Divided over the fate of their rundown pool, the Osgood family is visited by a nocturnal stranger who convinces them to take one last plunge.

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Review by Victoria Angelique:

Summer used to be the time of family bonding, something that seems to be a distant memory in THE CURRENT STATE OF THE BACKYARD POOL INDUSTRY. The premise is simple at first, a dad is discussing with a pool repairman about the cost to repair the pool liner and it is expensive. His children only care about their phones and his wife mentions that he only ever puts his suit on, but never actually enters the pool, so it would be a waste of money. That’s when the fun begins, and the con from the repair company.

Enter Willy, a man that claims to the manifestation of why pools are cool and should remain a staple of the backyard. He quickly shows this family who they used to be and the fun they used to have together, taking everyone back in time to when summer was simple. The film takes the audience back to their own childhoods through watching the pool games being played where the only one missing was Marco Polo. The family bonded again, to the point that the two teenage children ended up falling asleep in their parents bed as their dad continued to play in the pool with Willy.

The unexpected twist is the con from the repair company. Willy seems like a figment of someone’s imagination with his fun costume and antics. He disappears just as quickly when the dad wakes up, making the audience think it was all a dream, until the repairman talks to Willy in the backseat of the company van as they plan their next con to get the next customers to commit. It’s a very unexpected business strategy that no one would ever expect. 

Families are strengthened again, as shown when this particular family is no longer on their phones but jumping back in the pool as the film ends.

This music video speaks to the all-too-common matter of people dealing with rejection simply because they have decided to be true to themselves, to be authentic and be who they are. It is a project designed to bring hope, energy and resilience to those who are marginalized and minimized by others who choose to, nor cannot accept them or make any attempt to understand and love them. Our target audience it turns out to be the emerging generations

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Directed by Alex Chacon. Written & Performed by Sarah James

Review by Victoria Angelique:

If the song ‘TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT’ came on the radio, most people would like it and sing along, because it has nods to the traditional rock anthems of old. The question remains if people would listen to the message of the song when watching the music video, which really brings the lyrics to life about embracing people or walking away.

The message is simple, one that doesn’t demand force, but just a request that most people could agree to simply walk away if you don’t agree without hurting another person. The first example is with a nervous couple, a girl bringing her girlfriend home to meet the family for the first time. This video could have used stereotypes to show the type of people that would reject them, but twisted the idea on its head by simply showing the generational differences. The girl’s grandparents were the ones that were uncomfortable, but it was her Christian father that was accepting with a smile on his face. His opinion matters more to this particular girl, shown by the point-of-view shot that the camera slowly pivots to him as if his opinion was the one she was most nervous about, indicating she’s always been a major daddy’s girl. Walking away from the others wouldn’t have hurt as much as walking away from her father.

The song is an anthem about embracing people by looking past stereotypes, such as the Christian father, and preconceived notions to find the humanity underneath. The way this is depicted is by an individual with several face piercings, someone society typically keeps at a distance as this person sits alone. A simple gesture, a little girl giving this individual a flower, makes someone’s day and shows humanity. It brings light into the world of someone that appeared alone and showed that someone still cared. 

The message of this music video and the song behind it is powerful, we’re all the same in the end and just trying to make it through life by wanting to be accepted.

On the edge of town, next to a landfill, lives a man, broken and forgotten. His life seems empty until he finds a discarded door among the trash. This door opens to any place on Earth, as long as there is a door there too. With each step through this door, the joy for life returns to him. But he discovers an even more astonishing turn in his life when he finds himself in the very place he once decided to leave – his hometown.

Review by Victoria Angelique:

The past can define a person, to the point that it can be detrimental to someone’s life and affect everyone in it as is depicted in THE FORGOTTEN DOOR. This powerful film showcases the story of a homeless man named Bogherty, a man that walked away from his wife and denies having a child because of his own upbringing in an orphanage. The suggestion is that he is afraid that he doesn’t know how to be a parent because he didn’t have the example to teach him, so it’s easier to deny his daughter even exists to spare himself from the pain.

The question of this man’s life arrives at the concept of a door found in the landfill where he’s made his makeshift shed. If a door could change your life, would you open it? This is a great philosophy that is asked of many people and very rarely put into such a vivid concept such as shown through Bogherty’s story. He starts out with little things, stealing food to survive and then using the door to see the world. It’s the harsh words of his ex-wife that still linger in the back of his mind that he can’t shake, no matter what part of the world he can escape to through the door. 

This leads to the most important concept behind this film, what is forgotten behind a closed door? In Bogherty’s case, it’s the daughter he never knew and the family he walked away from because he could never face his past. He sees a mother protecting his image to an innocent child, which gives the notion of hope that he might return when he finally puts his past behind him. This leads to a powerful visual of Bogherty closing and locking the door to return home.

