FERMATA, 4min., USA, Thriller
Directed by Preston Bowe
A struggling pianist makes a peculiar discovery.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I was inspired to make Fermata after thinking about my and my friends’ experiences with creating art—these tendencies to doubt ourselves or hold ourselves back in fear of what others might think. As someone who struggles with that sense of creative self-doubt, making the film was really a cathartic experience. At the same time, I really wanted to make a film that paid homage to the bizarre horror films of the ’70s and ’80s, complete with practical special effects. Movies like The Thing, Possession, and Eraserhead were some inspirations. I tried to draw from how it felt to catch glimpses of horror movies on TV as a young child—the uncanny and dreamlike feeling of seeing the unreal treated as something mundane. Ultimately I tried to marry that horror style with more of a modern, coming-of-age sensibility.

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 HAIRCUT, 5min., USA, Dark Comedy
Directed by George Dickinson
Andrew just got the best haircut of his life, but will his roommates notice?

Get to know the filmmaker:
One time, my hair got cut, but you know what my hair didn’t get? Compliments! And the insecure side of me got a little mad. I thought to myself, “I feel powerless.” But then some self awareness kicked in and I thought that reaction was hilarious. The idea of a character who attaches power to validation was really exciting to me. I wanted to make a film that captured the powerlessness one feels in not being validated.

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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BOSS OF THE TOSS, 29min., USA
Directed by Chris Harboldt
While balancing a relationship with his girlfriend, a down and out cornhole player must compete in a high stakes, underground tournament to help his grammy pay off a bookie.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I’m a big fan of slapstick sports comedies and wanted to pay homage to the genre. The idea for the movie percolated in my head for years. I outlined for quite some time, but when I became serious about writing and making it, I would say that it took around six months.

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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IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, 14min., UK, Drama
Directed by Billy Klotsa
A father and son spend a day at the beach. Bobby’s father wants to share some of his wisdom with his son by taking him away from the city, to reconnect with nature. The two engage in a meaningful conversation that illustrates their strong bond but also the difference of generations and personal experiences as Bobby is a trans ‘millennial’ man and his father a typical ‘baby boomer’. Bobby’s father tragically drowns as the two swim in the ocean. Bobby is left paralysed and disorientated without his validating figure and enters a surreal journey to find his father in the afterlife composed of an intimate childhood flashback, and facilitated by a trio of angels.

Get to know filmmaker Billy Klotsa:

As a filmmaker coming from a fine arts background, my practice naturally evolved towards a more narrative structure. During the pandemic one of my main anxieties was the mortality of my parents and the void this loss would birth. I made this film to fill the void with love.

From writing the script to the final edit, the process took around a year. I was lucky enough to work with an amazing team, notably Rosie Taylor the immensely talented cinematographer, who was so generous in sharing her knowledge working years in the industry, Nigel Barber and Pete MacHale the incredible actors, and Anne Duffau the composer who created the beautiful score that tied the work 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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DOWN BAD, 27min., USA, Drama/TV Web Series
Directed by Rogelio Salinas de la Torre
After a night of infidelity, Nia navigates the awkward morning-after with her one night stand and battles with what this means for her already stalled engagement.

https://www.instagram.com/toni_adeyemi

From Toni:

Growing up, I yearned to see TV that was rooted in Black humanity. We are often tokenized and/or made to be exceptional – with little room for error or flaws. I wanted to create a concept that allowed us the same slice-of-life realism and character depth that many of my favorite shows are afforded.

DOWN BAD is a project that started as a short story for a creative writing class at Stanford and later became my first screenplay. Throughout the process of writing, producing, acting in and editing this piece, I’ve been inspired to grow as an artist and collaborator.

For most of the cast and crew, this was our first time in these roles on a scripted set. To have this project be so Black – and so grounded – feels radical to us. I hope you enjoy the DOWN BAD magic as much as we do!

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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LADY & THE VAMP, 5min., USA
Directed by Peter Alexander Stass
Two “creatures of the night” discover one of their own kind. Or have they?

Get to know the filmmaker:

This film is a proof of concept for a feature film called “Ackerman & Associates Meet Dracula” about a pair of realtors who unknowingly sell a house to Dracula. The feature is set in LA, though we shot this short in NY, because that’s where I live! But I did live in LA for a long time. The short is essentially a scene from the film. I can elaborate on this on the podcast.

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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ROLE PLAY, 8min., USA, Horror
Directed by Bill Neil
A one-night stand goes horribly wrong

Get to know the filmmaker:

Dan Asma, the producer, had been working with Alex Henes and Matt Merenda, on some feature ideas as well as some short film scripts. He sent me a few of their scripts to read. Dan and I have been friends/ film aficionados/ co-workers for decades – and he’s always encouraged me to direct. When I read Role Play, the whole set-up and slow-burn vibe really spoke to me. I loved the creepy note passing scene – that’s what sold me. That weird suspense of hooking up with a stranger in a strange place that seems crazy – but you’re horny so you ignore the weird signs.

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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JUMP SCARES: THE MOVIE, 3min,. USA,
Directed by Peter Masterton
Do you like horror movies? Or do you just like being startled? If it’s the latter, this is the movie trailer for you!

https://urbanpebbleproductions.com/
https://www.instagram.com/urbanpebbleproductions/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I drew inspiration from a YouTube series called Honest Trailers, particularly the episode reviewing the video game Five Nights at Freddy’s. The Narrator gripes about the constant use of jump scares in horror films and games as a cheap trick. I wrote a short script, then my friend Bryan Cosgriff and I rewrote it into its final draft.

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 TIGER IN THE SUBWAY, 9min,. USA, Thriller/Drama
Directed by James Abrams
An agoraphobic painter reflects on an old white lie his mother told him as a child.

https://www.caramelhippostudios.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CaramelHippoStudios
https://www.twitter.com/NA
https://www.instagram.com/caramel_hippo_studios

Get to know the filmmaker:
Like a lot of people, I was doing a lot of writing and sitting on my hands during the 2020 COVID pandemic. Today, some of these ideas are developed screenplays while others remain unfinished, but at the time I was searching for an opportunity to create a short film. In the summer of 2020, I began dating my current partner, who is a talented painter. I wanted to find a way to collaborate and her paintings suddenly made the many vague ideas I had been circling around throughout the pandemic all come together. A Tiger in the Subway is not thematically about COVID at all, but a story about an agoraphobic painter 1000% comes directly from my COVID experiences.

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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HOW TO THRIVE, 96min., Australia, Documentary
Directed by Duy Huynh
Is there a secret formula to happiness? Positive psychotherapist Marie McLeod takes 7 people on a transformative journey to learn the secret formula to happiness The film’s premise is; if we offer the science of happiness to people experiencing struggle; what difference would it make? Is happiness a learnable skill and can we teach people skills to live a happy, healthy and meaningful life? With unprecedented access; the result is an intimate, heartfelt and hopeful film that offers a rare glimpse into the lives of 7 people who make incredible transforms as a result of learning ‘How to Thrive?’

http://www.howtothrivefilm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HowToThriveFilm/
https://www.instagram.com/howtothrivefilm/

Get to know producer Andrew Kelly & director Duy Huynh:

Duy Huynh, Director: As a first generation Vietnamese refugee, I have my own connection to early life adversity. Some of my earliest memories of life was being lifted into a tiny fishing trawler with over a hundred others below deck; violence at sea, loss of life, inhumane refugee camps and of course watching the consequences of this experience on family and friends.

Despite the impacts from these memories I found my way through and have always considered myself one of the lucky ones. For some of my contemporaries this experience created a lasting legacy of mental health challenges and I’ve always wished I could do more to help. What separates those of us who can undergo adversity and come through the other side ok, versus those for which adversity creates ongoing struggle. I thought if we could understand this better and package it up in a helpful way, then it would be a worthwhile mission.

This film is about some of what I’ve learnt from the sciences of thriving. Turns out there’s quite a lot of research available about how to live a happier, healthier and more meaningful life. These learnable skills are so essential in a world where loneliness and mental health challenges are steeply on the rise.

My vision is for a world where these ‘thriving skills’ are available to all of us, and film is an incredible medium to not only create this awareness but inspire action. Personal action, political action and systemic change to the way we think about mental health.

Andrew Kelly, Producer: I’d been working in the corporate film production world for some time and decided it was time to take my skills and use them for social impact. Duy presented wellbeing science and positive psychology to me and I knew this was an under-represented area we could really make a difference in. A chance meeting with our now lead presenter and Positive Psychotherapist sealed the deal for me. I knew we could make this work.

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 Confessions of Frannie Langton, 1 hour TV Series

Directed by Andrea Harkin

Written by Sara Collins

A beautiful and haunting tale about one woman's fight to tell her story, The Confessions of Frannie Langton leads you through laudanum-laced dressing rooms and dark-as-night back alleys, into the enthralling heart of Georgian London.

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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MISSING STRING, 11min., Canada, Drama
Directed by Hugo Remy
Marie is a young woman who sees black strings coming out of people’s heads. She is the only one who sees them and she can guess people’s inner emotions by looking at their string. Everyone has a string, except her.

Get to know the filmmaker:

This is not an autobiographical film of course but I identify a lot to Marie. I have often got this feeling that something is wrong or missing with me without being able to fully grasp what it is. So making this film had an obvious therapeutic purpose to me. I would say that it was my main drive. I just needed a concept to tell a story about this feeling and I found it with this idea of those strings which everyone has except for the main character.

