Ariella Pahlke

Burning Rubber is a provocative re-framing of burnouts and rural car culture - a filmmaker's search for meaning in a disregarded and often maligned form of self-expression. Based primarily in rural Nova Scotia, Burning Rubber weaves a predominantly male car culture together with artists and the curiosity of outsiders, stimulating larger questions about identity, creativity, gender, freedom, and how we decide what is valued and given meaning as art.

Michael moves in with Ariella for several months. He doesn't know anyone in town, but often arrives at home with stories of sexual adventures that happen on his way into town or back, or between errands in Halifax. As this is much the opposite of what's going on in Ariella's life at the time, she is intrigued, but also puzzled. Michael's cruising stories capture her curiosity and they often talk, but one day when he comes home she's equipped with an alter ego and a video camera.