Year: 2024

Video Podcast: EP. 1156 – FILMMAKER LUKE REX (BONDING)

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BONDING, 13min., USA

Directed by Luke Rex

A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn’t have a choice.

http://www.9livesentertainment.net/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086267809895

https://www.twitter.com/9LivesEntertain

https://www.instagram.com/9_lives_entertainment/

LISTEN to the podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ep-1156-filmmaker-luke-rex-bonding/id1406973270?i=1000650429551

https://www.wildsoundpodcast.com/the-film-podcast-by-wildsound/2024/3/25/ep-1156-filmmaker-luke-rex-bonding

Get to know the filmmaker:

I took 3 months off after graduating with my doctorate in clinical psychology in the summer of 2022. I was wanting to be creative again and challenged myself to direct a short film and do this as thoroughly and professionally as possible (i.e.., form a production company, pay everyone involved, produce, direct, have great sound, compose the music). Having appeared in many shorts as an actor prior to becoming a psychologist I felt both confident and intimated by the process. As a writer, I thought I had a good idea and knew that the difference between backing myself and making the short versus keeping the idea in my head was simply courage – couraage to exercise the confidence to put my idea out there into the world. I also love the spy genre and James Bond, in addition to the spin off creative series we have been seeing with the Mandalorian, Boba Fett. Inspired by Jon Favreau’s passion for alternate universes, I thought it would be fun to explore an alternate Bond Universe, combined with an X-Files style genre. Bonding was born.

You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at http://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:

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TELEVISION FEEDBACK Screenplay Festival – Deadline Today 

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All entries receive FULL Feedback from our team of industry professionals.

TV SCREENPLAY FESTIVAL takes place every single month. At least 4-15 winning screenplays. Winners get their script performed by professional actors and then made into a promotional best scene video (see examples on the submission page). Submit via the site or via FilmFreeway.

Television Pilot/Spec Screenplay Festival

https://filmfreeway.com/TELEVISIONFEEDBACKScreenplayWebSeriesFestival

This festival has a guaranteed 4-tier set up for each accepted script. (No matter what, all screenplays submitted receive FULL FEEDBACK on their work.)

1st Tier: FULL FEEDBACK on your screenplay (all submissions)

2nd Tier: Accepted scripts (25% on average of submitted entries) get a best scene of their screenplay performed by professional actors and made into a promotional video.

3rd Tier: We will send you a list of questions to answer for our blog interview that will promote you and your film.

4th Tier: Then we will set up a podcast interview on our popular ITunes show where will we will promote the winning writer and script.

(BONUS: 5th Tier. A winning screenwriter’s WhatsApp group has just been formed. Over 50 writers to date. Great way to share ideas and contacts with people in the industry.)

You can also take advantage of the Best Scene Screening Video Reading Deal:
https://tvfestival.org/best-scene-screenplay-deal/

What this festival does is give the writer exposure. With our best scene video reading, plus the 2 interviews, this festival simply makes the screenwriter’s name and script searchable and out there to the world. Plus, submissions receive full feedback on their script no matter what.

Short Film Review: A BUMP IN THE NIGHT. Directed by Skyler Pinkerton

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BUMP IN THE NIGHT, 7min., USA

Charlie and Lily are cousins, roomates, and best friends trying to embrace the spooky season with a horror movie marathon. Are they just high? Or is their paranoia legit?

https://www.instagram.com/thecharlieandlilyshow

Review by Andie Karvelis:

When two besties get together to do a PJ party and horror movie marathon, things don’t quite go as planned. We can all relate to this story, you’re watching a scary movie and suddenly you start hearing EVERY weird sound in your house. It’s unnerving. You start wondering if it’s your imagination or if there really is a zombie in your friend’s antique trunk. True story, and no, I did NOT let her open the trunk to show me there was nothing inside. That’s horror movie no-no number 1.


Nicole Coulou and Caitlin Burdi portray the two lead characters, Charlie and Lily, and their on camera rapport is sensational. You can just tell these two are great friends. They are also really great writers. The screenplay was written by Nicole and Cailtin and I am so thrilled to see women writing in the horror genre. They knew how to craft a story and build suspense but also make it very funny by giving the audience a twist on the horror movie tropes. Skyler Pinkerton was the director, cinematographer and editor and his talents along with Nicole andCaitlin’s really make this film shine.

Short Film Review: THE SLATE. Directed by Katherine Connor Duff

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A struggling actress attempts to film a self tape.

https://www.katherineconnorduff.com/

Review by Victoria Angelique:

The unique short film, THE SLATE, is nothing that would be expected from the title. The setup is a woman, Molly Harris, in front of a camera as she’s about to record an audition for a potential role. The expectation is a film about how stressful it is to take the right take for the audition, the twist is that this film isn’t about the audition at all but the toxic relationship between Molly and Lucas as a fight begins to unfold. 

The film, directed by Katherine Connor Duff, uses one long shot as Molly walks in and out of frame. Lucas is never seen, though he is definitely heard as the film continues throughout a stressful ride through the eyes of Molly. The subtext of the dialogue is what drives the story. This is not a happy couple. It begins with Molly turning off Lucas’s video game, causing her significant other to throw a temper tantrum as he is determined to bring her down and make her feel insecure in her acting. It’s also clear that the behavior was inherited from Lucas’s mother as he constantly brings her up and Molly quips she’s always having a “last birthday”. 

This narrative short is an artful depiction of what emotional abuse sounds like behind closed doors, with a subtle notion that the behavior is inherited from a parent. Lucas is the stereotypical momma’s boy, using an isolated event and the threat of going to his mother in order to keep Molly in line. He belittles her to the point of tears and then orders her to apologize for simply wanting his support. Never seeing Lucas almost makes it seem like his words are directed at anyone that has ever been the victim of a narcissist. His abuse is so prevalent that it takes Molly a few seconds to even remember her name in order to slate her audition. 

The lack of the score makes THE SLATE  even more triggering as every word that Lucas utters feels like a personal stab. It’s clear he’s always been this way and Molly walks on glass around him, especially since something as simple as turning off a video game caused the emotional abuse to be inflicted. It makes the film almost a PSA for verbal abuse as the audience feels helpless to get Molly out of her venomous relationship, while also not wanting to cross Lucas.

Read Poem: PERMISSION, by Omar Montes

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Let me talk
I wish to talk,
I must tell you woman
that you,
You are all that I want
or what is better,
It’s what I always imagined.
That love that catches
and from which you deny wanting to escape
much less let it go.
Wake up next to you
or that you be
the last thing my eyes see before sleeping
It is the most precious gift
that can give me life,
walk together
hand to hand
on the world map
and greet the roses, the birds, the air,
the field, the sea
It is a divine gift.
And at the end of the road
on the journey
towards eternity
leave with your image
in my eyes.
Permission
let me talk.

Read Poem: THE KISSING PARTY, by Omar Montes

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Come, come love
let’s celebrate the party
of kisses,
I promise you that I will put everything
the strength of my heart
in the effort
mixed with the soul
and the essence of my blood
I promise
I’m not going to breathe even a little bit like that.
I will simply give you
all life on my lips
come here love
let’s celebrate the kissing party
where the caresses dance
with the feelings
and the music is accompanied by sighs and illusions
and you feel how the soul beats
at that moment
come, come love
It’s a magical invitation
You will feel like a kiss turns into fire.
and your body will tremble with this hurricane of desires
come, come love
it’s going to start
kissing party.