Telling stories through film and conversation.
WSPodcast New Logo.png

WILDsound's The Film Podcast

In each episode, the C.E.O. of WILDsound, Matthew Toffolo, chats about all things storytelling and film. Conversations with talented individual from all around the world.

Posts in film and television
EP. 1617: Filmmaker Delphine Breyne (Heal avec Delphine)

Heal avec Delphine, 30min., USA

Directed by Delphine Breyne

Heal avec Delphine is a deeply personal docuseries that follows individuals navigating life after cancer, trauma, alopecia, and other challenges. Each episode invites viewers into a powerful journey of reconnection and renewal—beginning with an intimate look at the person’s world, followed by a transformative beauty restoration at Delphine’s atelier, and ending with a meaningful surprise to mark their new beginning. Through heartfelt storytelling, emotional connection, and light-touch artistry, the series introduces a new era of beauty and healing, where feeling truly seen becomes the start of renewed self-confidence, emotional healing, and personal transformation.

https://www.instagram.com/delphineeyebrowcouture/

——-

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1614: Filmmaker Angy Antonios Akly (The Way Back Home)

The Way Back Home is a two-minute poetic film that unfolds underwater, where a woman’s expressive movements accompany a powerful monologue on identity, womanhood, and self-ownership — written, directed, and narrated by the filmmaker herself. As the performer drifts through silence and resistance, the voice rises against the weight of judgment and expectation — reclaiming scars, softness, and the right to become. A cinematic meditation on finding one’s way back to the self.

https://www.instagram.com/angyaklyjammal/

Director Statement

The Way Back Home is a film I created from a place of deep honesty — not just as a director, but as a mother, a woman, and a human being who has lived through motherhood, silence, pressure, and transformation.
After completing the film, I sat with my daughters and told them: “I want you to watch this film when you are 20, again when you are 30, and again when you are 40.” Because this is not just a short film — it’s a piece of my story that I want to leave behind for them. A reminder that pain, scars, and growth are part of becoming. That they are allowed to own their voice, their truth, their transformation — no matter what the world tries to impose.

With a single performer, a voiceover, and the silence of water as its backdrop, this film holds everything I wanted to say to them — and to the women who might need to hear it too.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1608: Filmmakers Laura Boyd Owen, Charles Edwin English (THE CALL)

The Call is a powerful documentary that breaks the silence around firefighter mental health, offering an unflinching look at the trauma, PTSD, and suicide crisis facing first responders. Through raw interviews, real-life stories, and behind-the-scenes access to firehouses in New Mexico, the film explores the emotional toll of a profession associated with bravery, but rarely with vulnerability.

http://thecalldocumentary.com/

Conversation with directors Laura Boyd Owen, Charles Edwin English.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1607: Filmmaker Adam Wakeling (The Inga Tree Model 2025)

The Inga Tree Model 2025, 10min., Honduras

Directed by Adam Wakeling

The Inga Alley-Cropping pilot is in year 13 in rural, northern Honduras and has impressive results for carbon sequestered and avoided--876,000 tons in 12 years--trained and assisted by an all-Honduran team, 500 smallholder families have planted over 3 million native, nitrogen-fixing trees on steep, highly degraded land. The clearing/burning stops when a family plants their alley (a process that destroys 200,000 acres a day).

http://www.ingafoundation.org/

https://www.instagram.com/ingafoundation/

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1600: Filmmaker Kyle Arneson (Meevil the Weevil: Breakfast of Champions)

Meevil the Weevil: Breakfast of Champions, 4min., USA
Directed by Kyle Arneson
Meevil https://filmfreeway.com/submissions/32428116#ff_javascriptthe Weevil is a little bug with big dreams of being a stuntman. “Breakfast of Champions” mixes stop motion animation with live action footage where we follow Meevil’s thrilling ride across a 1970s breakfast table on rocket roller skates.

https://www.instagram.com/stunt.bug/

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?
The film came about after developing the character as a hesitant hero with big dreams of grandeur. It’s strongly inspired by the stunt men and women of the 1970’s and 80’s that I found so captivating back when the world was a little more shag-carpeted and wood-paneled. During this initial creative period I lost my father unexpectedly and it was at some point in the haze of the grieving process I realized that the relationship between Meevil, and Olis, his coach, mirrored that of my relationship to my father. So with that guiding light, the ethos of the project became clear and bringing it to reality became a goal for me as a way to honor my dad.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
From idea to final prduct this film took 3 years to make. Nothing happens fast in stop motion animation, the puppet had to be designed and built, all of the props and sets were hand made and the entire film was shot one frame at a time.

