ISO: Tall Cans, Tokens & Compassion is an independently-produced documentary about the 'sharing economy' startup Bunz Trading Zone, an online bartering community that has grown to nearly 100,000 members around the world. Founder Emily Frances and her hardworking team look to monetize the service, which could potentially jeopardize the community's entire dynamic and future. Since Bunz operates under a strict no-exchange-of-money model, the team will have to devise an effective strategy that won't alienate its loyal members. After all, just one misstep could cause the entire community to implode before it ever gets a chance to become the next big sharing economy success.
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The Filmmakers:
Justin Lee, Producer/Director/Writer (http://www.thisbrokenmixtape.com)
Larissa Primeau, Producer/Director of Photography (http://www.frameworkcreativecontent.com)
Eric Allin, Editor/Motion Graphics
Mark Matusoff, Sound Mixer

For sixteen years, the Regent Park School Of Music has given disadvantaged kids access to world-class music education. Changing Keys sees them face their biggest change as the neighbourhood around them is caught in a dramatic upheaval.

Regent Park is Toronto’s poorest community and has long been associated with gangs and crime. Ten years ago, Toronto Community Housing and Daniels Corporation undertook a massive project to replace the subsidized housing and build new condos to create a gentrified, mixed-income community.

But a different story is told by the students and staff of the Regent Park School of Music - itself moving into a new facility. They see Regent Park as a tight-knit community now facing an irreparable change.

Nothing is black and white as the school tries to find its new place. Old clashes with new, poor with rich, nostalgia with potential. But through it all, the belief that music can heal wounds and bring people together shines through. The Regent Park School Of Music could be the light that guides the new Regent Park forward

Dr. Ken Kawashima, aka Sugar Brown, developed his signature sound -- a visceral and sometimes dark approach to the blues -- at a handful of smokey bars in Chicago's West Side and Tokyo.

Playing with a majority of black and white musicians, the issue of race would quickly become the so-called 'elephant in the room' for Kawashima, who is of Japanese and Korean descent.

In fact, it was his own skin tone that would inspire Kawashima's longtime mentor Taildragger to bestow him with his stage name, Sugar Brown.

In Sugar Brown: The Shade of Blues, filmmaker Justin Lee explores racial issues within music. The film ultimately shows how "there's no essential race to a genre of music," and that it is merely "a fabrication".

Credits

Justin Lee, Producer/Director/Writer (http://www.thisbrokenmixtape.com)

Rishi Shankardass, Director of Photography

Larissa Primeau, Editor (http://www.frameworkcreativecontent.com)

Mark Matusoff, Sound Mixer

Our Liner Notes is a documentary that explores the catalytic role music plays in a relationship, bringing two people closer together.