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
EP. 1347 - Filmmaker Cyril Durand-Gasselin (MIHI: At the center of our gaze)

MIHI: At the center of our gaze, 15min., France
Directed by Cyril Durand-Gasselin
Introspection is a mental activity which can be described metaphorically as the act of “looking inside” oneself, through a form of attention paid to one’s own sensations, states or thoughts. In psychology, this is the inner knowledge we have of our perceptions, actions, emotions and knowledge, which is different from that which an outside observer might have.

https://facebook.com/Compagnienos
https://instagram.com/compagnie_nos

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

I wanted to show how important introspection has been for me in my life, and still is. It helped me grow so much. By giving this work to the world, I hope it will reminds everyone how important it is to take time to listen to yourself and to learn as much as you can from everything you can find inside.

What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?


Honestly, I’ve got really touched and smiled all the way through the video. The comments were so nice and good but mostly really interesting. And it is really satisfying to hear comments from people that you don’t know that are coming from another country.

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EP. 1286 - Filmmaker Andrew Wakeman Proctor (LOST DREAMS)

LOST DREAMS, 10min., USA
Directed by Andrew Wakeman Proctor
Lost Dreams is about dreams. Scientists have not fully figured out dreams. The ancients believed you could predict the future through your dreams, Native Americans created dream-capturing devices. Some people keep dream diaries. Freud believed that we could fix people’s psychological problems by analyzing their dreams.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32021226/?ref_=ttawd_rvi_tt_i_4

Get to know the filmmaker:

I took an experimental film class at Connecticut College. We studied the works of Maya Dern and Stan Brackage. I was inspired by Anticipation of the Night by Stan Brackage. In the fall of 2009 I received an email inviting me to submit a film to an Experimental film festival in Switzerland. My friend John Prevedini sent me his music “Lost Days” and it inspired “Lost Dreams”.

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EP. 1282 - Actor/Creators Marco Labate & Gica Pucca (PROJECT 405: LOST AT SEA)

PROJECT 405: LOST AT SEA, 12min,. USA
Directed by Josie Hull
Aspiring artist Alexia, grieves the loss of a loved one and struggles to finish her painting. The-o, her personal AI assistant, who has little understanding of human emotions, tries everything in his power to feed her longing soul.

https://www.fenderbenderfilms.com/
https://www.instagram.com/fenderbenderfilms/

Get to know actors & creators Marco Labate and Gica Pucca

M: Coming from pretty intense personal journeys, we wanted to work with the idea of fantasy vs. reality, and we chose to use grief as a vehicle. At the end of the day, you can always make the choice to either acknowledge or ignore what you feel, but the latter can lead to confusion, and reality always catches up to you.

G: We liked exploring the concept of artificial intelligence and the modern world, conflicting with art and human emotion.

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EP. 1280 - Writer/Producer Ken Barrett (BRAINLAND - Opera Film)

Conversation with writer/producer Ken Barrett about the Opera Film “BRAINLAND”

In 1935 Egas Moniz, renowned Portuguese neurologist, visit psychiatrist Sobral Cid in order to persuade him allow his patients to be act as subjects for Moniz's experiemntal treatment - frontal leucotomy. After some resistance Cid agrees. The first such operation is staged, but Moniz's exhaltation is cut short by an attempt on his life. This self-contained chamber opera is actually scene 7 from a longer opera of the same name that tells three stories from the history of 20th century brain science (rather than a screenplay we worked with a libretto). it was filmed very quickly with little resources and involved professional and non-professional cast & crew. The music is by Stephen Brown. Directed by Chiara D’Anna


https://www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk/

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EP. 1204 - AnimatOR/Filmmaker David Calderón (I AM MORE)

I AM MORE, 3min., USA

Directed by David Calderon

I am more is an initiative by Animagic Studios to create a conversation around self-esteem and body confidence among young women, their families and social circles.

http://animagic.io/

https://www.instagram.com/iammoreproject/

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.

EP. 1200 - Filmmaker Emeline Castaneda (TOTEM)

TOTEM, 3min., France
Directed by Emeline Castaneda
The day had started badly for Alice. But that was without taking into account the old saying “in the jungle you must wait, 13 helps yourself liberate”

Get to know the filmmaker:
It was originally for a contest. We had tell a story around the theme “number 13”. I have always expressed my self best with choreography and I already had this idea of a choreography about animal transformation. It was the perfect opportunity.

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.

EP. 1191 - Media Artist Yiou Wang (WATER ALWAYS GOES WHERE IT WANTS TO GO)

WATER ALWAYS GOES WHERE IT WANTS TO GO, 5min., Romania
New Media Artist by Yiou Wang
“Water Always Goes Where It Wants to Go” is an ecoperformance CG art video of the body in synergy with the storied landscape of water. How can we go back to something we already have? We are born out of water, and water constitutes our body, our territories, and our myths. Mapping water through the body, in between transitory space for waters, the short film investigates the relationship between the self, its embodied and somatic dialogues, and these physical and symbolic waters, questioning how we can return to our first water, the common body.

http://yiouwang.org/
https://twitter.com/YiouWang1
https://www.instagram.com/yiou_wang_/

Get to know the filmmaker:
This short film is the natural product of a very rich and interesting conversation Alina and I have. Many of our ideas clicked and crosspollinated. Alina is an actress and performance artist, who expresses through her body; I am a visual artist who expresses through image and form. We are both empaths who share an intuitive, embodied connection to a larger, more-than-human world. Alina has been introducing to the world the method of ecoperformance for many years, where she embodies a forest, a river, a crow, or an ancient mythic being and shapeshifts in synergy with the consciousness of the embodied. We began to focus on water, as water is our first body – the amniotic fluid is where we come from, and our common body. In many precolonial cultures and epistemologies, the land is often also corporeal. In Tuva, the mountain peak is the heart of mountain ranges, where rivers are the aortas, the soil’s blood vessels.

Alina and I wanted to create a branch of artworks embodying water combining her ecoperformance and my virtual filmmaking. She performs embodying water from our animistic perspective, and I do the motion capture, transferring her movement to the avatars of water. The scenography is designed with a root in theatre arts, where I put my 3D scanned natural environment pieces in the scene reminiscent of stage.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
It is hard to pinpoint the start of this project, since Alina and I have been communicating for a year and our minds grew into this rich constellation. Since the beginning, we agreed to draft some proposals to apply for certain live performance art grants. After that, we thought why not make a film to further illustrate our proposal? And the actual production and editing of this film was about three weeks. But it’s hard to say it’s only three weeks, because a lot of the models I put into the environment were from my longtime habit of 3D scanning in my forest hikes.

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.

EP. 1176 - Writer/Actor Diana Matlak & Director Iza Pajak (SETTING BOUNDARIES)

SETTING BOUNDARIES, 5min., Poland
Directed by Iza Pajak
A woman tries to set boundaries while struggling to fight for her needs.

Get to know writer/producer/star Diana Matlak:

I have been struggling with setting boundaries my entire life.
I was a people pleaser and still to this day I find it not easy to set boundaries.
The subject of this film is very personal to me. I also think that the ability to set boundaries is an issue for a lot of people nowadays. A lot of us wanna meet other people’s expectations and seek approval of other people, often forgetting about ourselves and our needs. That’s why I really wanted to make this film, to talk about setting boundaries and show that we all have a voice.

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.

Oct. 26, 2023 - Filmmaker Inge Theunissen & Choreographer Adriaan Luteijn (CIRCULAR)

CIRCULAR, 10min., Netherlands
Directed by Inge Theunissen
In the history of the future lab technicians clone themselves. Overheating strikes when a clone emerges that deviates.

http://itmoves.tv/

Get to know the filmmaker:

When I saw the choreography Circular from Adriaan, it reminded me of those SF series from the sixties/seventies, also partly through the music and costumes. As a child I watched series like Star Trek, Doctor Who and I still really love the old science fiction imagery. That is where it started, I wanted to make a short sci-fi film, based on the choreography but with my own script so I started writing.

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.

Oct. 17, 2023 - WINTRY MIX film team (Christine Veras, Philip Martin, David Mooney)

WINTRY MIX, 7min., USA
Directed by Christine Veras

https://labs.utdallas.edu/experimental/wintry-mix/

Interview with musician David Mooney. Animator Philip Martin. director Christine Veras.

Get to know filmmaker Christine Veras

I run an experimental animation lab at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). At an event, I connected with the jazz musician and professor at University of North Texas (UNT) Davy Mooney, and playfully suggested that we should collaborate on an animated piece one day. To my surprise, a few months later (December 2022), he contacted me and said that he would like my lab to animate one of the tracks of his new album. I said yes, and we had around four months to create the animation before the album’s release in early June 2023.

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.

