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.
ANADROMOUS, 5min., USA
Directed by Ari Grubb
When they find themselves evolving out of their aquarium home, two fish set off on a musical journey of self-acceptance and queer joy, and find community in a freaky fish gay bar in the deepest depths of the ocean.
https://www.instagram.com/anadromous_film
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
HALF PAST, 20min., USA
Directed by Jonas Fryer
A group of con artists learn the importance of trust during a heist where everything goes wrong.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-half-past
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
Two roommates, desperate to feel successful in the milieu of New York City, turn to macabre money-making schemes by performing underground surgeries and serving human meat to unsuspecting customers.
https://www.keshav-srinivasan.com/the-flesh-people
https://www.instagram.com/thefleshpeoplefilm
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
A young, ambitious journalist will have her first high-profile live interview with the President. The country is on the verge of a significant war, externally and internally. After a series of questions, the interview takes a dangerous course.
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
Filmed at Hawai‘i’s Hapuna Beach, one of the most beautiful and dangerous shorelines in the islands, Pick It Up, America: Life Is a Beach is a heartfelt call for stewardship, ocean safety, and respect. Through interviews with lifeguards, keiki, locals, and dive experts, this short documentary reminds us that caring for our oceans means more than picking up your trash it means picking up awareness, responsibility, and love for the ʻāina. A vital message for families, tourists, and communities everywhere.
https://kimberaleigh.com
https://www.instagram.com/kimberaleigh/
https://www.facebook.com/kimberaleigh/
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
Two Argentinian designers and lifelong friends, Sandra and Martina, are chosen at the last minute to travel to Milan during Fashion Week to present their collection in a competition for emerging Latin brands. Elated, they leave behind a Buenos Aires collapsed by floods, blackouts, and a deep economic crisis and set off for a city of dreams and catwalks.
At first, Italy seems to be everything they imagined: attractive men, a rich culture, gelato... but the fantasy quickly crumbles when they lose their dresses and tension grows between them. Surrounded by haute couture, inflated egos, and unexpected obstacles, they must face not only fierce competition but also wounds from the past that have never quite healed.
As the glamour fades, they realize that the real challenge is not to win, but to rediscover that which brought them together from the beginning: the passion to create and tell a story with every stitch. They will have to decide if they are ready to sew a new beginning.
https://www.instagram.com/deleonmartin/
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
The Dying Knight, 22min., UK
Directed by Andrew Gladman
A knight, found on the brink of death, embarks on a quest to determine his fate.
https://instagram.com/finalframecinema
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/
https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod
EDGE, 14min., Spain
Directed by Abel Moreno Pradas
Locked in, separated by a huge glass and deprived of speech, two people meet without knowing how they got there. Where are the limits that prevent us from acting in unjust situations? Are they physical or are they within us?
https://www.instagram.com/abel_moreno_pradas
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod
https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/
https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod
LIPSTICK & LIGHTBULBS, 8min., USA
Directed by Tamara Luisa Hernandez
An evening’s plans are ruined when a roommate comes home a day early.
&
THE LITTLE GIRL, 10min., USA
Directed by Tamara Luisa Hernandez
The Little Girl” is a poignant true story of a woman who embraces her identity as a plus-sized woman while navigating the complexities of love. Through her late-night interactions with strangers, she confronts the harsh realities of societal beauty standards, ultimately challenging conventional perceptions of attractiveness.
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
A single mother and her teenage daughter living on the south shore of Long Island. Fighting each other to be seen. Living in the conflict of oppression and dominance. Both fighting to win, both will end up losing.
https://www.instagram.com/longislandsouthshore/
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
Friday Night Flop, 16min., UK
Directed by Simon Friedberg, Elliott Gerner
A mother tries desperately to reconnect with her estranged daughter.
https://www.instagram.com/fridaynightflop
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
TRIGGER, 33min., Greece
Directed by Haris Gioulatos
If you were told there was an organization that could change your life forever, would you go through with the switch. And if so, would you pull the Trigger?
https://www.instagram.com/gioulatos/?hl=en
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
DEMON, 18min., USA
Directed by Patrick Torres
https://instagram.com/illuminatingswordsman
What motivated you to make this film?
I’ve always been interested in the fantasy/ heroic journey genre of film and I feel like we don’t get enough of them today. The muse also seemed to dump a bunch of stories into my head without me requesting them and feel compelled to start creating all of the stories I have written so far.
From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
Demon took about 18 months to create mostly due to a big injury on my end and crew setbacks. Nothing ever goes according to plan haha. I also had to learn and play with Unreal Engine for the temple shots which took a great amount of time as I had no prior experience with these types of programs.
How would you describe your film in two words!?
Selfish Hero
What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Like I mentioned earlier, it was definitely the injury (I fell off a horse but it happened after shooting) and learning Unreal. If not for those 2 things I think we could have done it within 9 months.
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
KNIFE, a 3-minute Micro-Horror Short Film.
A slasher told from the point-of-view of the murder weapon.
Michael Kuciak is the writer-director-editor of DEATH METAL, and the writer-producer of FROM THE SHADOWS (starring Keith David, Bruce Davison, and Selena Anduze). He has directed music videos and short films, including the award-winning horror shorts KNIFE and STAIRS, and served as a producer and executive producer on several independent feature films. Before focusing on filmmaking, Mike was the Senior Vice President of Development for a literary management-production company. He is the founder and CEO of Blast Furnace Media, and a partner of Alt-House Productions. Mike is a reformed musician; he used to play bass in punk and metal bands in his hometown of Chicago. He now lives in Los Angeles.
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
SCALES - THE TIPPING POINT, 40min., South Africa
Directed by Bruce Young
Bruce Young is a deeply curious filmmaker from South Africa who is fascinated by pangolins, an animal on the edge of extinction. Scales is his third film about the animal. This time he is on a personal quest to find out why these quiet, shy, harmless, and yet charismatic little creatures are the most trafficked mammals on the planet. And if there is any hope that they will survive.
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
Watch the Best Scene Reading: https://youtu.be/5sBVY0wv-Rw
Awaken the Medium is a feature-length script that follows the story of Maggie Samson, whose latest near-death experience thrusts her into discovering her gifts and powers. Maggie is a librarian in her forties. Married to Chris, a professor, with whom she has a son, Justus Samson, now eleven years old. Maggie arrives at a crossroads, unaware of the challenges and mysteries that await her.
What is your screenplay about?
Grief, family, love, fear, supernatural events, spiritual awakening.
Stanley Kubrick once said - while filming Stephen King's The Shining - 'anything that says there's something after death is an optimistic story.'
Awaken the Medium is a feature-length script that follows the tale of Maggie Samson, whose latest near-death experience thrusts her into discovering her gifts and powers. Maggie is a librarian in her forties married to Chris, a professor, who is rooted in science-based belief, with whom they have a son, Justus Samson, eleven years old. Maggie arrives at a crossroads, unaware of the challenges and mysteries that await her.
In the aftermath of her parents' tragic death, Maggie decides to move her family into a beautiful house. However, soon after they move in, things begin to happen, strange things. Noises, shadows, unexplainable visions, mirages - every minutiae like this becomes so overwhelming that Maggie realizes she must stop the evil forces nested in the house before it's too late and she or her son and husband are harmed.
Maggie meets a medium, Roberta, who helps her acknowledge her gifts. She discovers that she is a medium, a psychic, and a believer, hence the mirages, the telepathic conversations with her son, and the ability to converse with her deceased parents. With this newly found knowledge, Maggie, joined by her skeptical husband, and loyal son, embark on a quest to close the portal to evil she opened, and shut the evil down, once and for all.
This script is loosely based on my near-death experience, and our family's transformation after my parents died.
Awaken the Medium has been described as 'an elevated supernatural thriller which includes multicultural and spiritual intersectionality: Indigenous wisdom, Catholic doctrine, and parapsychology converging to shape the thematic framework. The use of the "liminal veil" as a metaphysical threshold is a compelling symbolic anchor, deepening the narrative beyond a haunted house cliche. The inclusion of generational trauma, grief, and psychic-medium inheritance gives the story emotional weight and thematic resonance.' J.R. Elliott, Script Adviser.
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
CARDBOARD, 23min., USA
Directed by Diana Densmore
A neglected young girl builds a cardboard time machine and runs away to the future only to find her adult self in the throes of depression, as the two connect they remind each other of the joy of loving oneself.
https://www.instagram.com/flusshausfilms
Get to know the filmmaker:
What motivated you to make this film?
Alice Prime, the lead actress, had been bugging me to make something with her and my daughter in it for years. So I was trying to write something that would allow them to play opposite each other. The subject matter comes from my own struggles with mental health.
From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this film? four or five years… I guess Alice Prime (the lead actress) and I started talking about it, and then a year later, I wrote the first draft. Probably, a year after that, we had a shooting script, and we went into pre-production and production in earnest. By the time we were through the whole post-process, it was another year.
How would you describe your film in two words!?
The process of making it? Chathartic chaos. The final project? sweet sci-fi.
What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
The rest of life is happening at the same time.
What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking
about your film in the feedback video?
It’s nice to hear that people connected with the themes and appreciated the film.
——
Subscribe to the podcast:
Emily, Abby, Dan and Jake, arrive at the remote cabin for a relaxing weekend. After settling in, Jake receives a call and leaves abruptly, expressing concern over a family emergency. Later that evening a hysterical woman, Amber, shows up in a panic pleading for safety. Unfortunately, Amber has led an dark, ominous cult right to their front door.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2243233/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
——-
Subscribe to the podcast:
A man keeps receiving strange phone calls from a supernatural presence whilst waiting at a bus stop.
What motivated you to make this film?
I took some time away from filmmaking, and when I decided to come back, I was very conscious about doing it in a sustainable, practical way. Instead of jumping into something ambitious, I wanted to make a contained, execution-focused short that I could bring from concept to completion. That's what motivated me to make Hello. It was also a chance to retrace my creative roots and reconnect with the kind of horror that first shaped my taste, particularly the influence of J-horror. In that sense, the film works both as a proof of concept and a creative reset.
From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
I wrote it around 2012–2013 under the title Boo. It sat with me for years, and in 2024 I found it was the right project to pull off the shelf and develop properly. From there, the actual production was very focused, efficient and smooth. We shot the film in three days, and post-production wrapped in September 2025. So while it took a while, the finished film came out better than I expected, so I'm proud of that.
How would you describe your film in two words!?
Oh fuck...
What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Post-production was the biggest obstacle. I wasn't supposed to edit the film, but when our editor ran into hardware problems and funding fell through, I had to take over. Going from director to editor is challenging because you lose that outside perspective and start second-guessing the film in new ways. On top of that, the VFX compositing ran into some issues of its own which required bringing in compositors on Fiverr and finishing a good portion of the work myself. It was a very hands-on, problem-solving-heavy post workflow.
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
The Ancient Time Piece, 5min., UK
Directed by Justin Walker, Islien Walker
Lily, a teenage girl is stuck in a monotonous cycle, perhaps this is connected to an old eerie clock she found in her family’s basement, a clock that was still ticking when she found it…. how long had this ancient Time Piece been ticking!
https://www.instagram.com/illy_pheebs_productions2012
Get to know filmmaker Justin Walker:
What motivated you to make this film?
My daughter Islien (co-director and lead actress) wrote the short story The Ancient Time piece when she was 11 years old, now she is 13….the short story was published in the compilation book ‘The glitch twisted tales’ which resides in the national library, London UK. Myself and my daughter had discussed making a short film based on her story for sometime… eventually we commenced production this summer.
From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
Haha, well shooting only took 2 days, post production, editing, effects, score sound design took approximately 2 months.
How would you describe your film in two words!?
Time Reflective
What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Well being amateur/smartphone filmmakers who produce short films on a zero budget you are always working with restrictions and limitations…..often you ‘think’ big during concept/pre production but find in reality you have to work within your means….however you do tend to be more creative due to these restrictions. The major obstacle is finding the time between my full-time job and family life to shoot and complete post production is always a challenge. Obviously there is a challenge in having the final product look a quality piece/semi-professional on limited resources.
—-
Subscribe to the podcast:
