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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THE USELESS GLASSBLOWER, 15min., Germany
Directed by Holger E. Metzger
A fascinating short documentary on a traditional glassmaker deep in the southern German Black Forest, and his thoughts and feelings about what this 7000-year-old craft has taught him about life.

Get to know the filmmaker and doc subject Dirk Bürklin

l HOLGER: I spent 30 years in China (that is, my whole adult life so far) and only returned to live in Germany again (my home country which I left during my youth) a year ago. Apart from a plethora of culture-shock-inducing elements, I find today’s Germany to be hopelessly behind a much more future-oriented Asia, and with the speed and depth of digitalization representing only one issue among many. I also observed a sort of ideological clash between a “preservation” mindset, with people on the one side of the divide wanting to preserve (or return to) those “golden times” of yesterday, a rose-tinted “Made in Germany” heritage in thought, craft and economic might. Those times are long gone, of course, and thus on the other side you have another set of (younger) people who reject the past, who are eager to think differently and actively create a different tomorrow, a future that is digital, futuristic and completely different from yesterday or even today. I have known Dirk for a while and admired his craft, he operates a glass furnace close to where I live now, somewhere deep in the southern part of Germany’s black forest. He’s a guy who doesn’t see the need for owning a smart phone (imagine that, in 2023…), who has been engaging in traditional glassmaking for all his adult life, who uses a glassmaking recipe that is 7000 years old (the epitome of “yesterday”) and who, in a profession that hardly anyone would see as a “future vocation” in our increasingly automated, perfectionist and AI-supported modern times, has some very interesting and inspiring thoughts to share with a world that seems increasingly paralyzed by a sense of uncertainty. That’s why I approached him about doing this documentary, to start with exploring his thoughts and feelings and experience, to then allow a narrative to take its natural shape while at the same time visually exploring his unique glassmaking process.

l DIRK: When Holger asked me to do a film project about me and my glassmaking, I thought it would be a funny and interesting experience, and I was expectant as to what would happen. I never imagined that anyone would want to hear what I had to say, but apparently, I was wrong. 

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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ENGLISH BREAKFAST, 9min., USA, Dark Comedy
Directed by Dustin Hendrix
Claire and Shaun, a newlywed couple, stay at the critically-acclaimed Miss Talbot’s Bed and Breakfast. Before long, Claire starts to realize that this bed and breakfast isn’t quite as charming as it initially appears to be.

https://www.instagram.com/english.breakfast.film/

Get to know the filmmaker:

In 2017 my wife and I stayed at an Airbnb for the first time, and I found the concept strangely fascinating: sleeping in a random stranger’s house. At the time I thought, what if the owner was not who they seemed to be, and wanted to murder us after we fell asleep? The idea stuck with me, and finally in 2019 I decided it was time to explore this idea. So essentially, this film is a product of my overactive imagination.

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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SEEK, 13min., Japan, Action
Directed by Shane Kosugi, Kansuke Asano
K. Hanzo, an assassin for a covert non-governmental espionage group in Japan called “49” or “SEEK”, is grieving over the loss of his girlfriend from a tragic car accident. His ex-boss, J, contacts him to do one last mission for him; kill his ex-partner who has kidnapped a young agent and stolen some vital information which he plans to sell to the Yakuza. Although the Ninjas are gone…the new breed of assassins live on; so the Ninja lives on.

https://www.instagram.com/shanekosugi/

Get to know Filmmaker Shane Kosugi:

– we all wanted to make an action short that could show the world the beauty of Japan, the wonderful lure of the samurai’s and ninjas and that Japan can still make good story based action films.

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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LIGHT, 5min., USA
Directed by Karla Santa Anna
In a world where a huge garbage island floats across our seas, fruit has very suspicious ancestry, and immigrant children are literally abandoned in the middle of nowhere, if one day the ocean rains upward…we would totally believe it. That’s how the world feels: very upside down.

Get to know the filmmaker:

One day I was thinking about the world and how upside down it feels, so that inspired me to write a very dystopic poem. Then I thought it would be cool to illustrate it with Midjourney (Art AI platform). Eventually I put sound effects,started editing, and even got to use a MOBY song that I really love. It all ended up as an experimental short, so as you see it was never a plan. I guess I allowed creativity to unfold and just let it happen as it went by.

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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ELEMENTS: BEAUTIFUL UNTRUE THINGS, 8min., Sweden
Directed by Amelia Finngåård
Elements is a solo choreography that is the intersection of nature, fashion, Venusian imagery, and movement. Elements is an exploration of dance/movement and the elements of nature, earth, sun, water and air. The natural influences and sounds of these elements merge with the art form of punking/whacking and fashion in the background of Västra Götaland’s scenic nature.

https://vimeo.com/768220860
https://instagram.com/beautiful_untrue_tingz

Get to know producer/star Alyssa Briteramos:
I wanted to begin to explore dance on film as another medium to express my ideas and archive my work. It was also a way to reconnect the specific style of dance I represent back to the medium that its inspired from, 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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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.