ROOM OF MEMORIES, 2min., Australia
Directed by Suniva Maya Miller
The story of heartbreak told from the memory center of the brain.

https://instagram.com/caffeinated_dream_dream

Get to know the filmmaker:

It was my first ever animated film that I developed during my first year of university. For some reason I had this feeling that I had to make something so emotional and deep. At the time I had just been through a pretty rough breakup with someone who I had been friends with for much longer. So I wanted to write and make something that would reflect the complicated emotions I had surrounding this person and our relationship.

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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STIGMA, 3min., USA
Directed by Mark Schoen
The three-minute film STIGMA demonstrates that no matter what your race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity all human beings ae basically the same.
The three-minute film STIGMA demonstrates that no matter what your race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity all human beings ae basically the same.

https://www.sexsmartfilms.com/company/

Get to know the filmmaker:

The motivation for this film came from a telephone conversation I had with Liana Zhou, Head of Collections at The Kinsey Institute. We were talking about discrimination and how so many people are stigmatized because of superficial factors when we both agreed that basically all people are the same!

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 A DAY, 5min., Thailand
Directed by Allen Cheng
Our world is busy, lonely, and exhausting. It is so common for us to go through a rough day, come home and lay on our bed with tears and sweats, then simply complain to ourselves, “ugh, what a day”.

https://www.instagram.com/allenuknowwhatimsaying/

Get to know the filmmaker:

The topic is something I can resonate with, and I’m sure most people do too. Just the idea of finding purpose(s) in a mundane life, because if everyday ends up being a “what a day”, then it eventually stacks up to “what a life”. I don’t like the sound of that, so I figured I would make something that portrays 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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Lil’ RED is RIDING the wrong way in the HOOD!, 8min., USA
Directed by Venus Jones
This short film with a long title is a Hip Hop twist on a classic cautionary tale starts with an adventurous little boy getting lost on the wrong side of town. Childhood labor and public safety may sound like heavy topics, but they’re presented in an approachable manner in this timely and important project.

http://lilredmovie.com/

Get to know the filmmaker:

It began as a novelty book for “woke” grandmas and after it was rejected by some traditional publishers. l learned about an individual artist grant and I was interested in doing something new to elevate my work. I wrote my proposal to turn my poetic narrative based on a classic tale into a film and l won. I spoke of partnering with a nonprofit organization on the front line of the human trafficking epidemic. The funding inspired me to create the animation for Lil Red is Riding the Wrong Way in the Hood. I’m the first on record to make the main character a boy because the safety of boys has historically been overlooked in comparison to little girls. I also made the characters African American because our communities are presently reimagining public safety.

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 LOST NIGHT, 6min., Japan
Directed by YUXUAN ZHANG
One night, at a crowded street, a woman meet these illusions. Everyone passed, but only she couldn’t. This is a dream made with light and shadow. But is it just a ephemeral dream?

https://misazyuhin.wixsite.com/misanimations
https://twitter.com/misa41478318
https://www.instagram.com/_misa_3333/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

Get to know the filmmaker:
This is my graduation film work and I wanted to find some experimental methods to make it.Finally I used the light and shadow style of drawing things by not drawing them. And the story comes from my real experience , the first time I had to face the decision of death.

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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CLOSET COMBAT EPISODE 2, 3min,. USA
Directed by Augustus Hinton
Ted, a closeted, gay high school boy, imagines literally fighting his way out of an encounter with bullies at a track meet.

Get to know the filmmaker:
I wasn’t seeing my experience of being in the closet represented on screen. I wanted to add something to queer media that I would have liked to have seen when I was younger. I also wanted to push my character animation craft, and used those two motivations to create the piece.

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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DOTGABI – FIRE, 3min,. USA
Directed by Kaia Kim, Jenna Vopat
There’s a lame birthday party going on. DotGabi, a party lover, is sick of this boring event. With her magical powers, she turns it into the ultimate kick-ass party.

Get to know the filmmakers:
We wanted to make an exciting film that would stand out from the crowd and be fun to watch! We wanted to create a music video and bring bright energy and visuals!

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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ALIVE, 3min., USA
Directed by Pavithraa Sudhakar
“Alive” is a music video that captures the essence of New York City through a simple yet captivating storyline. Follow the journey of a young adult as they embark on a surrealistic adventure through the city on a magical taxi.

Get to know the filmmaker:

I have always loved singing and have the most fun doing it. Additionally, I have a passion for art and creativity, so I enrolled in the 3D animation and VFX course at the School of Visual Arts, where I was extremely inspired by all the work that was being created. I ended up loving the visual effects course and wanted to create a project that would challenge my skill level while also being enjoyable for the audience to watch. I decided to make a music video that combined both of my interests, and I was motivated by the learning experience in the process of songwriting and visual effects.

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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AUBREY GRUMP, 1min,. USA
Directed by Mike Dietz
“Some people are only happy when they’re not.”

Get to know the filmmaker:
Last year I met artist/animator/producer Casey Follen while working on a freelance job. Several times a year Casey and her partners release a compilation of animated shorts called Animation Wild Card. It’s a fun platform for independent animation artists to collaborate and showcase super short-shorts created just for the joy of animating. The only requirements are that the films be animated and have a runtime somewhere between 15 and 90 seconds. Casey invited me to submit a film for an upcoming episode, so I tried to come up with an idea that would be fun to animate and could tell a worthwhile story in a minute or less. Aubrey Grump is what I ended up with.

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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POGO IS BORED EPISODE 2 - BULLY, 4min,.
Directed by Richie Valentino
Pogo and best friend Flower are always in search of something new to do. They love to help others in need and are very keen to jump in with innovative ideas to do so.

https://www.delvalentinoproductions.com/

Richie Valentino is back on the podcast talking about the sequel to his award winning film “Pogo is Bored’, plus his other animation works through the years.

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

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

Get to know the filmmaker:

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

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

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

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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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DRIFTING OF A LEAF, 2min., USA, Animation
Directed by Wenpei Li
If you could have another life, do you hope to become a tree? A little leaf becomes a bird flying in the world. Is it a leaf or a bird? It does not know where its root is. Maybe the root is all this world.

http://wenpeili.com/
https://twitter.com/wplyeyeye
https://www.instagram.com/wenpei.art/

Get to know the filmmaker:

“Drifting of A Leaf” was one part of my MFA thesis project. The idea for this thesis came from Italo Calvino’s book, “Our Ancestors.” There were three short stories in this book, one of which was about a tree. Since I was a kid, I hoped I could become a tree or a bird if I had another life. So, I wanted to make an animation about trees.

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.

ALUCINAR, 5min., Canada, Animation
Directed by Margie Kelk, Lynne Slater
In a cold, lonely world, where buildings are like icebergs and people drift past each other on ice floes, Guy imagines belonging to a colony of penguins. From his window, he sees May, who also dreams of penguins. Inspired by the courage of penguins plunging off an ice floe into the unknown, he jumps off his own doorstep. Traversing dark waters, he searches the city’s streets looking for May. Connecting through their love of penguins, Guy and May are transformed. Overcoming their isolation, they face their world together.

https://margiekelk.com/
https://www.facebook.com/margie.kelk
https://twitter.com/margiekelk
https://www.instagram.com/mskelk

Get to know the filmmaker:
Lynne Slater, with whom I have been collaborating to produce short stop-motion films for the past five years, saw the little ceramic heads I had been making in my art practice and wanted to create a film with them. Two trips to Antarctica drew me into the world of penguins, and I sent Lynne videos my son had taken of the penguins while visiting South Georgia and other islands in Antarctica. Lynne and I also talked about the loneliness people had experienced during the shut-down of Toronto at the time of covid. Together these factors inspired us to create a story where lonely people find solace and identity in a world of penguins which inspires them, in turn, to share life’s experiences with each other.

