Telling stories through film and conversation.
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WILDsound's The Film Podcast

In each episode, the C.E.O. of WILDsound, Matthew Toffolo, chats about all things storytelling and film. Conversations with talented individual from all around the world.

Posts in Experimental
March 6, 2023 - Filmmaker Elizabeth Lewis (AUTUMN LEAVES)

AUTUMN LEAVES, 4min., Canada, Drama Animation
Directed by Elizabeth Lewis
Autumn brings bitter sweet memories. A woman, missing her husband, struggles to control the leaves and her emotions in this fully animated hilarious take on the classic song.

Get to know the filmmaker;
My brother sent me a modern version of the song and rather than take it as a purely sentimental ballad , all I could think of was how annoying it is to have to take up all those leaves . I chose the Pat Boone version to reflect the old fashioned sentimentality.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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March 2, 2023 - Filmmakers Syarisa Yasin, Claudia Dickson, Samantha Oo (EGG DAY)

EGG DAY, 3min., Australia, Experimental
Directed by Syarisa Yasin, Claudia Dickson, Samantha Oo
A surrealist film in the style of female vaporwave, “Egg Day” explores the complex facets of femininity through scenes that allude to female reproduction. A recurring motif reflects the birth of a powerful warrior from Hindu scripture, Karna, who was born from his mother’s ear. The film’s style takes inspiration from artists such as Maisie Cousins, Petra Collins, and Pipilotti Rist.

Get to know Syarisa Yasin:

We made this film for our final assessment for an experimental film class at university. We first discussed a visual interest in orbies, fruits, eggs, and fibrous/round/soft textured images in general and wanted to layer images of these things—this led to a discussion on our personal connections to womanhood when we realized what their shapes could represent, and added hard and foreign-looking plastic babies into the mix. We had a desire to create a surrealist/mythic environment that expressed our anxieties surrounding femininity and the impact that complex social expectations have on women physically and emotionally.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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March 1, 2023 - Filmmaker Julianne Martin (THE SPACE BETWEEN US)

THE SPACE BETWEEN US, 3min., USA, Comedy Animation
Directed by Julianne Martin
A lonely spaceman’s desperate desire for company seems bound to come true when a mysterious ship arrives at his space station.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I originally wrote and boarded this project in September-November of 2020 as a way to cope with my own emotional distress during the Covid-19 lockdown. We were over half a year into quarantine, and I kept feeling as though I was remote from everyone and living on the moon. I also felt really unmoored by such prolonged isolation and fear, and was very weary of only connecting with broader society through screens. The era also felt really tumultuous and dangerous– the news was full of people protesting mask mandates, there was palpable tension and dread in the air leading up to the US 2020 election, and it felt like society was really fraying at the seams. This project really helped me process conflicting feelings of wanting to be with other people again while also feeling very scared, angry and threatened.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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February 21, 2023 - FOREVER BOUND film team (Rob Bell, Elisa Messi, Flavio Carlotti)

FOREVER BOUND, 7min., Italian, Fashion
Directed by Rob Bell
For Forever Bound, we wanted to explore the theme of fate’s adversarial role in a relationship, how destiny, if you believe in such a thing, plays an important role in how our lives turn out. It’s an exciting challenge solving the puzzle of how we are able to communicate such a personal, and yet universally experienced, stage in life. Our aim is that through both action and costume we will be able to artistically portray the inception of a separating thought, consequent tensions, and ultimately the final relief and acceptance of such a painful truth.

https://www.instagram.com/1190productions/

Conversation with

Director Rob Bell.

Writer/Producer Elisa Messi.

Composer/Producer: Flavio Carlotti


From Elisa Messi:

During the pandemic, the desire to take a different professional direction was born. After much reflection, we started to combine the best of our professional experiences to create something that could represent and satisfy us. The desire to be able to express a message through fashion and music, using video as a medium, fascinated us right from the start. Thus was born the idea of telling a story that spoke on several levels. Expressing emotions through clothes and jewellery, defining emotions through colours. Thinking of music as a fourth character on stage, capable of guiding and suggesting through sounds despite the insubstantiality of the body. This fascinated us so much that we created Forever Bound.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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February 1, 2023 - Filmmaker Alex Sjobeck (SILHOUETTE)

SILHOUETTE, 9min., USA, Dance
Directed by Alex Sjobeck, Rulon Wood, Marla Hansen
Silhouette is short dance film portraying the ubiquitous theme that members of society have to masquerade in order to blend in, anxiously minimizing aspects of their own identity in order to avoid judgment.

Get to know filmmaker Alex Sjobeck:
I composed the piece “Silhouette” prior to the creation of the film. It was a composition with such a deep meaning that I had to find a way to portray the theme through multimedia. Jazz and dance have a long history of being associated together, more in the past than in modern times. I wanted to help bring this relationship to modern times and believed this would also be the perfect way to portray the meaning of the composition in a new, more apparent way. I was very happy that dance choreographer Marla Hansen and cinematographer Rulon Wood were willing and passionate about taking on this project together.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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January 27, 2023 - Filmmaker Margot Piorkowski (MARCYLINE – THE CLEARING MUSIC VIDEO)

MARCYLINE – THE CLEARING MUSIC VIDEO, 4min., USA, Music
Directed by Margot Piorkowski
In this experimental music video for Marcyline’s debut single, moody visuals contrast the dark lyricism, portraying the fear of a dark presence following him.

https://www.margotpiorkowski.com/work/films

Get to know the filmmaker:
– I’ve always loved the fun process of making music videos, and the wonderful worlds you can create through music. Therefore when Chris Paraggio (aka Marcyline) came up with his new song The Clearing, I thought it’d be a very interesting film to create through his dark and experimental lyricism.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

January 1, 2023 - Filmmaker Brian Bowers (REVERIE)

REVERIE, 9min., USA, Dance
Directed by Brian Bowers
The past can be an unreliable narrator, and the future is simply a shifting reflection of where we are right now. Driven by choreographed movement, original music and sound, REVERIE is an experimental visual narrative that seeks to question and explore. An ensemble dance casts guides us through the delicately narrated introspective, inner dialogue that an emerging artist is having with time itself. Is it true, what they say, that life is but a dream?

http://reverie.nabircreative.co/
https://www.facebook.com/nabircreative
https://www.instagram.com/nabircreative

From Brian Bowers:

Without sounding too cliché, it was like a dream state. I didn’t really set out on pursuing this as my first film project, so it was an accident. I was in the middle of developing a production kit for a film based on classical animation, and it became just a massive undertaking. I shelved the project. And by the end of that week, the idea came to me. What it started off as, and what it turned into, are very different.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

December 26, 2022 - Filmmaker Antti Suniala (WALLS BENEATH OUR FEET)

WALLS BENEATH OUR FEET, 5min., Finland, Experimental
Directed by Antti Suniala
Circus short film exploring urban life from unexpected angles. Inspired by the Pasila Street Art District in Helsinki. Collaboration between Race Horse Company, music producer RRKK and the Helsinki Urban Art.

https://www.racehorsecompany.fi/shows/walls-beneath-our-feet
https://www.facebook.com/RaceHorseCompany
https://instagram.com/racehorsecompany

From filmmaker Antti Suniala:

I think beneath it all the main motivation was the beauty of circus and how circus skills can be used to express something out of the ordinary. I have been inspired by certain theater shows that included circus artists and while they didn’t perform circus in it’s traditional or even contemporary sense, they still had that quality of physicality where you could tell yeah only a circus artist could do this. I guess I wanted to approach that same area and also create something that could fit some of the amazing world of dance films without it being circus artists trying to actually dance. I mainly work in management and non-artistic production for our contemporary circus group Race Horse Company, but this was a production where I was the artistic director and looked for ways to expand our creative force into film, while still remaining true to our common vision.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

October 28, 2022 - Filmmaker Monica Nicolaides (ONE SHILLING)

ONE SHILLING, 6min., UK, Dance
Directed by Monica Nicolaides
One Shilling. A contemporary dance film where four strangers from different backgrounds escape everyday life for one night, drinking and dancing in one of London’s underground bars during the Blitz.

Director Statement

'One Shilling' is a short dance film, inspired by true encounters of people in WWII; where 4 strangers from different backgrounds came together to enjoy a night out, in one of the underground places in London during the Blitz. At a time of constant danger, where under-represented communities and being different was not welcomed by society. One shilling gave access to underground safe havens, where strangers escaped everyday life, social conformity and daily bombings; and became friends.

‘One Shilling’ celebrates the formation of community and unity, by embracing ones individuality. When the community does not look at class, race or sexuality. Everyone comes together to celebrate being alive; to forget the danger and casualties surrounding them in their everyday lives. At this bar, we see the temporary deconstruction of social class, race and sexuality for one night only. It is a story of the places where people from all walks of life find refuge, and a community that welcomes their differences even for a moment in time.

Playing on the Film Festival Streaming service later this month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

September 5, 2022 - Filmmaker John Vollmer (JOY! BLUE MOON)

JOY! BLUE MOON is an animation music video based on the legendary song “Blue Moon” by The Marcels.

Read blog interview with director: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/joy-blue-moon

Film playing on the Film Festival Streaming service later this month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

August 5, 2022 - Filmmakers John Jota Leaños, Vanessa Sanchez (GHOSTLY LABOR: A DANCE FILM)

GHOSTLY LABOR: A DANCE FILM was the winner of BEST FILM at the WILDsound Film Festival.

“Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film” explores the history of labor in the US–Mexico borderlands through Tap Dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro Caribbean movement, and live music. This work brings together polyrhythmic movement and an original score to look at the (ongoing) years of systemic exploitation of labor while highlighting the power and joy of collective resistance.

Based on farmworker interviews in California, this excerpt honors the sacred hands that feed us and was filmed on a farm with support from Ayudando Latinos a Soñar (ALAS), a non-profit advocacy organization for farmworkers in Half Moon Bay, CA. A full-length dance theater production of Ghostly Labor will premiere in 2023.

Project Links

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

July 16, 2022 - Filmmaker Jamie Weston (TERMINUS)

TERMINUS was the winner of BEST FILM at the May 2022 SCIENCE & NATURE Film Festival.

http://www.jamiewestonfilms.com/

“The four elements earth, air, fire and water, meet together in an ancient forest to celebrate midsummer. Their lives change forever as they are polluted by the new world around them.”

Conversation with director Jamie Weston on executing this experimental short film.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

July 8, 2022 - Director Elisa Lacicerchia & Sound Designer Giovanni Bortoletto (A WINDOW THAT BREATHES THE CITY)

A WINDOW THAT BREATHES THE CITY was the winner of BEST SOUND & MUSIC at the May 2022 Science & Nature Film Festival.

"Soul eager for life
Fear not to leave your four walls of illusions
Breathe!"

Conversation with the main filmmaking team of the film on the creative process designing the movie.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

June 20, 2022 - Filmmaker Jean-Marc Abela (ELIXIR)

ELIXIR was the winner of BEST PERFORMANCES at the May 2022 EXPERIMENTAL Film Festival.

“After the recent break up of a longterm relationship, Maeve must move through nostalgia and pain to find herself again.”

Conversation with Montreal filmmaker on the collaborative process making this film with choreographer/performer Elie-Anne Ross.

Go to the WILDsound TV app. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.


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June 11, 2022 - Filmmaker Kevin Andrew Heslop (THINGS SHE WANTS)

THINGS SHE WANTS was the winner of BEST SOUND & MUSIC at the May 2022 EXPERIMENTAL Film Festival.

http://www.kevinandrewheslop.com/film

“An interpretation of the prose poem by Paola Ferrante which explodes marriage and explores the lived experience of intimate partner violence.”

Conversation with London, Ontario filmmaker Kevin Andrew Heslop on the making of the film.

Film also showing on the WILDsound TV app next month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.


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June 7, 2022 - Dancer/Director Katharine Larson (INTROSPECTION)

INTROSPECTION was the winner of BEST FILM at the May 2022 EXPERIMENTAL/DANCE Film Festival.

Project Links

“INTROSPECTION is a short dance film independently produced, choreographed, directed and performed by Katharine Larson. Choreography for this project was inspired by exploring the failures and successes of relationships. People will come and go, some stay longer, some may just pass by.”

Conversation with Katharine on the making of her first film and the process from development to distribution.

Film also showing on the WILDsound TV app next month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.


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April 30, 2022 - Filmmaker Emily Penick (THE CORONATION)

THE CORONATION was the winner of BEST EXPERIMENTAL Film at the April 2022 DANCE/EXPERIMENTAL Film Festival.

Project Links

“In this wordless, experimental film, a powerful goddess meets her match.”

Conversation with filmmaker Emily Penick on the collaborative story on the making of the film.

Film also showing on the WILDsound TV app. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.


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April 20, 2022 - Director Wen-Chun Cheng & Creator Hsu-Jen Huang (BEYOND THE RIVER)

BEYOND THE RIVER is an amazing experimental film made at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Conversation with the creators of the film Wen-Chun Cheng & Hsu-Jen Huang on the process making this film and designing all of the umbrellas.

Film also showing on the WILDsound TV app next month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.


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April 4th 2022 - Filmmaker Joan Dwiartanto (CRYING ON THE ISLAND THEY OWN)

CRYING ON THE ISLAND THEY OWN was the winner of BEST FILM at the March 2022 Dance Film Festival.


”Stuck in a bubble, these wealthy patrons know nothing else but this tension.”

Joan Dwiartanto is in her fourth and final year as a Dance major at The Juilliard School. She has taken a keen interest in Dance filmmaking and wishes to continue creating movement for film. Other than creating her own short films, Joan has worked closely with principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre James Whiteside in creating his own Ballet film Marilyn’s Funeral in 2021. And she has worked on a film as a co-dircector alongside director Maggie Scranton representing Juilliard in the Park Avenue Armory’s virtual film event 100 Years | 100 women.

Film also playing at the WILDsound TV app next month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.


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March 2, 2022 - Musician/Filmmakers Filmmakers Stella Cole & Emma Scotson (FINE)

FINE was the winner of Best Performances at the February 2022 EXPERIMENTAL Film Festival.


https://www.stellaxemma.com/

FINE, the Official Music Video - Sometimes no is enough without having to explain the story of why. This video embodies and presents as many depictions of “no” as possible.

Conversation with artists Stella Cole and Emma Scotson on the making of the film and the creation of the song.

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