Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjWe3zqFzqk

In the afterlife, a murdered man meets a grieving mother who died during the Great Depression and has been ferrying souls through purgatory ever since for the chance to rescue her daughter’s soul from damnation.

Get to know the screenwriter:

I think my 1-hour pilot script would make a fantastic television show. Sure, it’s about death, but it’s also about choices, addiction, co-dependency, guilt, loss, forgiveness, and personal responsibility, all wrapped up in a fun, dark, dangerous world where the characters really are down to their very last chance.

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Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPdZKEVV2s

A smart, but indecisive movie theater owner is about to lose her husband, movie theater and her family’s legacy, but when two forces of nature sweep into her life–a violent tropical storm and a gorgeous and compassionate man–she finally jumps into action to get what she wants.

https://www.facebook.com/janna.jones
https://instagram.com/drjannajones

Get to know the screenwriter:

Shelter is original, funny and sweet. It is truly a love letter to cinema, and it is full of funny, quirky and three dimensional characters who live on a cool, funky island off the coast of Florida. In some ways, it also flips the script of the romantic comedy–because at the end of Shelter, we see the woman chasing after the man; in this case, by way of skateboard and golf cart!

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=Q6lx36tTrjE

In 1350s Florence, an insecure nun unwillingly becomes the Mother Superior after the Plague kills the leaders of her nearly bankrupt convent. To save her convent, she must find the strength to confront the male dominated Church, Guilds and civil authorities, and her own demons.

Get to know the screenwriter:

While set in the past, Mother Superior has great modern-day relevance. The Plague foreshadows the disruptions of our Covid epidemic. Today’s struggles of women with a male dominated Church and civil society, and with their own faith, echo those of the protagonist.

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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T’AI CHI MAN!, 3min,. USA
Directed by Zach Brewster-Geisz
A robbery is foiled by a uniquely incompetent superhero.

http://zachbg.com/filmmaker
http://instagram.com/zachbg7

Get to know the filmmaker:

My wife used to take T’ai Chi, and she told me about a crack someone had made about how they were “learning to beat people up really slowly.” That stuck with me, and the idea came pretty quickly after that. As for motivation, I’m always up to make people laugh.

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

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

Get to know the filmmaker;

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

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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HOME, 13min., USA, Dance
Directed by Shari Coleman
When her parent’s domestic violent relationship comes to a head, Harley must choose between protecting her family and keeping her sanity.

Get to know the filmmaker:

Growing up, I unfortunately witnessed the terror that is a domestic violent relationship. Though it did get me thinking about how the scope of what domestic violence is and who it affects is very spotlighted on the couple but how about the children? What does it do to them?

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

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

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

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

Get to know the filmmaker:

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

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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

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

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.

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REQUIEM. GENERATION. BREAKER., 7min., USA, Animation/Musical
Directed by Derwin Hayden
After a father witnesses a murder, Myck, and his family become targeted by an inter-dimensional demon.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I was motivated by a book called “Man’s Unconquerable Mind” by Gilbert Highet. I wanted to write a tragedy where a person was cast into a dark pit of despair but refused to let the fire of their soul flicker away.

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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JALEBI NIGHTS, 13min., UK, Drama/Romance
Directed by Ganesh Sharma
Jalebi Nights follows the journey of a young heartbroken man, named Krishan. He was about to propose to the love of his life, however her mother intervened. 6 months later, Krishan still can’t get over his ex, so his best friend Harry comes up with a plan to help Krishan move on.

https://www.instagram.com/jalebinightsfilm

Get to know filmmaker Ganesh Sharma:

So I’m a filmmaker of south Asian descent, who was born in the UK and I grew up with a passion for watching films and TV shows from the western world. After all, this is where I was raised. However, from an early age I noticed that there weren’t many Asians being represented in the shows or the films that I watched. Additionally, if an Asian person was shown on screen, 9 times out of 10 they were used for a comedic moment. They were hardly an integral part of the story.