The most poignant part behind THE FORGOTTEN DOOR isn’t when Bogherty returns home to embrace his daughter, but the final image. The innocence of a child that suggests the past always lingers behind a closed door and can resurface at any time when the little girl unlocks the closet door, allowing the light to shine through into the bedroom. This also shows that trauma can be placed from parent to child if one is not careful, so the audience can only hope that Bogherty closed the door before his daughter walked through it into the world that resides deep within his mind.

Review by Parker Jesse Chase:

A quiet tension builds throughout Game of Cards, before the story shows us its hand. The film opens as figures dressed in black slip into cars, searching, taking. This feels random at first. By the end, it’s anything but.

At the center is Nicole, a woman stretched thin by self-discipline and expectation. Work isn’t just work, it’s a means of survival. One mistake, she believes, could cost her everything she’s built for herself. The film understands the constant need to prove you belong, to outwork, outshine, outlast. This resonates with the audience, and it lands.

Her dynamic with her co-worker gives us one of the more grounded threads. There’s care there, but also opposed ideas and expectations. One person choosing rest, the other pushing through at all costs. It taps into something real about how ambition can start to isolate us, how easily we begin to expect others to carry that same weight. Even when the story moves away from this relationship, the idea lingers.

Nicole’s partner, Michael, plays the role of comfort, but something is off. Small moments, a lie that doesn’t quite hold, a look that lingers too long. It doesn’t rush to expose him, and that patience works in its favor.

Where the film starts to stretch itself is in how quickly it expands. What begins as a personal story about stress, trust, and ambition grows into something much bigger, crime, betrayal, hidden agendas. There are interesting ideas here, especially around power and control, but they don’t always have the space to fully land. Characters enter with weight, then drift without much impact. Nicole’s co-worker, for example, feels important early on, but the story doesn’t quite give her a lasting purpose.

Nicole herself is compelling in concept. A woman trying to hold everything together while the ground shifts beneath her. But her arc asks us to accept some sharp turns without much setup. In one moment she’s overwhelmed and reactive, in the next she’s moving with a level of precision and control that feels like it belongs to a different story. There are flashes of who she could be, but the path there feels rushed.

The film leans heavily into twists, layering reveal on top of reveal. Some of them are intriguing, especially the idea that something as simple as a car break-in could unravel so many lives. By the final act, the narrative becomes crowded. Motivations blur, and the emotional throughline gets harder to track. Instead of building tension, the story sometimes loses it.

Game of Cards keeps returning to the idea of control, who has it, who thinks they have it, and how quickly it can slip away. Nicole believes she’s one mistake from losing everything. Others believe they’re untouchable. Life doesn’t always resolve cleanly, and neither does this story.

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Today’s FilmFreeway Testimonial: WILDsound Festival

https://filmfreeway.com/WILDsoundFilmandWritingFestival

For those of us who enter a lot of these Festivals, WILDsound actually bother to interact with you, offer interviews make you feel they actually care about your creation I wish this could be an Icon on #FilmFreeway so we can avoid those only interested in our money, not our future.

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Today’s #FilmFreeway Testimonial: #LGBTQ+ Toronto #Film & #Screenplay Festival

https://filmfreeway.com/LGBTTorontoFilmFestival

Great festival! They go above and beyond to give your film the attention it deserves. Super helpful, and the feedback video is an amazing touch!

lgbtqfestival

Today’s #FilmFreeway Testimonial: #FANTASY/#SCIFI Film & Screenplay Festival

https://filmfreeway.com/FantasySciFiFilmScreenplayFestival

Loved being a part of this festival! This festival offered a unique array of additives that made the fee more than worth it! We loved our audience feedback video and doing the blog + podcast interview #filmfestival #film

Today’s FilmFreeway Testimonial: HORROR Underground Film Festival

https://filmfreeway.com/horrorunderground

I want to thank the HORROR Underground Film & Screenplay Festival in awarding my horror short, Come the Nightfall for Best Direction. This is one of the best film festivals I’ve ever been a part of. Highly recommend this one to all #filmmakers. #horror #horrorfestival #filmfreeway

Today’s #FilmFreeway Testimonial: FEMALE Feedback Film Festival

https://filmfreeway.com/FEEDBACKFemaleFilmFestivalFFFF

The festival were super responsive and helpful, the podcast was a delight and the feedback video was glowing it was as if my mum was interviewed! Everyone involved in the festival went above and beyond. #femalefestival #filmfreeway #femalefilmfestival #shortfilmfestival