How would you describe your film in two words!?
Nostalgic fun!

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1597: Screenwriter A.E. Guaaker (THE VILLAGE PHANTOM)

Watch the Best Scene Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew4yxfT2YUA

Fiona Haegerbergh, a journalist for The Metro Standard, arrives in a rural Norwegian town to investigate rising drug use. Officially, she’s there to produce a webcast— but Fiona has her own agenda: uncovering the truth behind the recent suspicious death of a local drug dealer. Fiona’s editor urges her to stay on task, as much is riding on the Metro Standard’s survival—now largely dependent on the recent success of its popular web series.


Get to know the writer:

What is your screenplay about?

My screenplay is about a journalist Fiona Haegerbergh, who travels to a remote Norwegian town to cover rising drug use for her paper’s popular web series, but she’s secretly investigating the suspicious death of a local dealer. She’s met with hostility from townsfolk and a wary sheriff, but she gradually earns his reluctant trust as she digs into the community’s hidden drug network. Her search leads to Jenny, a young mine worker with ties to Fiona’s brother, who may have inherited the operation. When Jenny is suddenly found drowned, Fiona’s investigation takes a darker turn and she is faced with a devastating choice: expose what she’s uncovered and risk her own secret being revealed—or stay silent and let the town’s shadows close in.

What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Thriller, Mystery

Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

Because it has a good mystery, loveable characters and an unexpected twist.

How would you describe this script in two words?

Powerful forces

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1596: Filmmaker Anthony Joseph Spatafora (AN ANATOMY OF GRIEF)

AN ANATOMY OF GRIEF, 15min., Canada
Directed by Anthony Joseph Spatafora
A mother grieving the death of her son while being haunted by his corpse.

https://www.instagram.com/ananatomyofgrief_shortfilm/

What motivated you to make this film?

It actually came to me in a dream I had a few years ago, where I lived in a reality where I had been gone for 10 years and no one knew where I went. I came back into my friends' and family's lives and saw how my absence affected them. My parents were especially heartbroken. I'll never forget the moment in that dream when I came face to face with my mother after being gone for 10 years. The sadness, relief and pain in her face and voice haunts my brain to this day and it is what inspired me to write this story.

The story was also based on my own personal experiences with loss in my family. My father's dad passed away when he was young leaving my dad, uncle, and grandmother alone. My mother's father had an accident which altered who he was until the day he passed away. Seeing how these events affected my family and how they were all able to bounce back from it made me want to express how there is always hope even after immense loss.  


From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take you to make this film?

It took me about a year and a half to develop the script and go into production and post-production. But I actually wrote the story in 2021 and then I adapted it into a script in 2024 because the story resonated more with me then. I finally finished it in April of 2025.

I rewrote the script many times. At one point, I had the mother's sister in the story as her support system, but I cut her out because I thought it was more important to show Cassandra (the mother) dealing with this loss on her own. Because not everyone has somebody to rely on.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1587: Filmmaker Tom White (Connection)

Conversation with filmmaker Tom White on the making of CONNECTION - a film he directed remotely.

A government agent is tasked with interrogating a silent prisoner—but the true danger lies in whether the voice in his head is his own… or something else entirely.

https://instagram.com/twch757

Director Statement

I didn’t just direct Connection from my living room — I directed it live, in real time, over an iPad, collaborating with my cast and crew from home.

After being diagnosed with a chronic disability that left me homebound, I feared my days of directing were over. For a long time, I grieved the version of myself who could run a set, work shoulder to shoulder with my DP, and block scenes in person. But this film became the experiment that proved I could still do all of that — just differently.

Remote directing forced me to trust my collaborators more deeply, communicate with absolute clarity, and lean into a process most filmmakers never attempt. The result isn’t just a short film — it’s proof that my voice still has a place, even if the way I use it has changed.

Connection is my reminder that creativity can evolve. That even when life rewrites the rules, we can still tell the stories that matter to us — and maybe tell them in ways no one’s tried before.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1580: Filmmaker Ben Harl (MARA)

MARA, 18min., USA, Horror/Thriller

After years spent recovering from a botched exorcism, Jake prepares to reintegrate into society. However, the mounting pressures of everyday existence trigger a harrowing regression back into madness. Conversation with filmmaker Ben Harl

https://www.instagram.com/scompassstudios/

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1579: Filmmaker/Musician Matt Cargill (Glistening Benevolence)

Glistening Benevolence, 6min., UK, Music Video

Directed by Matt Cargill

https://instagram.com/familydrone

Sly & The Family Drone Unleash ‘Glistening Benevolence’: Take the trip into slime-drenched folk horror and the cosmic unknown. . .

