the images of glamor and big money usually associated with prostitution, and shows the positive efforts of child-care workers to help juvenile prostitutes find a way out.

This animated short film is an interpretation of Earle Birney's poem “Trawna Tuh Belvul by Knayjim Psifik.” Using finely crafted cut-out animation, the film retells a memorable experience of the journey from Toronto to Belleville, Ontario.