ACTION/FANTASY Festival Best Scene: DJINN, by Matthew Karram

In a Middle Eastern refugee camp, 16-year-old Saeed discovers a magical ring containing a Djinn (spirit) while hiding from bullies. The Djinn offers him three wishes. With his first wish, Saeed asks for protection from his tormentors, leading to the death of the bully Hassan. For his second wish, Saeed asks to return to the time before the war, which the Djinn grants. However, Saeed realizes he’s been sent back to the exact day the conflict began. Despite his attempts to save his family, history repeats itself – his father dies in a bombing, and he and his mother are forced to flee the city. Understanding that some events are destined to occur, Saeed uses his final wish to never have found the ring, returning him to his present life in the refugee camp, where he must accept his reality.

WILDsound Best Scene Reading: BLEEDING BEAUTIES, by Jason Parks

Inside The Laced House, a luxury cosmetic clinic wrapped in velvet and silence, seven patients are stripped of their identities and forced into grotesque fairytale roles-voiceless mermaids, sleeping dolls, obedient swans, and sculpted princes. Through invasive procedures, psychological conditioning, and relentless surveillance, their bodies become battlegrounds in a system that weaponizes beauty to control.

HORROR Festival Best Scene: The P.I.’s (Paranormal Investigators), by Krista Crawford

When a disgraced ghost hunter reluctantly returns to her hometown, she faces a paranormal fight for her life as she tries to mount a comeback.

Years after escaping a family and hometown that shunned her, Bates thought she had it all. A successful ghost hunting career and show, a beautiful woman by her side and an unreliable ghostly touch that allows her to touch something and see flashes of its history. But after being discredited and dismissed from her own show as well as dumped, Bates Crawford is forced to return home and face old demons, literally.

She reunites with her best friend, she develops a crush on her client’s daughter, and with the help of a couple old classmates, find herself in a paranormal battle from the past as she tries to rebuild her image and reputation as a ghost hunter.

HIGHLIGHTS: August 2025 THRILLER/SUSPENSE Festival

A showcase of the best Thriller/Supense Films in the world today!

AUDIENCE AWARDS:
Best Short Film: Versipellis
Best Direction: Tale & Bones – Dark Princess
Best Story: Chak-316

Tale & Bones – Dark Princess, 3min., USA
Directed by Daniella Meggoe, Benson Jackson
Dark Princess is a psychological short highlighting the unique relationship between a grandmother and her grandchild. The innocent yet menacing ques are overlooked as something mysteriously dark is brewing.

http://www.sistastalk.org/taleboneshttps://instagram.com/Nellamovieproduction

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-tale-bones

Chak-316, 12min., Pakistan
Directed by Shaheer Iqbal
Zara Ahmed, a driven and ambitious petroleum executive in her mid-30s, is on the brink of sealing the biggest deal of her career.

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-chak-316

Versipellis, 26min., UK
Directed by James Rigby
In this spine-chilling horror film, a young girl, Sophia, faces the dilemma of choosing whom to trust when an imposter infiltrates her home.

https://www.instagram.com/versipellis_film

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

HIGHLIGHTS: August 2025 ACTION/CRIME/MYSTERY Festival

A showcase of the best Action/Crime/Mystery films from around the world today.

AUDIENCE AWARDS:
Best Mystery Film: NOBODY’S BUSINESS
Best Crime Film: PRIOR BAD ACTS
Best Action Film: HUNTED

HUNTED, 5min., USA
Directed by Eleazar Valenzuela
Two sisters are fleeing from corrupt police officers intent on their destruction. Sofia possesses something highly sought after, and the officers are determined to obtain it, no matter the cost.

https://instagram.com/official_stephanie_santana

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

NOBODY’S BUSINESS, 11min., Australia
Directed by Erifili Davis
Set in 1920s Australian underworld of sly grog and illicit narcotics, a woman must choose between love and her reputation.

https://www.instagram.com/studio138dubbo/

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-nobody-s-business

PRIOR BAD ACTS, 15min., USA
Directed by Thomas Allen Gear
Marine Leroy Brown tries to protect the other riders on a subway car and chokes a man to death. His public defender Emily Ann thinks Leroy can win at trial. Their intense conversation is the last thing before Leroy has to put himself in prison or take the advice of a less than Ivy League lawyer he has know for a half hour. He believes in honor, courage and duty. Emily Ann knows there is no such thing as a fair fight.

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-prior-bad-acts

Today’s Podcast: EP. 1574: Gabriel Milessis Braga (THE FIRST NIGHT)

The First Night, 7min., Brazil

Directed by Gabriel Milessis Braga

After collapsing at the altar, Elise awakens inside an old church, and something inside her has changed. Guided by a mysterious man who seems to understand her condition, she begins to confront a new, terrifying hunger. The First Night is a gothic meditation on becoming, resistance, and the quiet seduction of darkness in our lifes.

https://www.instagram.com/thegabrielwars/

Subscribe to the podcast:

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

https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

September 2025 WILDsound Festival Testimonials (123 FIVE Star Reviews)

Submit to the WILDsound Festival Today:

An absolute gem of a film festival that provides chances for a screenwriter to get non-AI feedback, hear actors perform their work, and be able to promote their works by competing in the festival. This should be the standard for all screenplay competitions!


I highly recommend that filmmakers of any skill level interact and engage with the Wildsound Film Festival.

Festival organizers Matthew and Alison Toffolo have created an awesome experience. Their passion for the medium of film and providing filmmakers with exposure, feedback, and connections is clear through the quality of their festival.

The feedback videos they offer are a perfect tool to gauge audiences’ reception of your film.

The podcast interview the festival provides is a great way to promote your film. Matthew is an awesome host who asks engaging and detailed questions.

Films submitted to this festival also have the chance to be selected for one of the biweekly, genre-based screenings at the Toronto Carlton Cinema.

These in-person events happen biweekly and are an awesome opportunity to view, support, and discuss short films with other artists. I’m so grateful to have met so many truly talented and passionate film enthusiasts and creators at this event. It was an incredible honor to have The Callback, a short film I wrote and directed, premiere at this festival. I’m deeply grateful to have been a part of it.


Great festival with the very unique feature of excellent short videos with audience feedback – great!


WILDsound offers excellent opportunities to elevate your script to the next level. Matthew is incredibly kind and helpful — definitely check out his podcast!
Thank you for reviewing my precious baby, Blue Idaho.


Thank you for awarding “Best Direction” to our film SWEET DREAMS! So humbled by the recognition. This festival is by far one of the best we’ve screened in. The feedback from audience members was inspirational; the podcast interview is one-of-a kind; the additional screening online brought us into homes across the world and communication from staff was timely and professional. WILDsound makes filmmakers feel welcomed, seen and supported–highly recommended!


Turning 29 Today: Zendaya

Watch the best of new films from around the world today by signing up for the FREE 3-DAY trial going to http://www.wildsound.ca (Also on Roku, FireStick, and your Itune (app))

  • This is so beautiful… doing and making positive programming for young people is so important to me, and I will keep doing it. To all the parents out there, thank you for allowing me to be a role model for your children. I really, really do not take that for granted.

  • [on why she dropped her last name] I dropped my last name because I just thought it was cool, like Cher or Prince.