Neo-jazz wrecking-crew Sly & The Family Drone summon forth a new vision of terror and transcendence with the video premiere of ‘Glistening Benevolence’. Filmed at an undisclosed, shadowy music festival in the heart of Hampshire, the visual journey is a macabre ritual of psychedelic sludge, blending live performance footage with ominous vignettes of slime-coated landscapes, cosmic dread, and unholy rites under the moon.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1576: Interview with Filmmaker Raph Isadora Seymour (YELLOW DRESS)

Yellow Dress, 4min., UK
Directed by Raph Isadora Seymour
What is she doing? Trying to make a garden? Trying to make something…and who or what is trying to stop her? Crude stop-motion makes startling and poetic images and tells a story of resilience and the desire for happiness for both the hero and the villain of the piece.

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

I wrote a poem and decided to animate it. My friend and I had gone to Peckham Common to feed the crows. I liked their movements and cunning and was also interested in their sinister connotations and their innocence.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The idea came to me in 2022 and I was finished in early 2024.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Puppet Poem.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The biggest obstacle in making the project was balancing my time. Working a job and having other creative projects, working in stops and starts and still maintaining a creative flow however I feel this alongside the stopwork animation and patchwork effects may have benefited the style of the piece.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1568: Filmmaker Timothy Benjamin Slessor (FLESH WISH)

FLESH WISH, 4min., UK
Directed by Timothy Benjamin Slessor
An experimental horror inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, David Cronenberg and Clive Barker, this music video / short details in an abstract way the summoning of demons through a ritual performed behind the locked doors of a 1970s terraced house.

What motivated you to make this film?

Several factors! Firstly, I wanted to make something visual to accompany the release of my album. Secondly, I wanted to experiment with a lot of different ideas and techniques, but importantly have a finished piece of work to show for it, not just a bunch of tests. Thirdly I wanted to see how I could kind of corrupt and pervert generative ai platforms and work them into my editing and animation / vfx practise and finally I wanted to make something that would surprise and confound my friends and colleagues!

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

It was about three to four months of laborious work, mostly in after effects and premiere. I had to create all of the images and heavily distort and rework them and the editing was done frame-by-frame. About 6 months after it was finished I considered going back and tweaking some things but one look at the edit sequence was enough to convince me to leave well alone!

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Quite fleshy.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The hardest thing was just getting it finished! It was so hard to create enough interesting images and scenes, especially given the extremely fast cut-rate. I kept trimming the track down (ultimately from around 5 mins to about 3'45 I think) just so I could get it done (I had to keep pushing the release of the album back too as a result). 

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1566: Filmmaker Ben Hamilton (Sitka's Hidden Wonders)

Sitka’s Hidden Wonders, 43min., USA
Directed by Ben Hamilton
Sitka’s Hidden Wonders is a 40-minute theatrical nature film that blends sweeping cinematography with a deeply personal story of return. Told by award–winning wildlife filmmaker Ben Hamilton, the film explores what it means to truly see a place—through the hidden layers of one of Alaska’s wildest coastal ecosystems.

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-sitkas-hidden

https://instagram.com/sitkawonders

What motivated you to make this film?

Every summer, over 600,000 people visit Sitka, but most just walk around town and never see the incredible natural wonders all around us. I wanted to create a film that connects them to this place—beyond the shops and the docks—into the wild heart of Sitka. After years of filming here for networks like BBC and National Geographic, this was my chance to make something for Sitka itself.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

The film took two years of full-time work, plus a year of planning and permits before that. And some shots were collected over the last decade—moments I'd been saving for the right project.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Local. Connected.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The biggest obstacle was really time.  The focus and intensity it took to deliver a film like this while still being there for my small kids and wife. It meant weeks away in the field, long nights editing, and constantly trying to balance the work with family life.


Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1559: Filmmaker Robert J. Harden Jr. (DIMENSIONS: The Interrogation)

DIMENSIONS: The Interrogation, 8min., USA
Directed by Robert James Harden Jr.
During an interrogation for the murder of his mother, a man pleads for his release in fear of his life. Two special detectives grill him in order to solve their case. In the shadows of these men’s dimension, the answers to all their mysteries live.

https://instagram.com/dimensions_revealed

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-dimensions

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1558: Peter Gabriel Gagnon (Wukong Couriers)

Wukong Couriers, 15min., USA
Directed by Peter Gabriel Gagnon
An unwitting bicycle messenger is chosen as the mystical hero to save the city from an ancient horror.

www.instagram.com/wukong_couriers

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1557: Filmmakers Diana & Harlan Shield (THREE S3CONDS)

Three S3conds, 16min., USA
Directed by Diana Shield
Arlo, a 17 year old boy struggles to open up and express himself to his counselor. He is haunted by his past actions due to his inability to control his rage and anger issues.

https://www.instagram.com/galacticbutterflyfilms

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

My husband and I enjoy going on walks, driving long distances and we noticed people’s lack of patience at a Stop sign or red light. We talked about three seconds waiting for an individual to cross the road. This is all it takes to cease all movement from a vehicle. So we noticed a growing trend of people not coming to a complete stop or taking a red light. And it happens across a lot of major cities. But one day two young men were crossing and the driver clipped one of them. They both began shouting at the driver of the vehicle who did not stop. Luckily the young man was not hurt, his backpack was struck with the vehicle.

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

I would say about three months. However once we got our DP, everything moved quickly.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Intense, provoking.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Nothing, we were lucky enough to have it completed. We had great support and were surrounded by talented individuals.

What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

They said wonderful things about the film and the message got across clearly. I appreciate the feedback with sound, pacing, cinematography and acting. These were all elements we concentrated on and worked extensively. It makes one feel heard and seen. Stories are important and impactful, I want people to leave thinking about the story, I want it to resonate.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1556: Filmmaker B.T. Goldman (TEA TIME)

TEA TIME, 9min., USA
Directed by B.T. Goldman
A detective interrogates a strange elderly Englishman about a missing person in his neighborhood.

https://www.instagram.com/cybereggproductions/

https://www.instagram.com/b.t.goldman/

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

I hadn’t directed a project of my own in over a year, and I was at a wrap party for a short film that I was an extra in (SPRINKLES, directed by the Andrew Korzenik, written by Riley Stockard, and produced by Sky Mattioli, all great talents). I tend to be off in my own world a bit at parties, and the image of a wild, tuxedo-laden man forcing tea on a guest at a table in an empty room came into my head. It was kind of out of nowhere, and seemed like a really simple, filmable idea for an unsettling story. It was an eerie, but also amusing to me since I grew up with an English father (who naturally was cast as the Englishman in this film).

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

I initially had the idea around September 2023, we filmed in February 2024, and I had the final edit in December 2024, so it was a total of about 15 months from conception to completion.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Uncomfortably funny.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

It was probably the audio editing. It really felt like everything came together fairly easily, everyone who worked on the film is a close friend or relative. Eric Alcaraz, our incredible cinematographer, is well educated in audio engineering and really saved me with that when I was editing.

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1552: Filmmaker Peter Schackl-Horn & Anthony Graf (sustAIn)

sustain, 5min., Austria
Directed by Peter Schakl
sustAIn is the Idea to combine sustainibility and artificial intelligence. Openess is to show generally ideas of sustainibility.

https://www.instagram.com/peter.shackl.horn

www.instagram.com/clementineclmtn

Get to know the filmmaker:

What motivated you to make this film?

First in 1994 I was awarded with this multifunctional furniture at a competition of 500 Architecture students named „Openess“ – called by the famous Architect and Designer Mark Mack from Los Angeles, USA!
In 2024 I was awarded by the jury of the Vienna Design Week and the furniture was presented at the exhibition! There occured the idea to show the multifunctionality and the idea of „Openess“ also as open minded, cradle to cradle, upcycling, so sustainability in general… with a short movie!

And then all together to show a senseful usage of AI!

From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

It took from the first Design in 1994, the exhibition at the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK in 2024 finally to the realized Short Film, the finished product, in 2025.

How would you describe your film in two words!?

Sustainability & AI

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

There haven`t been any obstacles at all!

What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

Completely overwhelming and really touching!

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

EP. 1541: Producer Jay Stinnett (Bill W Conscious Contact)

Bill W Conscious Contact, 58min, USA

Directed by Kevin Hanlon

Conscious Contact explores the personal spiritual quest of Bill W and his thirst for transcendence.

www.instagram.com/billwconsciouscontent

http://www.billwconsciouscontact.com/

Subscribe to the podcast:

https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod

https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundp