Author: festreviews

Watch Today’s FREE Film Festival: Best of SCI-FI/FANTASY Shorts Festival

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Watch the festival NOW for the next 48 hours by signing up for the FREE 3-DAY trial using the link, or go to http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch today’s Festival: https://www.wildsound.ca/events/best-of-sci-fi-fantasy-shorts-festival

Sumarsólstöður, 30min., France
Directed by Amélie Ravalec
In a world where art and reality collide, Miho’s vivid dreams reveal the cosmic force of the Architecture, uniting her with artists across the globe in a desperate battle to heal the universe.

https://www.circletimestudio.com/sumarsolstodur

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



The Krystal Gene, 13min., USA
Directed by Stuart Michael Daly, Jobe Wolf
In 2024, A troubled young mother (Sophia) and her psychic son (Jacob) are desperately on the run from a super soldier unit, known as ‘Black Sun’. Such an elite and ancient order will stop at nothing in abducting her son for weaponizing his DNA to gene splice slave humans for a WW3 draft.

https://www.instagram.com/ascension.series

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-the-krystal-gene

Can’t Stop, A Star Trek Fan Production, 24min., Czech Republic
Directed by Radek Belina
The starship USS Greenwich Village, commanded by Captain Glenn Dirk, is sent to the Deneb system, historically known as the site of Captain Picard’s first contact with the mysterious and powerful being Q. The crew expects a peaceful scientific mission, full of exploration, discovery, and data collection. Newly appointed First Officer Felipe Scott, descendant of the famous Montgomery Scott, brings a fresh approach to planning and enthusiasm for space exploration.

https://startrekbridge.com/episode/cant-stop-star-trek-fan-production

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-cant-stop-a-star-trek-fan-production



THE GREY OWL, 1min., Mexico
Directed by Ramón Charbel Sánchez Márquez
In the remains of the once majestic “Danbo City”, two old friends colide.

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-the-grey-owl

Today’s FilmFreeway Deadline: ENVIRONMENTAL Film & Screenplay Festival

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Submit to the Festival via FilmFreeway:

We have created a hybrid festival with 4 tiers to enhance your film and your festival experience. All accepted films receive all four tier options:

Tier #1 – Your film plays at a public film festival event where the audience will record their comments/reactions to your film on their camera or phone, then we edit them and send you a promotional video. No matter what you will receive a promotional video of your film of people commenting on your film.

Tier #2 (optional) – Your film plays on the Film Festival streaming service for 30 hours and invite a select industry audience to watch it. With this system, some films have already received a distribution deal as many platforms are looking for solid feature and short documentaries. We can not guarantee anything of course but this has been very helpful to many in the past. (see testimonials below)

Then (Tier #3) we will send you a list of questions to answer for our blog interview that will promote you and your film. Then after that (Tier #4) we will set up a podcast interview on our popular ITunes show where will we chat with you about the process of how the film was made.

A festival designed to showcase the best of new environmentally themed films (shorts, features) and screenplays (shorts, features, TV pilots) from around the world. We accept any genre (animation, comedy, experimental, horror etc.) as long as it has an underlying environmental thematic. We seek to advance public understanding of the environment through the power of film and storytelling; which is why this festival has been created.

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Turning 45 Today: Joanne Froggatt

festreviews Happy Birthday

In true-life dramas, you have to do so much research. It’s a big responsibility to make sure things are as correct as possible. In ‘Robin Hood’, you have more artistic license – it’s all action, adventure and reaction. This gives everyone a chance to make their characters their own and to make them believable.

I really enjoy dressing up. I’m pretty much a girlie girl.

I grew up on a farm – it was a lovely life; we’d make tree houses all day – and my parents worked from home.

Turning 62 Today: Park Chan-Wook

festreviews Happy Birthday

Basically, I’m throwing out the question ‘When is such violence justified?’ To get that question to touch the audience physically and directly – that’s what my goal is. In the experience of watching my film, I don’t want the viewer to stop at the mental or the intellectual. I want them to feel my work physically. And because that is one of my goals, the title ‘exploitative’ will probably follow me around for a while.

In our lives, we have good things and bad things, happiness and pain. Life is full of pain and happiness and that’s what I wanted to show.

Living without hate for people is almost impossible. There is nothing wrong with fantasizing about revenge. You can have that feeling. You just shouldn’t act on it.

I have principles and rules. I deal very carefully with acts of violence and make sure that audiences understand how much suffering these acts cause.

Happy Birthday River Phoenix (1970-1993) 

festreviews Happy Birthday

“I feel that there are great minds up there who would like to see what I can do with an Oscar nomination. I guess many people would change after a nomination in the way they see things. In my case it’s really irrelevant in terms of what I do. Still, it was an incredible experience which I will put in my memories, like everything else.” (On his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Running on Empty (1988) in 1989.)

If I have some celebrity, I hope I can use it to make a difference. The true social reward is that I can speak my mind and share my thoughts about the enviroment and civilisation itself. There’s so much shit happening with people who are exploiting their positions and creating a lot of negativity.

Every day of my life since I finished My Own Private Idaho (1991), at some point in the day, I find the conversation somehow goes back to that film, because it was just such a great experience. I just start getting all joyous and start babbling about it. [on his feelings about My Own Private Idaho (1991) just after the film’s release in 1991]

I would just look at Harrison [Harrison Ford]; he would do stuff and I would not mimic it, but interpret it younger. Mimicking is a terrible mistake that many people make when they play someone younger, or with an age difference. Mimicking doesn’t interpret true because you can’t just edit it around. [on his interpretation of a young Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)]

Happy Birthday Gene Kelly (1912-1996)

festreviews Happy Birthday

The contract system at Hollywood studios like MGM was a very efficient system in that because we were at the studio all the time we could rehearse a lot. But it also really repressed people. There were no union regulations yet, and we were all indentured servants–you can call us slaves if you want–like ballplayers before free agency. We had seven-year contracts, but every six months the studio could decide to fire you if your picture wasn’t a hit. And if you turned down a role, they cut off your salary and simply added the time to your contract.

