NAFKOT – YEARNING, 70min., Israel, Documentary
Directed by Malka Shabtay
An Israeli anthropologist traveling to meet a hidden Jewish community in north Ethiopia. Together they telling their special story of survival Abera, a young artist joins to discover what has been hidden from him

Get to know the filmmaker:

I worked with the community two years before we did the film. i did my research to understand their story..and after two years they were ready to share their story with the world. The biggest obstacle is to do a film with a hidden community, oppressed and full of fear. to get their trust and collaboration and belief that the film will help in their struggle. Only when i turned 60 years old, after writing 15 books I felt I wanted to learn filmmaking, so I went to film school and studied for almost two years.

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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OUR CROWN & GLORY, 29min., USA, Documentary
Directed by Ashley Brajaé
A group of friends explores their hair journey and what it means to embrace black hair joy!

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated me to do this film is the fact that hair is such a big part of the black culture, but with that it’s also been ridiculed, misunderstood, then imitated for “trend” without knowing the tragic and beautiful history of our hair. It was important for me to give the story told embracing our black hair joy and how we are all connected with it (men and women) . Lastly to show how we finally embraced and loved our true self.

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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LONG KISS GOODBYE, 8min., Canada, Relationships
Directed by Duy Viet Hai Tong
A window into the last day of a relationship.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I made this film during a period where not a lot of things were happening around me. I was just trying to find my feet in a new environment. I had just graduated from university and moved to Canada. So, I think there was a personal component to making the film because it was for me to reflect on such a long journey from when I was a kid to just being done with the education environment and moving to another phase in life.

The relationship aspect of it came down to reflecting on past experiences and combining them with other things I know of. That’s where the European arthouse influence came in and I thought what a great tribute it would be to have a romance film in that style set in the modern day. We did ditch the excessive smoking though.

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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RENAISSANCE, 6min., France, Experimental

Directed by Victoria Lacoste, Penelope Caillet

The sensuality of being alone.

https://www.edelweissfilmproductions.com/

https://www.instagram.com/edelweissproductions/

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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SPIRITS, 9min., USA, Comedy/Horror
Directed by Matthew Catanzano
Some haunts are haunted.

http://thehappyghostproductions.com/
https://instagram.com/MattCatanzano

Get to know the filmmaker:
My two great loves are horror and comedy. I have many MANY sketches online and I wanted to add a more straight-forward horror short to the list. Especially since it more accurately reflects the feature scripts I write. I really wanted to make a short that was scary first, had a lot of lore/rules, and showcased what I could do with no budget.

And subject matter-wise, Ghosts scare the hell out of me. I’m a big fan of creatures and monsters, but it’s ghosts that actually keep me up at night. And I really love the idea of haunted places that are also regular businesses that have to operate day-to-day. haha.

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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L’APPRENANTE (THE LEARNER), 7min., France, Drama
Directed by Angelique Kalani Axelrode
L’Apprenante is an American college student in the process of “finding herself abroad” in Paris. She takes French classes to immerse herself in the culture, even though her accent is tragique. In one particular class, she struggles to recount her weekend where she goes to a Parisian party and meets La Femme; a girl she is immediately drawn to. As she navigates the discomfort of learning a new language, she also navigates the discomfort of discovering her queerness. Her inability to get out of her head inhibits her not only from improving her French, but also from being vulnerable with La Femme. Will she ever be able to commit to the accent and make a move? Impossible n’est pas français.n

https://www.tiktok.com/@lapprenantefilm

Get to know the filmmaker:

I made this film as a way to process some things I was personally grappling with. Like many queer people, I knew I wasn’t straight long before I said or did anything about it. My queerness lived in my head where I would replay interactions I had with people almost obsessively- oh were we flirting? Was she hitting on me? Why did I run away? If only I had said this. Or maybe if I hadn’t been so drunk. Or maybe if I had been a bit more drunk… Imaginary scenarios where I finally mustered up the courage to be intimate with someone else were only temporarily satisfying. I had to learn to get out of my head and actually act on my queer impulses. “L’Apprenante” is about this awkward process. The idea for this film came to me while I was living in Paris at the beginning of 2022 and feeling a sense of freedom I haven’t experienced since studying abroad in college. I was rediscovering myself and relearning what it means to be vulnerable, realizing I had very little vocabulary to work with. It felt like learning an entirely new language- one, like French, that sounds nothing like it is written.

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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GPS, 10min., USA, Comedy/Drama
Directed by Nell Dashiell
Kim and Jamie – an upscale, young urban couple – have just arrived home after an evening out with friends when Kim hears a noise. Fearing that a burglar may be prowling around downstairs, Kim dispatches Jamie to investigate. As it happens, Kim is on the right track: Rob, an amateur cat burglar, is hiding in a coat closet – and, as Kim gives Jamie instructions as to where she has carefully hidden their valuables, Rob is given just the detailed info he needs to accomplish his mission.

http://gpsshortmovie.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GPSshortmovie

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?
• I had what I thought was a cute idea and I was dying to actually make a film.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
• The short answer is bound to be deceptive. Here’s the long answer: technically it took three years – but I had a slew of major interruptions including a day job, a family and a pandemic. If you subtract the interruptions, the actual script took about four hours over two separate days, and the actual filming took 48 hours. Editing took forever.

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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WAVES, 2min., Australia, Comedy
Directed by Katharina Keil
Two friends Sam and Ethel play a fun game to reconnect at their local beach.

Get to know filmmaker Katharina Keil:

* The motivation to make this film was an application for the Australian Director’s Guild. They had an initiative and as my last short film was 18 years ago, I felt I needed to show my improved skills as director and decided to do a short film for the initiative.

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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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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CREATURA, 13min., Canada
Directed by Ford Mckeown Larose, Phethsari Pathammavong
If the world were to recreate itself in an empty space, how would new forms of life appropriate this environment? How would they evolve? Through lights and movements, Creatura explores the concept of genesis and evolution in a post-apocalyptic universe.

https://www.facebook.com/ForwardMovements
https://www.instagram.com/fwdmovements

Get to know the filmmaker:
The film was inspired by the third season’s opening video of Westworld created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. I was really inspired by the story, the aesthetic and the message and wanted to find a way to recreate that feeling. CREATURA is the story I was able to create through that feeling?

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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RUGBYTOWN Ep. 1, 28min., USA
Directed Patrick Guthrie
Having failed to reach their dreams of starring in the NFL, the players in RugbyTown tell their own stories of crossing over to become professional athletes in a new sport as they help the USA win the Rugby World Cup.

https://rugbyfactory.tv/
https://www.facebook.com/rugbyfactory.tv/

https://www.instagram.com/rugbyfactory.tv/

Get to know filmmaker Patrick Guthrie:

RugbyTown focuses on new opportunities for elite athletes who were rejected by the NFL, by offering them a new path to being a professional athlete and representing the United States internationally in a new sport. The show features the players transformation as they learn, fail and succeed, both on and off the field. Season 1 & Season 2 both consist of ten (10) half-hour episodes, cleared worldwide.

Season 1 @ 2 are available in UHD 4K. The music used was scored for the RugbyTown series, with original music that is cleared worldwide.

RugbyTown has been licensed for distribution in Oceana on ESPN, in South Africa on SuperSport, in the UK on BT Sport, in LATAM on DirecTV, plus other territories globally.

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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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.

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STAR WARS: FALLEN KNIGHTS, 15min., USA, Fantasy
Directed by Lance Hopper
Kidnapped! Jedi Knights Pem’Aiara and Tala Vane have been abducted by the evil Galactic Empire. Taking place 3 years after the Great Jedi Purge, our heroes must face brutal truths about their beliefs while being interrogated by the insidious Commander Strand. After being beaten by a Purge Trooper, all looks hopeless for these brave Jedi as they prepare to meet The Emperor himself…

http://www.patreon.com/SWFK
https://www.instagram.com/swfallenknights

Get to know the filmmaker:

My motivation to make this film was based around my start in filmmaking, as Star Wars was the first film franchise I saw and really latched onto as a young lad. I felt as though certain elements of the Disney Star Wars universe had lost the grimey and dirty feel of the original trilogy, and I wanted to bring that back a little, with the added inclusion of making the Empire scary, as they once were.

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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STAGE MANAGED, 28min., USA, Comedy
Directed by Guy Noland
A suburban community theater must successfully produce a knock-off version of “My Fair Lady” in order to keep their doors open.

http://www.viralentertain.com/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I grew up in the theater and made the transition to filmmaking in college, but always held onto my love for the stage. When the pandemic hit, everything shut down in Hollywood and all of my friends were out of work, so I thought, “Hey, let’s put something together to keep everyone working!” Then I had to come up with something that we could do on a shoestring budget, easy, not a lot of locations, and would hit a niche audience. That’s when I came up with the idea of Stage Managed.

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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ANATEVKA, 4min., USA, Family
Directed by Danielle Durchslag
A group of school children perform a darkly comedic version of the song Anatevka, from Fiddler on the Roof, for their parents, with new lyrics exploring the modern tribulations of Jewish communal anxiety.

https://www.danielledurchslag.com/

https://www.instagram.com/ddurch/

Get to know the filmmaker:

Years ago, I attended a Fiddler on the Roof themed birthday party for a girlfriend’s daughter. Alongside the other adults, I watched a group of young Jewish ladies in pink ballet outfits, singing and dancing all the big hits from the show. One song they did not perform, I noticed, was my personal favorite from the musical, a sorrowful, sarcastic number sung by the ensemble about being forced to flee their beloved, poor, small village, Anatevka, due to the violent antisemitism perpetrated on them by their Christian neighbors. It’s a heavy, sardonic, shrug of a song. Not the tone we typically associate with children’s birthday parties.

Yet Anatevka’s exclusion haunted me, as did the party in general. Why, I kept wondering, with so many powerful examples of Jewish art, does this one story stubbornly persevere, especially in America? My people have not lived in shtetls for a very long time, thankfully, and though hatred of our community certainly and terrifyingly continues, the story of American Jewish life is largely one of safety and success. Yet this tale, of our poverty and victimhood, of being fundamentally unsafe, remains at the center of how we see ourselves and invite others to see us.

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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A HARMONY OF TOUCH: THE HIGH-FIVE, HANDSHAKE, AND HUG, 3min., USA, Experimental
Directed by Kristyna Archer
Human connection thru physical touch are as critical to our survival as a species as is the air that we breathe. Standing the test of time, these visceral, bodily, mortal connections remind us we are still alive. Synchronicity being the master. Firmness being the gauge. Vulnerability being the superpower. Without them, we are powerless. I leave you with, the undeniable forces of nature found in the hive five, handshake, and hug.

Get to know the filmmaker:

The music was the biggest challenge, I had something in my head, yet it really needed a complex music composition that could not be sourced and needed to be composed which I didn’t originally budget for. Because originally I wanted a playfulness, and awkwardness really to come through all the way like 2 beings from another universe learning and experimenting with these forms of communication, yet upon watching the hug sequence after we shot, I realized it was not possible to take the emotion & intimacy out of those moments, so I need a track that transformed from playful lighthearted to deeply intimate. The visuals were more complex and truly has a turning point I wanted recognized in the track, that I wasn’t expecting before.