Sept. 20, 2023 - Filmmaker Eduardo Zamora (ANGEL NEGRO)

ANGEL NEGRO, 8min,. USA, Drama
Directed by Eduardo Zamora
In “Angel Negro,” Eduardo Zamora plays a skilled hitman who specializes in taking out troublesome husbands at the request of their wives. Based in Los Angeles, California, Angel is a highly sought-after assassin who operates in the shadows and has built a reputation for his discretion and efficiency.

https://instagram.com/silkroadstudiosmia

Get to know the filmmaker:

A: I wrote this film in a my LA flat where I was catching vibe one night and I played the butterfly song by crazy town and I wrote the short in about 45 mins , Then I made a shot list and I told myself “if I came up with this this fast and down all this in one night I must shoot it” and I did. I wanted to tell a story using my surroundings as a backdrop.

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.

June 17, 2023 - Filmmaker Hester Schell (CLIMATE CHANGE: CAPE LOOKOUT)

CLIMATE CHANGE: CAPE LOOKOUT, 5min., Documentary
Directed by Hester Schell
Created for the 7th Generation Pano Mural Project’s 5 minute film festival, July 2022. Assignment: Pick a section of the USA west coast to examine the effects of climate change on the region. Under 5 minutes. My film was chosen to screen at the festival last summer. I chose Cape Lookout to Cape Mears, Oregon, USA.

http://hesterschellcreative.com/
https://www.facebook.com/hester.schell

Get to know the filmmaker:

I want to convey a sense of urgency and inspire people to take more action on the climate emergency. Whether driving less, or lobbying against insatiable corporate greed hell bent on profits over life, or having fewer children, or finding commercial uses for recycled plastics. How about we stop making more of it! The oil industry is drowning us in plastic which is killing wildlife.

And…

The Ocean Film Festival. An email landed in my inbox around 10 days before the deadline last summer, 2022. The criteria really spoke to me: pick a favorite place along the West Coast, examine the effects of climate change, and keep it under 5 minutes.

Climate change is an existential threat to all of us. It may sound cliché but we only have one planet and we are running out of time to slow this down.

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 FacebookYou 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.

June 16, 2023 - Filmmaker Annekatrin Meyers (ISIS)

ISIS, 5min., Germany, Experimental
Directed by Annekatrin Meyers
After Osiris´ death Isis travels the entire country in search of her beloved’s mortal remains. With her boundless love and her magic skills, she wants to overcome death and bring Osiris back to life for one night.

https://meyers-buero.de/
https://www.instagram.com/fee_meyers/

Get to know the filmmaker:

“Isis” is a very personal project. After shooting many commercial films I really wanted to do something that would strongly portrait my own voice. The perception of motherhood and femininity in our society are topics I am firmly affected by. The Egyptian myth of “Isis and Osiris”, with Isis as the mother of life and the its translation into modern times, proved to be a powerful way for me to negotiate those topics.

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.

June 8, 2023 - Filmmaker Stéphane Orlando (NIGHT FALLS)

NIGHT FALLS, 19min., Belgium, Music
Directed by Stéphane Orlando
Veronika Harcsa is accompanied by the Cave Cantores to embody the inner struggle of a singer living between two worlds, the classical of her illustrious cellist father and the jazz where she sees a possible key to more artistic freedom. Four lines from William Blake’s poem « Night » guide the narrative through different pieces of a puzzle of real and invented memories. This jumble of past, present and future crystallises into a powerful musical bad trip with catastrophic consequences.

https://stephaneorlando.com/portfolio/opera/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I’m a huge fan of directors like Pawel Pawlikovski, David Lynch, Federico Fellini, Quentin Tarantino or Akira Kurosawa. It’s a cinema where image, sound, acting and movie sets serve the narrative in a complementary way, with always a strong concept that is the engine of the whole. I wanted to work in that direction. As I’m the composer of my own films, it’s easier: I’m always in perfect agreement with myself 🙂


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.

May 31, 2023 - Filmmaker Shuyin Zheng (YO YO)

YO YO, 9min., USA, Drama
Directed by Shuyin Zheng
A 15-year-old girl, Lin, who stays home pretending to be sick, lost her best friend because of a sketch, which also exposed her unrequited love under the summer sunlight.