Now as a 31-year-old man, I can see that times have changed, and films have become a lot more diverse. There are certainly a lot more Asian faces on TV, which is great to see! However I believe that only a handful of them are ever provided with a lead role. Therefore, as a writer/director of South Asian origin, I decided that I should take it upon myself to change that.

With ‘Jalebi Nights’, I wanted to create a story that felt fitting of the struggles of South Asian people in my age group, in regards to arranged marriages, family pressure, sexual orientation etc. I also wrote the film in a way that people of all backgrounds could relate to. Additionally, another goal for me was to ensure I was giving Asian actors an opportunity to shine, and I’m happy to say I did! My entire cast is of South Asian origin, and for three of them, this is their first ever film credit.

PIANO-SOLEIL, 8min., Brazil, Dance
Directed by Caio Amon
A young woman feels trapped in a claustrophobic reality. She yearns for vast and awe-inspiring landscapes, where freedom of movement and communion with nature are possible. Yet she realizes that the wondrous beauty of these natural environments is threatened by mankind’s seemingly unrelenting exploitation of Mother Earth.

https://montrealmusica.com/album-videos/

Get to know the filmmaker:

The film was an international commission from Canadian pianist Marc Bourdeau to Brazilian filmmaker Caio Amon and thought as an experimental music video for a piano piece in his last album.

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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FERMATA, 4min., USA, Thriller
Directed by Preston Bowe
A struggling pianist makes a peculiar discovery.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I was inspired to make Fermata after thinking about my and my friends’ experiences with creating art—these tendencies to doubt ourselves or hold ourselves back in fear of what others might think. As someone who struggles with that sense of creative self-doubt, making the film was really a cathartic experience. At the same time, I really wanted to make a film that paid homage to the bizarre horror films of the ’70s and ’80s, complete with practical special effects. Movies like The Thing, Possession, and Eraserhead were some inspirations. I tried to draw from how it felt to catch glimpses of horror movies on TV as a young child—the uncanny and dreamlike feeling of seeing the unreal treated as something mundane. Ultimately I tried to marry that horror style with more of a modern, coming-of-age sensibility.

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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LET THE MUSIC PLAY was the winner of BEST FEATURE FILM at the November 2021 DOCUMENTARY Film Festival.

Get to know the filmmaker:

We had originally had another project planned and that was totally squashed because of Covid-19. As someone working in the music industry, I was in touch with a lot of artists, promoters, etc. because we were all kind of comparing notes on how things were going. No one had work and everyone was trying to figure out their next move. Since these conversations were already happening around me and I understood the depths of crisis that we were already in, I wondered if people would be willing to speak on the record. Not just that, but I really wondered how many would be willing to be on camera as is, without the usual frills because Covid lockdown meant that we HAD to rely on things like Zoom. I knew the trickle-down effect in the music industry- how closures meant no work for parking attendants, merch companies, bartenders, etc. and I also knew that most people didn’t really understand the scope of the impact. Sure, the Foo Fighters would be just fine but the lady who takes your tickets and guides you to your seat was out of work for an entire year. Really explaining the crushing impact kept us motivated the entire time because someone needed to speak for the live music industry as a whole.

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 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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STRIKE, 5min., USA, Action/Thriller
Directed by Oliver Li. Cinematography by Teddy Jian

Get to know the filmmaker:

Action is a genre that I have always wanted to try, but I rarely have the opportunity to do so. Fortunately, my cinematographer, Teddy, and I got a chance to experiment with action when we audited a directing course that focused on action in films. During the course, we were assigned to shoot a dance/fist fight/chasing scene. Initially, I had planned to shoot a car chase sequence. However, after some test shooting, Teddy convinced me that it was beyond our current capabilities. Consequently, we decided to only shoot a fist fight scene that included a chasing sequence. To give the fight a story setting, I came up with a Bourne Identity-style plot.

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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