CATS AND HUSBANDS, 7min., USA
Directed by Grace Samson, Barry Samson
We enter the story where two close friends, Fern and Marcie get together at a local coffee shop to celebrate a birthday. Fern has been going through two years of cycles of In Vitro, desperately trying to get pregnant but with no success. Her husband, Nick’s coping mechanism has been dressing up with the family Cat and taking silly pictures. Marcie jokingly suggests that Fern just book a vacation for herself and leave hubby with the cat. All this to help soften the reality that the birthday Fern celebrates today is that of a child she miscarried two years before.

https://instagram.com/catsandhusbands

Get to know filmmaker Grace Samson:
Being a thirty two year old woman, I started to see ads for freezing your eggs. I thought, wow I’m not ready for that yet, but interesting what a pressure it is to have babies as a woman at my age. I wanted to include a woman’s story that others who are in the same position could commiserate with and feel like they are not alone.

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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ALL WE WERE, 20min., USA
Directed by Emily Aleece Burton
Olivia, a struggling artist and hopeless romantic, is blindsided when her successful boyfriend, Nico, suddenly dumps her. The two then reflect on all their relationship from two perspectives. For her, he’s a broken distraction she can fix; for him, she’s a beautiful mystery just out of reach. What happens when you fall in love with the idea of someone you’ve created in your head instead of who they actually are? Can you honestly say you knew all we were?

https://www.instagram.com/allwewerefilm/

Get to know the filmmaker:
I chose to write and direct this short film, ‘All We Were,’ after getting out of a toxic relationship of my own. I fell in love with a man who allowed me to feel safe and vulnerable for the first time only for him to then use that against me when I expressed how insignificant I felt to him. After months of therapy, I wanted to create something beautiful not only to take back my voice that I felt that he had dismissed but to explore both sides of the relationship to see where along the way we got lost in translation. People tend to fall in love with the idea of someone instead of who they are. The same goes for my lead characters, Olivia and Nico. In the end, Nico uses radical honesty to try and deflect any blame for the outcome of the relationship. At the same time, Olivia refuses to believe him as she has hung on to any breadcrumbs of love he’s ever given her as proof to herself that he does care. Neither one ever sees the other for who they actually were.

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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CRAVATE, 11min., Canada
Directed by Clement Faure
When Mav wakes up from another mysterious nightmare, he decides not to take his medicine that day. Locked in a dark basement residence and haunted by his work, he wishes he would have a break. That morning, Mav doesn’t expect to face someone he might know.

http://fluxproduction.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/flux.production.ca
https://www.instagram.com/clement.faure.video/

Get to know the filmmaker:

I got the main idea for this film one morning 7 years ago. I woke up after a sleepless night and went to the bathroom to wash and dress. I started to look at myself in the mirror and as I was staring intensely at my reflection , I became aware of these two characters, these paradoxal life paths’s desires inside me. My conscious wanted something and my unconscious (reflection) was saying something else. That was also explaining why I was not sleeping, why I was so stressed and anxious in my life at that time: my two selves were not aligned.
Then I knew I wanted the story to take place in a dystopian universe, a near future but where the viewer would feel the underground confined environnement. This place is the metaphorical representation of the first character’s psyche obviously. Then the bathroom is the place where you wash yourself, you wash your sins maybe, you wash to make your mind cleaner, clearer. I knew I wanted these metaphorical aspects in the film that added another layer to the story.

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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Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp8Y7Y8Qxfo

Inspired by a young adventurer, a frustrated midlife wife escapes her marriage and flies to America with a birthday bucket list that helps her find truth, freedom and the future she’s waited twenty years for.

Get to know the writer:
Jenny Collins is a bored, midlife bookworm who unexpectedly gatecrashes a wake, gets inspired by a young adventurer and takes a surprise trip to New York with a birthday bucket list that turns into the adventure she’s always wanted. Discovering who she might be, if she gave herself a chance.

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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NO SLASHER HERE, 9min., USA
Directed by Robert Tiemstra
A woman comes home from work, only to receive an unsettling phone call. Does the danger only exist over the phone, or is there a masked killer inside her home?

https://instagram.com/the_timestar

Get to know the filmmaker:
The production for ‘No Slasher Here’ started with a New Years’ Day text message from me to Llenelle, my producing partner for this film – “do you want to make a spooky movie this year?” We’d worked together before, but never on a horror film. I was just finishing up the film festival run for my last film – a dystopian short called The October Martyr – and I was feeling the urge to do something scrappy & fun. Once I had Llenelle on board to act in something, I just asked myself ‘what sort of horror movie would I cast her in?’ and the answer came in the form of a When a Stranger Calls/Black Christmas/Scream style horror movie opening. The central conceit occurred to me while I was on a walk – instead of having a killer call someone, what if the ‘victim’ in this kind of setup picks up the phone to find another similar horror movie opening going on somewhere else? Then it became a puzzle for me to solve, a weird mobius strip of slasher movie suspense.

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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SHATTERED REMEDY, 16min., USA/China

Directed by Dmitry Kulak

A police officer suffers from severe migraine right before his night shift. He decides to fight it with abnormal amount of medication. However, he does not realize that the side effects will soon cause him to lose his ability to understand reality and differentiate between his own experiences and those of others.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmRa6OCKvGx/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

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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AUGURY, 5min., USA
Directed by Cousteau Bix Christopher
What do you see?

Get to know the filmmaker:

I have always been fascinated with film, and I fully committed to being a filmmaker at age 11, a passion that has never faltered for me. With the case of Augury, it had certainly been a while since I created my last short film (during the pandemic). A lot of momentum was derailed due to covid, so I switched gears and while working full-time focused on getting my Bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Studies through ASU Online. Throughout this time, I also did extensive amounts of personal research into cinematography and film production to learn as much as I could.

Once I finally received my Bachelor’s, I decided to put myself to the test. I wanted to make the highest quality production I could with essentially no budget. I believe the total budget for this film was around $200, and it pretty much all went to the prop and craft services. I don’t come from a wealthy family, and never had that “rich uncle” or anyone who would be able to fund my film endeavors, so being self-funded I always leaned heavily into how to “get the best bang for your buck.” I had some gear I collected over the years, and with my trusty Blackmagic Pocket, two video lights, a little LED light mat, and the absolute unbridled passion from my amazing cast and crew, Augury came to be.

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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PARADISO, 12min., USA
Directed by Jonna Volz
Paradiso is a glimpse of a day in the life of an unhoused couple looking for shelter for the evening. As they find paradise in a vacant apartment they start dreaming big with possibility, until they are caught.

https://www.instagram.com/paradiso_short_film/

Get to know the actor & producer Lenny Hernandez:
Ultimately, it was an opportunity I wanted to challenge myself to create my own work. As an Actor you rely so heavily on other people to see your value, to give you a chance to showcase your skills and talents. It’s a tough industry to devote yourself to. And while I still love the process of auditioning for TV, Films, and hundreds of commercials, the reality is you only book a fraction of a fraction of paid gigs. So, I decided to take some time to shadow industry people behind the camera to learn the process of filmmaking. It was exactly the hands-on information I needed to learn. There I gathered enough knowledge and confidence to attempt to fully produce my own project in PARADISO.

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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METAMORFOSI, 5min., Canada
Directed by Arty Sandler
A composer chooses to write music for "Alice in Wonderland" and by doing so accidentally opens a portal inside her piano, falls down the rabbit hole into the Wonderland and meets manifestations of different sides of her own character - Queen of Hearts and Jabberwocky.

https://www.milanazilnik.com/albums/metamorfosi
https://facebook.com/zilnikmilana
https://twitter.com/milanazilnik
https://instagram.com/milanazilnik

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/metamorfosi-review

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DIGGING OUT, 5min., USA

Directed by Lara Britton

Trapped in the trauma of her past and haunted by the voice of her abusive partner, a woman sorts through a wall of boxes in an old, rusty shipping container. With each box she discards, the voice gets louder, the effect of chronic abuse, until she uncovers a long-hidden artifact that sparks long-suppressed memories of who she once was, forcing her to confront her past in order to move on to the future.

Get to know the filmmaker:

Two things, really. First I've been in an abusive relationship in the past and have heard every one of these phrases. I know other women have heard similar things

Secondly, my mother in law was a hoarder, an organized hoarder, but a hoarder nonetheless and she lived in the memories of her past, surrounded by boxes and boxes of well-organized things. I thought how awful to be so mired in the past that she literally surrounded herself with remnants and never really moved on with a life after her husband died.

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 PROPER EDUCATION, 20min,. USA
Directed by MaryLanae Linen
Filmmaker MaryLanae Linen, frustrated by her lack of sex education, sets out to discover if her peers feel the same way. She meets with sex educators, parents, and friends and surveys the streets of Los Angeles to discover that they also lacked an informative and comprehensive sex ed. MaryLanae opens up about her own exploration of sex and reflects on how a lack of knowledge has hurt her. With the encouragement of her mother and peers, MaryLanae redefines her relationship with sex and reimagines a better future where young people can be uplifted and empowered with knowledge regarding boundaries, relationships, and bodily autonomy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuikVtFT7Cc
https://www.instagram.com/propereducation_film/

Get to know the filmmaker:
Growing up I always had a weird and strained relationship with my body and the idea of sex. As a victim of sexuall trauma it was hard for me to see sex as anything other than a bad thing. But as I grew up and met people with similar experiences and questions about sex I felt less alone. I realized that the lack of sex education isn’t just about parents not talking to their kids, it’s about parents not knowing what to say, it’s about the government not providing adequate education. AS seen in the film, there is so much that people don’t know about their own bodies. I wanted this film to open their eyes and make them less afraid of sex and their bodies.

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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MAKING USA ENAMEL, 17min,. USA
Directed by Regan Vasquez
The documentary “Making USA Enamel” takes viewers on a three-year journey to bring colorful enameling to US soil—in the middle of a global pandemic, too. Meet the people of Lodge Cast Iron who helped create USA Enamel™ in this documentary by Regan Vasquez, featuring interviews with leadership and employees from across Lodge, as well as footage from Lodge foundries and the enameling facility.

http://lodgecastiron.com/
https://facebook.com/lodgecastiron
https://twitter.com/lodgecastiron
https://instagram.com/lodgecastiron

Get to know the filmmaker:

In January of 2020, I had been working for Lodge Cast Iron a little over a year and was approached about this documentary. The film explores this, but essentially, USA Enamel was something our company had wanted to do for so many years and I was so excited to be given the opportunity to share that story with our audience. This isn’t a space that many people know too much about so the chance to highlight the people behind this product was very cool. I had no idea we’d be living and working through a global pandemic soon after—plus, so many other obstacles would come our way during the process—but as a team we kept persevering and finally ended up where we are today with a product line we’re so proud of and a documentary, too! I’m really grateful I was able to give such visibility into how something that we use in our home every single day was made.

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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WICKED PLANS, 6min., Canada

Directed by Lee Chambers

Style Dayne, the Pizza Guy from Deadpool stars as a foreign extremist from Amadajiya, who accidentally chooses Halloween to enact a moment of terror. To his surprise, he discovers that North American life and culture is truly special, unique and sweet.

http://www.leechambers.com/

http://www.instagram.com/leechambersdotcom

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 NIGHTINGALE, 37min., UK
Directed by Robbi Stevens
Set in London and inspired by real-life events, The Nightingale follows Grace, a second-year university student, on her reckless and dangerous path through the different stages of PTSD. With unflinching honesty, the film explores the lasting impact of sexual assault and the courage it takes to overcome it.

https://raawlondon.org/the-nightingale
https://instagram.com/thenightingalefilm_

Get to know director Robbi Stevens & producer Abbie Elliott:

Robbi: I’ve always wanted to tell stories that asks the audience to contemplate what life is really like for people who have been through injustices like Grace or for anyone who has suffered discrimination. Then around 2019, so many girls and young women I knew were going through different levels of trauma after been sexually assaulted or raped or just having to contend with rape culture. It had become normalised – even decriminalized. It started to feel like an emergency with everyone looking in the other direction and no-one coming to help. Then COVID hit and I sat down and wrote it. It was a call to action! We wanted to shatter the complacency surrounding sexual violence by bringing attention to the lasting impact it has on victims. We refuse to accept a society where violence against women and girls is deemed baseline, and where the burden of preventing assault falls solely on women. Through the raw power of storytelling, we want audiences to witness and truly comprehend the immense struggles victims endure long after the act.