Get to know the filmmaker:

Yo Yo is an autobiographical story inspired by my own experiences during high school. I was around 15 or 16 years old when it happened, and even now, it is still difficult for me to recall that girl, the archetype of the main character, Lin. She was my best friend back then, and we did everything together, from hanging out and studying to even sleeping over at each other’s houses. I felt like she was my twin sister. But when she confessed that she loved me, I was so overwhelmed that I simply froze. I ran away from her and never found the courage to speak to her again. We went our separate ways after that summer, but the feeling of regret and guilt lingered on. When the opportunity arose to create a short film for my thesis project, this experience immediately came to mind. From there, the production process flowed naturally. This story is one that I had to tell, in whatever form it may take.

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.

May 19, 2023 - Filmmaker Antonio Pinheiro (LOCATION 4)

LOCATION 4, 8min., USA, Horror
Directed by Antonio Pinheiro
After getting lost during a late night work session, two location scouts start to get the feeling they aren’t the only two people on the mountain.

https://www.location4movie.com/
https://instagram.com/tonyturquoix

Get to know the filmmaker:


I had just gotten fired from my food runner job, and I realized I didn’t want to run food anymore so I wrote the scariest movie I could with the budget my savings would allow. I think it was mostly scared of becoming irrelevant. As for the horror aspect, it really stemmed just from experience hiking and camping, mixed with the balance of work life and mental stability. I noticed I was doing too much career work and not enough time tending to my relationship with friends and family and kind of expressed that through writing.

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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May 3, 2023 - Filmmaker Nitashia L. Johnson (CONFLICT)

CONFLICT, 3min., USA, Poem
Directed by Nitashia L Johnson
Conflict is a short poetic visual about the struggle of letting go of someone you love when it isn’t working. Instead of releasing, our entities might ignore the signs of a declining relationship. The living and dead organic life shown throughout the video represents the constant tug and pull we might feel from karmic ties, making us stay.

http://nitashiajohnson.com/
https://facebook.com/NitashiaJohnson
https://twitter.com/nitashiajohnson
https://instagram.com/nitashiajohnson

Get to know the filmmaker;

I felt moved to make a film about conflicts in a relationship. The love we foster inside is essential, and letting go can be very problematic. We have to learn when to walk away from things that no longer serve us instead of repeating a cycle that limits our growth.

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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May 1, 2023 - Filmmaker Michelle Bailey (STRIPEY SOCKS, DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN)

STRIPEY SOCKS, 5min., UK, Animation/Documentary

‘Stripey Socks’ is the true tale of Michelle Bailey as a young girl dealing with teenage pregnancy, navigating her way through secrecy, blame and catholic school. The film, shot by Diana Stefanescu, is of live illustrators by Cait Buckley which are complemented by the beautiful soundtrack by Sophie Hadlum. The film was made on the same weekend as the Irish abortion referendum which compelled the director to make this film.

DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN, 4min., UK, Experimental

Michelle Bailey's follow up to her award winning debut film 'Dad' is a personal and poignant depiction of the effects of domestic abuse on a young girls mental health. In her own words Bailey has made this film for 'anyone who has been told they are not good enough'. The British director has drawn upon her own experiences to share her mantra of 'Don't let the bastards grind you down'.

Get to know the filmmaker:

Filmmaking for me is cathartic. It’s a way for me to explore trauma in my life and turn it into something more creative and productive. It helps me process my thoughts and feelings and connects me to people with similar experiences. It makes me feel less alone and less ashamed, breaking down the stigma that surrounds abortion especially in religion.

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, 2023 - Filmmaker Haowei Zhang (POST (COVID-19) ERA)

POST (COVID-19) ERA, 3min., USA, Fashion
Directed by Haowei Zhang
This fashion film is the collaboration with jewelry designer Hankunyu Wei, which expresses the jewelry artist Hankunyu Wei’s thoughts and reflections on the aftershocks to human society after the end of COVID-19.As the COVID-19 inevitably hits the workings of the world, each and every one of our lives is marked. Even though masks are no longer a necessity and people’s lives are gradually returning to normalcy, the dramatic changes in life over the past few years are like a wound that reminds humans to think about life, bondage and distance.

Get to know the filmmaker:
The emergence of the epidemic has changed our lives forever. At first, I did not anticipate that the epidemic would change our lives so profoundly. By the time I realized it, our lives were completely unable to go back to the way they were. People are highly adaptable creatures. The government also made a lot of measures to bring order back to people’s world. But no matter what, the existence of the epidemic is like a scar, and even if the wound heals, there is still a part of our lives that is permanently altered. I want to explore the habits that have been subliminally changed in the world after order has been re-established.

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 8, 2023 - Filmmaker Hugo Remy (MISSING STRING)

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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