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.

Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

AUTUMN LEAVES, 4min., Canada, Drama Animation
Directed by Elizabeth Lewis
Autumn brings bitter sweet memories. A woman, missing her husband, struggles to control the leaves and her emotions in this fully animated hilarious take on the classic song.

Get to know the filmmaker;
My brother sent me a modern version of the song and rather than take it as a purely sentimental ballad , all I could think of was how annoying it is to have to take up all those leaves . I chose the Pat Boone version to reflect the old fashioned sentimentality.

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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FEELING SPECIAL, 5min,. USA, Animation
Directed by Carlos Hoffman
Animated film adaptation of the children’s book, Feeling Special, about a Turtle who believes that all his friends are special, but that he is just ordinary, and finally realizes that he is special too.

http://www.jenniferkurani.com/
https://instagram.com/jenniferkurani
https://facebook.com/jenniferkurani

Get to know writer Jennifer Kurani:

The motivation to make this film came from the desire to spread a very important message about believing in yourself. Everyone truly is special in their own way! When you believe in yourself, you’re accepting who you really are. You’re not afraid to give your opinion and you’re going to be proud of this person you’re becoming. When you believe in yourself you feel like you can handle the world! Positive energy and a little confidence gives a major lift. Believing that you are special gives you the strength and ability to accomplish goals. Deep down inside, you know you can do anything.

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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OUTTA THIS WORLD, 5min., Animation
Directed by Brittany Christine
An animated sci fi comedy about a human woman, Astria ZonBerg, who longs for something. On a journey with alien Pike to find it, she discovers something else she never knew she was missing.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3046505/
https://www.instagram.com/brittanychristineofficially/

Get to know the filmmaker on what motivated her to make this film:
The Pandemic and being in lockdown! I very much felt the same way my character Astria Zonberg did, in the sense that I had already turned my backyard into a beach complete with a lounge set for tanning, bbq area for cooking, volleyball court, ping pong table, racquetball set, tennis court, & projector screen for outdoor movies, then on the inside of my house I bought a rower machine, elliptical, bike, treadmill, thigh master, free weights, dumbbells, work out bands, a bosu ball, weighted throw balls, a thera gun, vibration plate machine, every board game target had on sale that month etc. I was going bored out of my mind and even started picking up crafts like sewing, knitting, macrame, pottery, candle making, doing puzzles, the list just goes on. It was absolutely hilarious. My old roommate Dakota would laugh at me and join in sometimes when she had a night off from working but to give you an idea, I never finished any of the projects I’d start because I would get so bored of them half way through too! Same with ordering food from the restaurants closest to me, I’d be craving pasta but then once it was delivered took one bite and was like AGH! Nothing satisfies me anymore. Hence the reason it shows Astria eating the buffet, playing golf, playing with cats, (I worked for a couple animal shelters in real life during that time called Hoja Nueva as well as Peru Dog Rescue, but we thought the purring of the kitties would be the quickest, easiest, and most funny to imitate) we really played on that where she is missing planet life even though she has it all on the ship, because I was missing social life even though I had everything I could possibly want to keep me entertained and busy while trapped at home. I have always been a very independent person, and enjoy my own company being the introvert I am, however, during the first yr of Covid I quickly realized activities aren’t nearly as much fun to experiment with or experience by myself. I wanted the audience to see & feel that in a funny way, rather than a sad and depressing one.

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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MARBLE ME FREE, 7min., USA
Directed by Diane Leslie Kaufman
How do we cope and what do we do when physical and emotional pain, obstacles, and hardship block our way forward? This “dark night of the soul” journey is powerfully depicted in the “Marble Me Free” animated film.

https://www.marblemefree.com/

Conversation with: director Diane Leslie Kaufman. poet/writer Starlit Swan. Animator Lucia Martinez Rojas

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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