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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HER SWEATER, 25min., USA, Relationships
Directed by Jannik Ehret
After Desmond spends a surreal post-graveyard shift day with his enchanting co-worker Freya, he has to choose between following his heart and his own advice.

https://www.instagram.com/madronepictures

Get to know the filmmaker:

The first draft of the script was verbatim a real life experience. Making the short was my way of processing the frustrations of things not working out the way I wanted them to. Despite this, the experience felt like a gift. Getting to be in a real life Richard Linklater movie. Even if it was only for a day. Showing the real Freya the final product was terrifying. I made the short for myself but having her approve the final product was emotional. I’ll treasure the screenshot of her response forever. We’re still friends to this day.

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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THE DENDROVERSE, 4min., Mumbai, Experimental
Directed by Deep Malhotra
Fear of heights, cockroaches or dark. Fear can differ; some fears are minor, while others can be big. And when you overcome them, you feel more substantial than you were as you understand they were only panic inside your head and nothing else. And you just needed a bit of courage to win over them. But what if some phobias are so real that they might kill you and the species if you don’t crush them? Maybe such fears are those you don’t mess with to save your life. This poetry can sometimes become a nightmare in reality. Is the option in our hands to choose?

https://linktr.ee/deepruptive
https://facebook.com/deepmalhotra
https://instagram.com/deepruptive

Get to know the filmmaker:

This film was made for the India Film Project (IFF), an International 50-Hr film competition with the concept of “Fear”. I thought of twisting the idea with a message that is hard-hitting and relevant in current times and the need of the hour.

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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ENTANGLEMENT, 32min,. India, Fantasy
Directed by Yashaswini Nath
A couple struggles to make sense of the past, and their vastly different versions of the bizarre event that made their relationship spin out of control.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I had been writing scripts to turn into my first film, but out of everything I’d written, this story spoke to me with the greatest immediacy. The idea came to me in bits and pieces as philosophical themes and metaphysical ruminations. Musings about emotional consequences of people and events we can’t quite make sense of, and psychological implications of realities we aren’t familiar or comfortable with. I wanted to put these questions out there to a larger audience.

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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OUTTA THIS WORLD, 5min., Animation
Directed by Brittany Christine
An animated sci fi comedy about a human woman, Astria ZonBerg, who longs for something. On a journey with alien Pike to find it, she discovers something else she never knew she was missing.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3046505/
https://www.instagram.com/brittanychristineofficially/

Get to know the filmmaker on what motivated her to make this film:
The Pandemic and being in lockdown! I very much felt the same way my character Astria Zonberg did, in the sense that I had already turned my backyard into a beach complete with a lounge set for tanning, bbq area for cooking, volleyball court, ping pong table, racquetball set, tennis court, & projector screen for outdoor movies, then on the inside of my house I bought a rower machine, elliptical, bike, treadmill, thigh master, free weights, dumbbells, work out bands, a bosu ball, weighted throw balls, a thera gun, vibration plate machine, every board game target had on sale that month etc. I was going bored out of my mind and even started picking up crafts like sewing, knitting, macrame, pottery, candle making, doing puzzles, the list just goes on. It was absolutely hilarious. My old roommate Dakota would laugh at me and join in sometimes when she had a night off from working but to give you an idea, I never finished any of the projects I’d start because I would get so bored of them half way through too! Same with ordering food from the restaurants closest to me, I’d be craving pasta but then once it was delivered took one bite and was like AGH! Nothing satisfies me anymore. Hence the reason it shows Astria eating the buffet, playing golf, playing with cats, (I worked for a couple animal shelters in real life during that time called Hoja Nueva as well as Peru Dog Rescue, but we thought the purring of the kitties would be the quickest, easiest, and most funny to imitate) we really played on that where she is missing planet life even though she has it all on the ship, because I was missing social life even though I had everything I could possibly want to keep me entertained and busy while trapped at home. I have always been a very independent person, and enjoy my own company being the introvert I am, however, during the first yr of Covid I quickly realized activities aren’t nearly as much fun to experiment with or experience by myself. I wanted the audience to see & feel that in a funny way, rather than a sad and depressing one.

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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