‘The Nightingale’ is not intended to focus on the perpetrator but rather on the strength and resilience of the survivors as they overcome adversity. It is crucial to shift the narrative away from victim-blaming (‘cover your drink, don’t go home alone, stop wearing short skirts) and instead foster a collective responsibility to address this societal problem.

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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ST. GEORGE, 12min., USA
Directed by Lane Womack, Scott C. Crenshaw, Nickolas Klesmith
A tale of two brothers getting raised by the wrong parents, in this short film part one of a 6 part mini series comes Bodie and Ricki George. Bodie, a cleancut mommas boy gets caught up in his older brother Ricki's troubled past. The two embark on a mission that fails before it started. Bodie gets left with a dead mother, brother in prison and a wife who can't stand him, the only thing standing on the other side of the sun is hope.

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 YOU, 6min., USA
Directed by Anika Jensen
A teenage girl visits a beach where she often went to as a child and reminisces about how things aren’t the way they used to be.

https://filmfreeway.com/anirozai

Get to know the filmmaker:

This might come as a surprise, but the song featured in my film is what came first. I’ve struggled with relatively severe mental health issues this past year and a half and so I wrote a song expressing how I felt about missing the simplicity and innocent joy of childhood. Many people who are in pain use art as a way to express themselves. Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether I would even share the song due to its personal nature. However, in a film class I took over the summer, I was trying to come up with ideas and remembered this song. Even though it’s difficult to be so vulnerable, I knew I could make an impactful story with it. I’m glad I made that decision. Opening up to others always makes me feel less alone and (hopefully) my film will make others who are struggling feel less alone as well.

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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SON RISE, SON SHINE, 10min., USA
Directed by Sasha Marie Speer
A black man struggles to find his place in the world after not meeting society’s expectations. Son Rise, Son Shine is a short film about the journey of Gerald, a black, gay man, as he interacts with himself and the world from ages 6 to 40. Throughout the film, his 9-year-old self is acting as his inner bully, always telling him that the way he is doesn’t meet who he should be as a black man. That he isn’t good enough. That no one loves him. Through his different ages, we see Gerald struggle, but eventually finally find peace with who he is and his place in the world.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I was approached by real-life Gerald to help him make a film for his 40th birthday. After hours of talking, we decided this would be the most authentic direction to go to reflect his journey to this point in life.

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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SOLO DUET: WHO'S ON FIRST, 8min,. Canada

Directed by Paul Michael Snider

Through a unique mix of comedy and visual effects, one actor performs the famous Abbott and Costello comedy routine 'Who's On First'

http://www.soloduet.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/findpaulsnider

https://twitter.com/paulsnidermusic

https://www.instagram.com/paulsnidermusic/

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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THIS PROMISE, 14min., Ireland

Directed by Naoimh Ni Luanaigh

This Promise highlights multiple issues faced by homeless women in Ireland, but primarily tells a story of resilience and hope. Cheryl is homeless, battling to access her young daughter and losing autonomy in her life. A chance encounter with another homeless woman gives her the strength to keep fighting.

https://www.thispromisefilm.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ThisPromiseFilm

https://www.instagram.com/thispromise_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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SAPPHIRE / ALIEN SEED, SOUTHERN CITY, 16min., USA

Directed by Emma Colton

Performer/Writer Melanie Greene

Sapphire is a time-traveling golden goddess moving through nature, pleasure, and mysticism. She snakes between seconds, flirting with the seen and unseen, marrying metallic molecules and alchemist dreams.

http://www.methodsofperception.com/

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/sapphire-review

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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