I can’t express how glad I am that I submitted to The Action/ Crime/ Mystery Film & Screenplay Festival! It’s been a fantastic experience all around! The format and organization make it streamlined and simple to participate in, they offer benefits that I’ve never seen at other festivals, and their process and assessment are well-rounded and fair. This will be my go-to festival from here on out!
Thank You – Environmental Film & Screenplay Festival
I’m honored that the Environmental Film & Screenplay Festival selected Polar Break.
This project was born out of a deep concern for what is unfolding in the Arctic.
Thank you for recognizing a story that’s as much about survival as it is about sacrifice. To be included alongside other filmmakers and screenwriters committed to telling urgent, grounded environmental narratives means a great deal to me as a screenwriter.
Grateful for your support and platform.
It was an amazing festival; I loved the screenplay, reading, and any festivals that supported the environment.
It was an honour to win best short here – Matthew and the team really care and take the time! The addition of the viewer feedback was great and something that you don’t really see elsewhere. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much for showcasing (PLASTIK) – the team absolutely loved receiving all the feedback and we are so happy to win the BEST MICRO-SHORT! We hope that more people will be drawn to watch our “small but mighty” film and remember that people are the problem but also the solution to the plastic pollution crisis.
The Shining (1980) completely scarred me, but in a weirdly good way… it got me questioning storytelling. I wanted to do what Jack Nicholson was doing, minus killing my entire family
I’ve always been so intrigued by language and how it completely changes you – because of cultural context, because of humor. Everything is so different.
About Madonna: “She’s a dear old friend, so seeing her at the Evita (1996) premiere was a high point. She never looked more beautiful, glamorous and happy” (In Style magazine, Sept/2006).
My mom had me at 16, and took me every place she went. I remember going on peace marches. She tried to take me to Woodstock–it was pouring rain. It was on my birthday, and I was crying so much in the car they turned the car around and dumped me at my grandmother’s house…I had a little attitude.
Even my failures make money and become classics a year after I make them.
Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.
Blondes make the best victims. They’re like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.
I don’t understand why we have to experiment with film. I think everything should be done on paper. A musician has to do it, a composer. He puts a lot of dots down and beautiful music comes out. And I think that students should be taught to visualize. That’s the one thing missing in all this. The one thing that the student has got to do is to learn that there is a rectangle up there – a white rectangle in a theater – and it has to be filled.
When I go to work I don’t discriminate it as a comic-book movie. It’s full-on commitment. That’s all you can do. (…) Comic-book movies are mythology in a way, and there are a lot more parallels in them with what’s going on in the real world than people want to discuss…[2016]
[on the struggle to get The Apprentice (2024) released] Everything with this film has been one day at a time. There are a lot of people who love reading the Wikipedia page and throwing out their opinions. But they don’t actually know what they’re talking about. That’s a popular sport now online, apparently.
[2025] Costumes and a character’s wardrobe, or how they dress, really tells a story, and it tells a lot about that particular character, about the person. So I take the wardrobe very seriously.
INSIDE ALONE, 4min. Iran Directed by Hossein Moradizadeh Inside alone there is nothing. A black hole that smashes everything inside. Sometimes it’s a light star. Sometimes illusion and sometimes imagination. Such a world was created.
ONE GIANT WADDLE, 8min., USA Directed by Kevin Jones A group of penguins watching the moon landing gets jealous of the astronauts’ constant bragging about taking giant steps. While the penguins watching are stuck on Earth, with gravity keeping their steps so tiny that their walking style is mockingly referred to as waddling.
IF I WERE A PONY, 4min., USA Directed by Leonard Eckhaus If I Were a Pony by Leonard Eckhaus is the story of a boy and his pony told from the Pony’s perspective. The pony and the boy share many adventures. They ride across streams; they ride with friends and sometimes they just enjoy each other’s company.
VIPER PRODUCTS, 2min., Canada Directed by David Creighton
Tornado: War of the world, 15min., Iran Directed by Majid Frazolanhi An alien race attacks another planet and after destroying it, attacks Earth with its spaceships. One of the ships destroys cities using a large tornado. In another place, the ships destroy buildings with lasers. The armies of countries fight against the aliens. While a gate opens and many spaceships attack Earth. Godzilla enters and calls on the superheroes of Earth.
Eureka!, 15min., Canada Directed by David Creighton In this animated micro-short, a conspiracy nut finally grasps the truth.
CANADA UNPLUGGED:( Part 1) The Perfect Storm, 56min., Canada Directed by Sangita Iyer A bold, eye-opening documentary from Mettle Films, directed by award winning filmmaker Sangita Iyer, explores diverse Canadian voices discussing the impact of mass immigration in Canada. In this two-part series, we hear real concerns, lived experiences, and urgent questions about Canada’s immigration system, cultural cohesion, housing crisis, and economic pressures.