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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I.M.L.A. ~ A Musical Graphic Novel, 83min., USA, Graphic Novel
Directed by Mae Edwards
A story about Queer Femmes of Color on their Hero’s Journey through Tinsel Town, as told in a musical video-ized graphic novel.

http://maeedwards.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imlanovel/

Get to know the filmmaker:

It was a tumultuous time politically in the United States, where statements were made by politicians suggesting rounding up and hanging the LGBTQ+ community . As an adult, I knew it was a misdirected attempt for power and control, unlikely to take hold. But my friends who were therapists and caregivers mentioned to me repeatedly how suicide prevention centers showed a quadruple spike of calls from young LGBTQ+ people, who were wracked with fear over those comments.

I created this musical graphic novel as encouragement to young people, for them to see themselves as heroes and for them to know we see the injustice and won’t stand for it… for them to feel love and support from our community and our allies.

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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TOPLESS, 19min., UK, Drama/Romance
Directed by Patrick Jensen Hansted
After a few years, being in his late 20s without experience building relationships, Anthony finds himself in a vicious cycle of heartbreak as he continues searching for true love.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27044983/
https://www.instagram.com/toplessfilm/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I had several motives on my agenda. Firstly, I wanted to break the stigma of student filmmaking as it is often perceived as amateurish acting/ writing bland production design/”stick-it-on-a-tripod-and-don’t-move” cinematography. So I reached out to some of the best peers in their own respective fields in filmmaking and begged them to join and make something bigger than all of us.

Secondly, I wanted to tell my experience of being in the LGBTQ+ community. Especially that hookup culture when all you are looking for is love. My mom being super respectful and caring meant that I always had her back and till this day she’s the person I call for advice and gossip.

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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IN YOUR DREAMS, 3min., USA
Directed by Mike Krohn
In the future, a sentient robot finds that his dreams intrude on his waking life.

https://tinyurl.com/InYourDreamsFilm

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

The Pandemic had shut down production. I wanted to make a film, so I decided to use Virtual Production techniques in Unreal Engine to make one on my computer. I wanted to show how cinematic and beautiful a film using Virtual Production can be, while moving the audience emotionally. I also wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to make a film featuring robots, space travel and exotic alien planets. I love that stuff, but you don’t get to do it much because they are very expensive to do in live action. Virtual Production makes them possible even on the limited budget of a 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.

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TED THE SHARK, 12min,. Colombia, Animation
Directed by Nathalia Rojas, Hector Acosta
Created by Nathalia Rojas
Ted is a six-year-old hammer shark with a big secret: His mind is connected to a human girl. This uniqueness often makes Ted alienated from his world (a feeling many of us are familiar with) however, little does he know how special this connection is.

http://www.tedtheshark.com/
https://www.instagram.com/tedeltiburon

Get to know creator Nathalia Rojas:

I was motivated by a desire to provide a fun and engaging tool for both children and adults to better understand and cope with complex emotions that can be difficult to express.

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE LEMONS, 13min., USA, Drama/Family
Directed by Caitlin Presberg
A young woman comes home after the death of her abusive father to reconnect with the sister she left behind.

https://www.instagram.com/itsnotaboutthelemons/

Get to know the filmmaker:
I made this film as my thesis. I wanted to tell a story about the healing and strength that occurs after a trauma. As a survivor myself this story was very close to home, and it allowed me to come to terms with a lot of things in my life. I found that a child has more strength than a hundred men, but we often overlook that.

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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MOSAIC, 8min., Canada, Documentary
Directed by Myriam Vaudry
A short documentary film bold and touching where the director, dealing with physical malformations, asks an artist to illustrate her syndrome in a drawing of herself. This process will help her see it from a different perceptive and grow toward self-acceptance.

Get to know the filmmaker:
First I wanted to inform people about my condition and the syndrome itself to help change de way that people looked at us. Then I realize I have to change the way I think people looked at me and how I want to look at myself and be ok about my body.

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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OUTPATIENT, 26min., USA, Drama
Directed by Joseph Samuel Meyerson
Two young men attend weekly meetings in the basement of a church to satisfy the conditions of their parole.

https://instagram.com/outpatientfilm

Get to know the filmmaker:

It was an idea I’d had kicking around my head for some time. But I wanted to make something, and I’d written this much longer screenplay that was just totally unfeasible to shoot — we’re talking 200-person party scenes, car meets, ambulances, cop cars, high schools, three-minute tracking shots — so I found myself returning to the “three guys in a room” concept and just kind of wrote it from there.

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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QUICHE, 11min., Canada, Drama
Directed by Suzannah Moore
A nosy neighbor presses her way into the kitchen of a young mother, who ends up needing her.

Get to know the filmmaker:
My co-producer/collaborator (Adam Crosby) and I have worked together on a number of projects, but none of them were something I had written. We shared a vision in the type of tone we wanted to capture in our storytelling, and wanted to see how well we could bring it to life (tone can be one of the hardest things to skewer in filmmaking, in my opinion). We were both really drawn to the grounded, slice-of-life space, wherein the audience feels like a bit of a fly on the wall. I thought it would be neat to create a world inside of someone’s kitchen, because this is such a lived-in and often private space for many. In my writing, I was also exploring my own sadness, and my relationship to it. Eventually these pieces began to come together, and we made Quiche!

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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