Kids talk to me and say they want to do musicals again because they’ve studied the tapes of the old films. We didn’t have that. We thought once we had made it, even on film, it was gone except for the archives.

I arrived in Hollywood 20 pounds overweight and as strong as an ox. But if I put on a white tails and tux like [Fred Astaire], I still looked like a truck driver.

[on his working experience with Debbie Reynolds while filming Singin’ in the Rain (1952) (1952)] I wasn’t nice to Debbie. It’s a wonder she still speaks to me.

There was no model for what I tried to do with dance . . . and the thing Fred Astaire and I used to bitch about was that critics didn’t know how to categorize us. They called us tap dancers because that was considered the American style. But neither of us were basically tap dancers.

Watch SCREAMING SILENCE, 17min., UK, Horror, Thriller (new film on the platform)

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Sign up for the FREE 3-day trial to watch the film and 450+ award winning films.

Watch Film Here: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/watch-screaming-silence

In the hauntingly enigmatic and dialogue-free short film, ‘Screaming Silence’, Elizabeth, a young woman in the aftermath of a traumatic event, navigates her world through a haunting soundscape of everyday noises, which ‘peoples’ her world and forces her to face her reality of circumstances and her fear of reaching out for help. As the audience intimately experiences her journey, Elizabeth’s silence becomes a bittersweet force, echoing the profound emotional depth that empowers her to move forward in an altruistic twist of an ending.

https://www.screamingsilencefilm.com/

https://instagram.com/kalynelizabethwood

Directed by Kalyn Elizabeth Wood, Hal Waghorn

Writer & Lead Actor: Kalyn Elizabeth Wood

Sound Design: Oliver Bignell

Director Biography – Kalyn Elizabeth Wood, Hal Waghorn
Kalyn is an American – Irish actress based in London and Los Angeles. Kalyn became interested in acting at a young age and began training when she was twelve years old. At the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Wood received a perfect study score. In 2020, she received a BA in History from the University of Mississippi. In 2023, Wood received an MA in Text & Performance from Birkbeck University. Her film ‘Screaming Silence’ has gone on to win 25 awards.

Hal is an award winning director currently based in Bristol in the UK. He’s been studying at Bristol University for the past 3 years where he not only collaborated on a range of short films but also co founded Bristol Collaborative Arts, a Bristol based arts society created to give young artists a space to collaborate on film theatre and music projects. He now works in the British film and TV industry as a floor runner and is looking to work on future projects with like minded creatives.

Watch Trailer:

Watch PRANK’D, 13min., Dramedy, Thriller (new film on the platform)

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Sign up for the FREE 3-day trial to watch the film and 450+ award winning films.

Watch Film Here: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/watch-prank-d

When a by -the-book lawyer allows a prank war to escalate and spiraling occur. The lines of law, ethics and office humor blur.

Directed by Mitra Goodwin

Director’s BIO:

Engineer, Business Analyst, Program Manager, Script Supervisor. Those were my titles before deciding to write and direct my short film, Prank’d.


Growing up an army brat, and as an only girl to 3 brothers, movies and books were my best and constant companions. When I realized some books were made into movies, a new hobby emerged, reading the book, and subsequently watching and critiquing the movie. “Devil in a Blue Dress” and “Harry Potter” are the favorites for the transition. However, my writing outlets at the time were journaling and poetry.

Fast forward and I graduated from the University of Louisville with a Master’s in Industrial Engineering and continued performing time studies at a parcel shipping company. As I moved into software development in the corporate realm and in location to Camden, South Carolina, I realized that I gained an ability. The ability to handle meeting overloads, personality conflicts and small talk fatigue by secretly giving spirit animal nick names to my colleagues and before you knew it, I had amassed mini stories for them as well.

Another fast forward, and a week before the pandemic shutdowns, in Atlanta, GA (where I currently reside) I attended BWFN (Black Women Film Network) and later uncovered the old writings. That creative experience and those memories pushed me to the next logical step in….a Script Supervisor for Film and TV. Not apparently logical but Mitra logic, I was able to observe and learn more behind the scenes production while I honed my storytelling confidence and abilities. As I continue to create content, I hope it brings joy to those reading and watching as it brought joy to me writing.

Today’s Writing Deadlines: August 22, 2025

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Submit to these exciting festivals today. Festivals that offer feedback from the industry, plus performance videos.

WOMEN’S FICTION Novel Festival (3 options to submit):
https://femalefilmfestival.com/womens-fiction-novel-festival/

Women’s fiction is a broad term for books that center on women’s experiences and are marketed to female readers.

3 options to submit: 1st chapter. full novel. performance reading.

BLACK Screenwriters Festival:
https://blackfeedbackfilmfestival.com/black-screenwriters-festival/

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.)
1) Full Feedback on your script
2) Actors performance video reading of your script
3) Blog interview promotion.
4) Podcast interview on the Film Festival ITunes show

BODY IMAGE Short Story Festival (automatic acceptance):
https://storypitches.com/body-image-short-story-festival/

Submit your BODY IMAGE short story to the festival here, and we will automatically have it performed by a professional actor and turned into a promotional video for yourself.

UNDER 5 Minute Film Festival: