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 Directing
September 7, 2023 - Filmmaker Tanin J. Risdon (THE RED LADY FROM FOLEY STREET)

THE RED LADY FROM FOLEY STREET, 10min., Canada
Directed by Tanin J. Risdon
In a new spin on urban legend slashers, we meet Beth, a teenage outcast, who, at the end of her birthday party learns that her boyfriend Jesse is cheating on her, leading her to exact her revenge on him and all of the people involved with the help of an urban legend of Beth’s own creation.

https://www.instagram.com/foleystreetfilm/

Get to know the filmmaker:
The DOP Max Humphreys and I just began watching slashers films and got really into the idea of making one ourselves. The next step was to look for writers and we got lucky enough to have Haya Abdul-Hadi and Pablo Lopez take interest in it and come up with the idea for The Red Lady from Foley Street.

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.

September 6, 2023 - Filmmaker Sean Edward Neukom (TRIGGERLAND)

TRIGGERLAND, 59min., USA
Directed by Sean Edward Neukom
The filmization of Beo String Quartet’s album, triggerLand. The movie, of the same title, is a fairytale-esque gun creation myth. Alvin, a construction worker, discovers a new material. This new material leads to the invention of the first gun. As the use of the gun is explored and expanded, a young girl is accidentally killed when a firearm falls from a table. Alvin is left to contemplate his course of action.

http://www.beostringquartet.com/#beohome
https://www.facebook.com/beostringquartet/
https://www.instagram.com/beostringquartet/?hl=en

Get to know the filmmaker:
— In 2023, Beo (my string quartet) had a string of album releases through our own label. One album was triggerLand. The music and story evoked such strong imagery. Rather than produce music videos, it seemed like a natural step to produce a feature film instead.

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.

September 2, 2023 - Filmmaker Jamie Robertson (B&E)

B&E, 12min., Canada
Directed by Jamie Robertson
When his ex-con brother, Chris, enlists his help on a break-in, Duncan Fitzpatrick doesn’t know what to do. He’d agreed to run away with his brother, but only under the belief that he had turned over a new leaf. Now stuck, waiting in the car for his brother’s return, Duncan grows restless as his brother breaks into a mysterious suburban home. There’s only one problem with Chris’s plan; someone else is in the house. As the hour grows late, Duncan enters the house, only to discover how truly lost his brother has become.

https://fmtvfilms.wixsite.com/breakingandentering
https://twitter.com/BnE_ShortFilm
https://www.instagram.com/bneshortfilm/

Get to know the filmmaker:

The biggest motivation for this film was really just proving it was something I could do. Humber gave me an excellent opportunity, greenlighting this film with myself as Director and I didn’t want to take that opportunity for granted. Entering the independent filmmaking landscape, it may be some time before I am afforded the budget and resources these capstone films received and so I really wanted to make the most of it and show the world what I’m currently capable of, and what I’m going for with my films. Throughout my time at school, I’d met a lot of great people and filmmakers as well and so, not squandering an opportunity to work with all of them provided excellent additional motivation that I think was felt throughout our year and really brought the lot of us 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.

August 27, 2023 - Filmmakers Matt Alfano, Chad McFadden, Kris Von Kleist (JUST SHORT OF REALITY)

JUST SHORT OF REALITY, 37min., Canada
Directed by Matt Alfano, Chad McFadden
Just Short of Reality is a series of shorts that are told through the genres of surrealism, silent film and dance. Co-existing in one neighbourhood, seven individuals are presented with adversity and choice in this allegorical tale.

https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/AtHome

Get to know the filmmakers:

The Golden Era, vaudeville, silent film and movement-based storytelling have always inspired both of us from when we were aspiring artists and continues to throughout our professional careers. Dance is a universal language that can be shared by everyone.

Physical narrative is a genre that we intend to modernize and reintroduce. It’s such an effective, unique and beautiful way to create. We were trusted with the opportunity to develop our series of shorts for the new digital department at the Stratford Festival,

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.

August 25, 2023 - Screenwriter Sean Whitley (The Paranormal Prankster: Casefile 001 – Bigfoot)

Watch the Comedy Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35-fr2OLZxU

When a notorious Internet troll appears on a live streaming video podcast to debate the existence of Sasquatch with Bigfoot believers, the fur flies when he’s challenged by an ape-suited prankster claiming to be the legendary beast!

Get to know the writer:

It’s a comedic take on paranormal podcasts and talk shows in which a prankster dons a Bigfoot costume and debates an Internet troll.

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.

Aug. 9th - Filmmaker Derek Bridges (THE MAN IN THE RED BERET)

THE MAN IN THE RED BERET, 104min., USA
Directed by Derek Bridges
Chess Master Jude Acers has set up his “World Chess Table” on Decatur Street in the New Orleans French Quarter since 1981, where he continues to play all comers for $5 a game. This is his story.

http://judeacers.com/
https://instagram.com/themanintheredberet/

Get to know the filmmakers:

I wanted to learn how to make a movie, and I’d already written a long article about Jude Acers and I knew he would be a great subject for a documentary. And I was inclined to make a documentary rather other genres because it’s perhaps the most forgiving genre when it comes to technical proficiency, which seemed important since I didn’t know what I was doing.

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.

Aug. 8th - Filmmaker Matteo Di Loreto (VIVIDREAM)

VIVIDREAM, 10min., Denmark, Dance
Directed by Matteo Di Loreto
Between dream and reality a girl finds herself in the audience of a theatre (Royal Danish Theatre) to find out there are other people there with her. While events between the dancers unfold, a voice guides them on a journey of surreality where the relation between the audience and the stage is connected by a subtle veil.

Get to know the filmmaker:

The motivation for creating “VIVIDREAM” came during the pandemic, which was a time were dancers were not performing live so I had the idea of making something digital like 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.

Aug. 7th - Tim Visser & Sander van Iersel (WHAT IS NATURE? & THE DARK SIDE OF BRIGHT NIGHTS)

THE DARK SIDE OF BRIGHT NIGHTS, 50min., Germany

When light pollution causes the night to disappear, a fundamental clock for life on earth is thrown out of balance. verena - verena@marco-polo-film.de

WHAT IS NATURE?, 9min., Netherlands

When talking about nature, we mostly assume that we talk about the same thing, but is that really the case? An ecologist might have a completely different perspective than an economist. Our perspective on nature very much determines how we interact with our environment. The impact of humans can be seen all around the globe. This film explores perspectives on the question: What is nature? Perhaps, nature is what people make of it. So… what should we make of it

http://jesterandwylde.com/

Get to know the filmmakers:

Answer: In our world, society and nature are not completely separated. In fact, most of the time they intermingle and conflicts can arise because of this. Our relationship with nature, and how we see ourselves in that context is important for the challenges we face today. The problem is though that most people when discussing these challenges focus on what needs solving instead of what we are actually talking about. When asking different people it becomes clear very quickly that when we talk about ‘nature’ we are not actually talking about the same thing. So before we start diving into the many problems we need to solve we first have to have a fundamental understanding of nature and our relationship to it.

August 4, 2023 - Filmmaker Vanessa Sweet (AMPLIFYING FEEDBACK LOOP)

AMPLIFYING FEEDBACK LOOP, 2min., USA, Animation
Directed by Vanessa Sweet
Unfolding visual poetry loops and transforms, advocating for the need for sustainable futures and community action.

https://www.vanessasweet.com/amplifying-feedback-loop-in-prod
https://instagram.com/veebsweet

Get to know the filmmaker:


Climate Change is an increasingly intense and impactful problem we are all currently facing. I felt particularly strongly to gear my work towards advocacy and activism after living for six years in Alaska, three of which was in Shishmaref, Alaska. There, I listened to the living memory of the folks who live there. Shishmaref’s community if 99.8% Shishmaref Iñupiat– and the island they live on is eroding at astronomical rates. The sea ice isn’t freezing when it should, and is melting too soon. Permafrost is thawing, and animals are rapidly changing their migration paths.

I was witness to this change first hand– and while I knew these to be true, not facing it at extremes can soften our urgency on an issue. I ended up moving away from Shishmaref for my current teaching position– but that doesn’t mean people and this planet aren’t in need. It is important to make work , for me, that speaks out and encourages postive change for the future. Shishmaref film-maker Dennis Davis is recording these changes to the island via his drones, I would highly encourage everyone to seek out his work and watch it to learn more– to get a sense of what is happening in Alaska as well as the southern US, and to hear from that community.

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.

August 2, 2023 - Filmmaker Stephane Artus (THE FAUN HEALWOOD, THE EDGE)

THE FAUN HEALWOOD, THE EDGE, 16min., France
Directed by Stephane Artus
During a walk in the forest, a young woman, Jane, meets a wounded stranger pursued by strange hunters. She asks her to help her reach a dolmen in order to bring a magical object. Jane is reluctant to accept the adventure for which she seems destined.

https://www.facebook.com/TheFaunOfHealwood
https://www.instagram.com/the_faun_of_healwood2021/?hl=fr

Get to know the filmmaker:


The motivation to make this film came from frustration at the lack of French fantasy films.

French cinema shuns the fantastic, whereas it’s part of our culture through books, music, painting and storytelling. As a fan of fantastic creatures, I wanted to deliver my vision of a mythological creature.

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.

July 20, 2023 - Filmmaker Jimena Huesca (MURO)

MURO, 12min., Mexico, Drama/Thriller

Directed by Jimena Huesca

Bruna wakes up from a nightmare due to some noises coming from her room.She suddenly hears a woman's voice as she approaches one of the ancient walls that surround her. They start talking cautiously as Bruna tries to get information in order to rescue her unaware that the woman on the other side is trapped between the wall and time.

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.

July 12, 2023 - Filmmakers Chloe Stafford, Suneina Badoni (LILY)

LILY, 10min., USA, Documentary
Directed by Chloe Stafford, Suneina Badoni
Desperate for a cure for their daughter’s illness, a California couple finds hope from an unexpected source.

Get to know the filmmakers:

– I think what motivated us to make this film was the story of Lily. Suneina is close to the family so she already knew about the story. We felt like this triumph and these medical mushrooms were something that needed to be shared on a large level.

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.

July 11, 2023 - Filmmaker Lorien Haynes (VIRTUALLY SINGLE)

VIRTUALLY SINGLE, 15min., USA, Romance
Directed by Amy Gardner, Lorien Haynes
It’s lockdown. Emboldened by red wine, a fortysomething woman braves her first Zoom date with a guy in snowy Montana. A short play devised through improvisation, VIRTUALLY SINGLE explores the tragicomic challenges of dating during the pandemic.

https://www.finitefilmsandtv.com/projects/virtually-single/
https://m.facebook.com/100063726603408/
https://twitter.com/finitefilmsldn
https://www.instagram.com/finitefilms/

Get to know filmmaker Lorian Haynes:

Amy Gardner and I have been working together since my film project – Everything I Ever Wanted To Tell My Daughter About Men – [23 shorts, directed by 21 women, making one feature to support survivors of abuse] and subsequent to that on Good Grief; a virtual interpretation of one of my plays, which Amy approached me to do at the beginning of the pandemic. Our aim was to help sustain theatre during this time and it was doing Good Grief that made us aware of how important it was to develop creative work, despite the extreme restrictions Covid presented.

As friends, we talked a lot about isolation and how on earth people were supposed to find love and break through loneliness during Covid. I had just returned to the UK from living in LA for 15 years and was living in a 10ft square room in my mother’s house – going slightly mad. And it was from these conversations that the idea of a woman’s first ever zoom date emerged and we started trying to work out the challenge of how to do it. What was it? Was it a short? Was it a series? How did we make it with zero budget and no way of leaving the house?

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.

July 7, 2023 - Filmmaker Matthew Beltz (NUCLEAR!)

NUCLEAR!, 14min., USA
Directed by Matthew Beltz
With mom gone, dad in a pit, and the neighborhood watching, Randy is trying to hold it together before everything explodes.

http://www.gonfalonpictures.com/
https://instagram.com/gonfalonpictures

Get to know the filmmaker:

It really came from a desire to keep creating with people that I love to work with. My producing partners, Jimmy Luc and Alex Caimano, and I had made two short films prior to Nuclear (Death March and Four Pins) which both took place during war time and were period pieces and we wanted to complete what we were calling our loose trilogy. So Jimmy and I went away to work on the script for a number of months and we just felt that a family drama taking place against the backdrop of a nuclear war was fitting. The hysteria and absurdity of that time period felt contemporary and relatable.

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.

July 5, 2023 - Filmmaker Andrew Mercado (OUTRAGEOUS: THE QUEER HISTORY OF AUSTALIAN TV)

OUTRAGEOUS: THE QUEER HISTORY OF AUSTALIAN TV, 60min., Australia
Directed by Andrew Mercado
Every LGBT milestone happened on Australian TV in the 1970s, years before the rest of the world. And nobody ever saw it, because the nudity, adult stories and queer themes from these TV series could never have been tolerated on commercial TV anywhere outside of Australia. This documentary event, which includes a specially edited episode of Number 96 to highlight several queer stories, will finally set the record straight.

https://www.instagram.com/outrageousdoco/

Get to know the filmmaker:

On the 50th anniversary of Stonewall in 2019, I kept seeing articles that detailed the biggest LGBT moments in pop culture history ever since , and Australian TV never got a mention. I started rolling that idea around in my head, and by the time of the first COVID lockdown, I was deep into it. Originally I wrote it as a book, but quickly realised it would work best as a documentary.

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.

July 4, 2023 - Filmmaker Joel Eggimann (LEAP OF FAITH)

LEAP OF FAITH, 28min., Austria
Directed by Joel Eggimann
A bucket list goal so big that others might think you’re crazy. The stunning journey of Joel Eggimann attempting to do a flip across the gap of a remarkable pinnacle on the Lofoten Islands in Norway.

https://instagram.com/joel_eggimann

Get to know the filmmaker:

I have a bucket list with 100 things that I want to do before I die. Doing a flip across Svolvaergeita was one of those items. The plan first was to make a 10-minute YouTube video but as soon as we got the we noticed that this story deserves a lot more attention and should be shared in a longer documentary to give the audience more context about the process.

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.

July 2, 2023 - Filmmaker Carlos E. Lesmes (PLAY/REPEAT)

PLAY/REPEAT, 8min., Estonia, Dance
Directed by Carlos E. Lesmes
There is a couple. Two bodies. Two beings. 1+1. Sometimes it feels like only one. This film piece wants to explore aspects of a relationship through movement, through the bodies of the performers. The unfathomable distance between two people. Broke but never broken.

Get to know the filmmaker:

The film was born out of real life. It came as the result of a complicated relationship and the desire to express it and live it bodily, but it was shaped together with Real, Alis and Arolin. We worked together about the concept and a wish to explore the notion of loneliness and companionship that exists in a relationship. We all brought our stories and experiences to try and make something that could be expressive in a film form, without it needing text. We wanted the bodies and the images to speak.

This was an exploration process, of getting to know each other and trying something new. Exploring the types of materials and places around us to really connect with our past and present 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.

June 30, 2023 - Filmmaker Andréa Gema Heunis (THE LAST SEED)

THE LAST SEED, 118min., South Africa, Documentary
Directed by Andréa Gema Heunis
The Last Seed focuses on broad themes relating to the state of food and agriculture in Africa in the 21st century. Placing the struggle over the control of seed at the centre, it explains the processes that have led to this moment in human history and what it would take to interact with the planet in a way that does not threaten the very basis of life on earth.

https://www.instagram.com/rosaluxglobal/
https://www.facebook.com/rosaluxglobal

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 26, 2023 - Filmmaker Greg Womble (LOVE WITHOUT PAROLE)

LOVE WITHOUT PAROLE, 27min., USA, Documentary

Directed by Greg Womble

Michael falls deeply in love and matrimony follows. But married life can be tough when you’re serving a life-without-parole sentence in a notorious Alabama prison. The union soon dies, but the love doesn't. When Michael is miraculously freed after serving 36 years for relatively minor crimes, will the romance be reignited?

https://www.womcom.net/love-without-parole

https://www.facebook.com/Love-Without-Parole-a-short-film-by-Greg-Womble-Elaine-Witt-108611718616646

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.

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