ASHES, 10min., Canada
Directed by Charles-Antoine Thériault
Over time, nature wilfully and circumstantially adapts to its environment, but when the cyclical clash between evolution and cataclysm occurs, nature’s fight to reclaim its place often leaves scars that endure for many seasons. “Ashes” recounts the tale of a Heron and the 62 Lakes under his watchful eye, of the creation of these watery masses that now encompass the region of Saint-Hippolyte – a tragic tale of self-sacrifice that has become an eternal legend.

Get to know the filmmaker:
The city of Saint-Hippolyte had a project about the 62 lakes in the region, and when I was asked to create something for it, I saw an opportunity to go beyond a traditional visual video. I wanted to offer something more to the people of Saint-Hippolyte and create their own legend. So, I developed a myth around the creation of the unique 62 lakes and proposed to the city’s cultural director to make a movie about it. And here it is!

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PLANET SOIL, 83min., Netherlands, Documentary
Directed by Mark Verkerk
Planet Soil makes the unseen seen. The film inspires and amazes and gives insight into the world beneath our feet. Besides the world above ground populated by plants, insects and birds, but especially by humans, there is a second world: an underground community of roots, larvae, worms, fungi, bacteria, amoebas and arthropods. The existence of this world will not surprise anyone, but the fact that all the life in that microcosm is busily communicating with each other is nothing short of astonishing.

http://www.onderhetmaaiveldfilm.nl/
https://www.facebook.com/onderhetmaaiveldfilm/
https://twitter.com/bodemfilm
https://www.instagram.com/onderhetmaaiveld/

Get to know the filmmaker:

We have been making film about nature for the past 13 years. Films like The New Wilderness and Wild Amsterdam have been internationally successful. Our mission is to inspire people about nature. Making the unseen seen. Not in a critical way and not judging but showing the beauty and importance of our relation with nature. We people are nature. The films are a call to action but people have to discover themselves how they can make a difference and change behavior.

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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WHAT I NEED, 13min., Romance
Directed by Jake Skrok
Two lifelong friends try to reconnect a year after breaking up. But on their snack run for one who is now pregnant and married they find there are still feelings between them.

https://www.instagram.com/whatineed_short

Get to know the filmmaker:
The origin of this story came from a break-up I had in 2019. It had a moment when we tried to reconnect a few months later, and there was still a scary connection there. So I found myself feeling many things I felt out of control and I wanted to explore a character making a choice I was struggling to accept 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.

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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.

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THE COST OF MONEY, 14min., USA
Directed by Robbie Ryde
Battling with her own emotional numbness, sheltered socialite Serena sets out to experience hardship by joining an NA meeting where she discovers real connection, friendship and personal truth.

https://fitzcarraldopictures.com/

Get to know writer/producer Nikki Apostolidis:

During my time in LA, I was enrolled in AAFTA (American Arts, Film & Television Academy) where the emphasis was on creativity and encouraging students to develop their own projects. It was within this environment that we were encouraged to pitch ideas for short films and work with our fellow peers.
For this particular project, my third short film, I had a personal attachment and a strong vision. I aimed to create a humorous story that could potentially evolve into a TV series, drawing inspiration from beloved shows like “The Office” and “Schitt’s Creek.”
By blending comedy and genuine themes, I aimed to create a show that resonated with audiences, providing an enjoyable viewing experience while also touching upon deeper subjects. This project held a special place in my heart, as it allowed me to explore my creative vision and aspire towards a future where the concept could expand into a full-fledged TV series.

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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DYSMORPHIA, 13min., USA, Thriller/Horror
Directed by Amy Geist
After Isabella fakes cancer to pay for cosmetic surgery she is haunted by a menacing shadow figure.

https://www.facebook.com/dysmorphiahorrorfilm
https://www.instagram.com/dysmorphia_horrorfilm

Get to know the filmmaker:

I had an eating disorder for 20 years and am still in recovery. Whenever I see depictions of eating disorders they are all very clean, clinical, and made to be very digestible with a happy ending and none of this represented my experience. I wanted to make a film that represented the internal experience of an eating disorder and horror was the best way to do 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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PURPLE, 4min,. Australia, Music Video
Directed by Kyan Li Rong Soh
Music Video depicting cold loneliness.

https://vimeo.com/kyans

Get to know the filmmaker:

In the aftermath of a painful, personal experience, I felt really lonely. This is my expression of that. It took my maybe two weeks (to make the film). That’s not normal for me, I usually spend a lot of time conceptualizing things before I shoot/record stuff, but this one flowed really quickly.

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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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.

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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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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.

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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.

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STILL LIGHT, 3min., USA, Experimental
Directed by Aparna Sharma
Still Light is an experimental short made of photographic stills. The film explores the relation of light to perception. It is entirely shot and edited on a mobile phone.

