Somewhere in Manila, a crime boss rules with an iron fist. He uses religion and violence to stay in power. What superstition and razzle-dazzle can’t accomplish, his goons can. To his most loyal henchman he assigns the task of guarding his woman, who is headstrong and impulsive, and often gets into trouble. Before long, she falls in love with the henchman, and the star-crossed lovers decide to leave town. Fighting ensues. It is while on the run that they finally get to know each other for the first time…

Described by Khavn as a “punk noir opera,” the story of Ruined Heart is told almost entirely through its music, and the stunningly lyrical visual imagery of master cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In The Mood For Love, Hero). Starting with a minimalistic theme composed by the director himself, the soundtrack was created by a host of musicians who interrupted and remixed it in styles ranging from folk and soul to drone, punk and pop. Like a great blues song, the form of Ruined Heart may be familiar, but the emotional resonance, the poetry, is found in the way it is played.

Preceded by:

Echoes Jaimz Asmundson —

6 min., Video, 2014, Canada

“Structured around the recollection of a premonitory dream, fragmented memories from the period leading up to the death of the filmmaker’s mother were projected on to natural textures and surfaces, re-photographed, composited and processed until the memories became abstracted representations of the evolution, degradation and disintegration of memory and the physical self.†– Jaimz Asmundson