Film student Rene (Jennifer Hardy) struggles to complete her thesis project in this unique tragicomedy. Harshly dismissed or ignored by everyone she shares it with, including her own professor (Adam Nayman), whose notes are less than inspiring, meek and awkward Rene is nevertheless determined to complete her movie, Spice It Up. Her passion project is a piece of straight-faced absurdity shot on GoPros in which seven female friends try to enlist in the Canadian army after they fail to graduate from high school. Jumping between the ensemble-based film-within-a-film about friendship and teamwork, and the framing story of the lonely plight of its creator, Spice It Up contrasts a portrayal of bonding with a poignant narrative of creative solitude that cleverly align in a sly satire of institutionalized Canadiana. Made by three rising directors—Lev Lewis (whose feature debut The Intestine played at VIFF 16), Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas (co-directors of Amy George and The Oxbow Cure)—Spice It Up is a tongue-in-cheek parallel odyssey about the discouraging obstacles encountered by independent filmmakers and the drive to get something done no matter what—with or without help. — Adam Cook