Get to know the filmmaker:

Over a few years I had been spontaneously making pictures using my mobile phone while on long walks. I had a sense making these images that I was interested to see how light impacts our perception of a space. I kept making these images and storing them on a mobile phone. During the pandemic I had to travel to India for an emergency. This was before the vaccines had come out. So I had to undertake a 10 days quarantine in a hotel. I was locked up in a room and to bring some semblance to that time I started to look at these pictures I had been making. Impulsively I felt like selecting and editing them into some form and that’s how the film really started and came about.

When I was taking pictures, I had no idea that it would result in a 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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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.

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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.

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THE LAST ZOMBIE, 16min., USA
Directed by Adam J. Vaughn
At the conclusion of a zombie apocalypse, a lone zombie wanders the planet, isolated and threatened by every human in sight. When Nova, the last zombie, comes across a little girl who knows no fear, the two form an unlikely – and tragically short lived – friendship.

Get to know the filmmaker:
During my studies at Stevenson university, I conceived, scripted, shot, and finalized many student film ideas, many of which went on to be award-winning films. “The Last Zombie” was a project from my studies that I had scripted, revised, but never actually filmed while in school. Partnering with Charm City Filmmakers, I was able to complete “Last Zombie,” inspired by the influences of such things like “The Walking Dead,” “Warm Bodies,” as well as the famous ‘Maria and the Monster’ scene from the 1920’s Universal film, “Frankenstein.”

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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INCORRIGIBLE, 11min., USA
Directed by Robert Jauregui
Noah has a unique set of skills that has always frustrated her best friend Alex. After yet another one of Noah’s episodes, the duo must decide on the best course of action. A farce ensues, which leads both down a path to which there is no turning back.

https://www.instagram.com/incorrigiblethefilm2022/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I wanted to make a different kind of film. Something that would turn a very serious subject (in this case, a serial killer) and turn it on its head. Have fun with it, and make it a dark comedy.

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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PIEDRA DURA, 20min,. USA, Drama

Directed by Rommel Villa

An altar boy is disciplined after being caught watching gay porn at church

Rommel also has his short film, TEDDY MATE, play at our festival back in 2019.

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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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.

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CHEESY AND THE BEARS, 3min., USA, Animation
Directed by Tyler Carlin
A 3D Original Animated Musical Adventure. Daring Adventurer, Cheesy, treks deep into an ancient forest after discovering the legend of The Bears in a Magical Book. The Book allows communication with these majestic and wise creatures. During their first encounter, we see them take an epic journey through the vast forest. Along the way, they come across other magical forest animals who join their quest. Cheesy knows The Bears posses the knowledge of how to live forever and travel throughout the Galaxy, and he has been preparing for this moment since he was a young boy…

https://www.youtube.com/@cheesyandthebears
https://www.facebook.com/cheesyandthebears
https://www.instagram.com/cheesyandthebears

Get to know the filmmaker:

I actually wrote the song when I was 19, and it lived in my brain for 18 years! I played it for friends and family over the years on piano until this past year my childhood friend, Dave- who’s also my music producer said, “Your songs would work really well as a kids show!” We brought in our other childhood friend, Josh, and our team was off to the races.

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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LITTLE JUDAS, 6min,. USA
Directed by Greg Boose
Young and mischievous Judas Iscariot dreams of ruling the streets of Nazareth while reluctantly befriending his strange and annoying new neighbor, Jesus of Galilee. The kids attend the first day Josaphat’s School of Shepherding, learning how to handle bear attacks and first crushes.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26671036/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I went to Catholic school for 12 years and had a lot of biblical characters always bouncing around in my head. Judas Iscariot always stood out to me because we knew so little about him: He was a greedy backstabber who betrayed Jesus. I wondered, “How did Judas end up like that? What was his childhood like?” So, a few years back, I wrote an animated pilot about Judas Iscariot being an asshole punk teenager on the streets of Nazareth, and Jesus and his weird family move in next door. The two of them attend shepherding school together and form an unlikely friendship by the end. The pilot script got pretty far in some screenplay contests, but ultimately nothing happened with it.

Hadas Goshen, executive producer of “Little Judas,” read the script in 2022 and got really excited and wanted to help me create it. She reached out to the brilliant animator Bradley Oliver Wilkinson, and soon the project was in motion: We would create one scene from the pilot as an example of what we can do 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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LVCI, 3min., USA, Fashion
Directed by Brock Gregory Newman
A woman wanders the desert in search of a connection to her spiritual self and is transported to a darker realm where she makes contact with another side of herself.

https://www.kentsunamishep.com/lvci
http://instagram.com/undergroundtsu

Get to know the filmmaker:

Quite a bland answer but I was invited by my close friend and long-time collaborator Josh DeVargas to join an already existing photoshoot. The video was originally meant to be a supplementary piece to the photos but quickly grew into its own thing.

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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