Cloud Seeding

Short Film Series
Country: Canada

Another great set of short films from Canada.

Latchkey's Lament
Director: Troy Nixey

A key attempts to escape from its captor in this CGI-filled adventure/love story. Nice and unique.

Kodiak
Director: Andrew MacLeod

A story about one man's passion for road hockey, which I didn't really like.

Burgeon and Fade
Director: Audrey Cummings

An aging single mother her blossoming young daughter attend a party, whereupon the mother's insecurities come out after the daughter's beauty knocks everyone off their feet.

Four Walls
Director: Raha Shirazi

In a prison cell, three very different Iranian women await freedom or punishment. An interesting study of class difference.

Birthday Girl
Director: Erin Laing

A tie for my favourite short of this particular series, this dark comedy takes place at a girl's birthday party. The twist is that she has decided to make it a funeral, casket and all. Highly entertaining.

Smile
Director: Julia Kwan

A Chinese-Canadian family prepare to take their family portrait to send to relatives in China, bringing out various issues, not least of which is the idea of not smiling during the photo session.

No Bikini
Director: Claudia Morgado Escanilla

My other favourite from this series, this is the story of Robin, a girl who "had a sex change once" when she was seven and learning to swim. Very quirky and funny.

Q&A: This was a pretty short Q&A session, with a few of the filmmakers and actors coming up to answer questions about their films, including inspirations and budget. I found out that the director of Birthday Girl drew inspiration from a story she had read about a woman who had been mistakenly pronounced dead, and decided to stage her own funeral as a result.