Get FULL FEEDBACK on either the 1st chapter or entire novel book from our committee of Professional Writers, and Writing Consultants. Get your novel performed by a professional actor at the festival.
NEW OPTION: Or, just submit for an actor performance reading transcript of your novel (any 5 pages of your book). Great way to promote the sales of your book if you’re already published. (see examples on the video playlist below)
SUBMIT your novel now (both your 1st chapter or full novel accepted) To be eligible for our Writing Festival Events. Submissions take 3-5 weeks for evaluation
A biography is a written account of a person’s life that tells the story of their experiences, accomplishments, and challenges. The word “biography” comes from the medieval Greek words bios, meaning “life”, and graphia, meaning “writing”.
Accept only stories that fit into the BIOGRAPHY genre.
We are proud to showcase 2-5 winning LGBTQ+ screenplays at our festival every single month!! Go to the site and watch the winning readings each month.
Submit your Feature, TV Pilot, or Short Screenplay
All entries receive full feedback from the industry. Accepted screenplays get their screenplays performed by professional actors.
One of North America’s leading gay destinations, Toronto has been holding Pride observances since the ’70s. The Pride parade draws more than 1.2 million spectators and participants annually, making it one of the top such draws in the world. The cinema is located in the Church & Wellesley area, where all of the Pride Events take place.
LGBTQ+ festivals occur 12 times a year.
All submissions receive feedback on their screenplay no matter what.
“We feel greatly honoured to have been selected by Crime/Film Festival and granted an award. The whole experience was awesome and the Festival Team is really fantastic. Thanks again for your consideration and support”
VOICES FOR MADIDI, 24min., Canada Directed by Jonathan Derksen Bolivia’s Madidi National Park is considered to be the most biodiverse place on planet earth. The Uchupiamonas people, who call the park home, are in a constant battle against forces eager to exploit the protected area for its hydroelectric potential, hardwoods and gold. In this documentary, we hear from of the eco-warriors at the front lines.
The Madidi area of the Bolivian Amazon is perhaps the most biodiverse place on earth. I first visited the area in 1982 as a teenager, when a group of friends and I ventured down the Beni River in a motorized dugout canoe during the rainy season, only to almost meet our fate in deadly rapids, whirl pools and a maze of giant tree snags. Fortunately, we were taken in by some Moseten hunters, who fed us and gave us shelter until the rains abated and we could carry on.
I returned to the area in the nineties as a photojournalist on a national parks beat, then, in 2007 as an expedition leader. In 2008, I filmed with National Geographic on Bolivia’s infamous “Death Road” traversing the Andes to the Amazon. In 2016 and 2017, I worked on a coffee table book “Madidi: an uncertain future” with photographer Sergio Ballivian.
On each expedition, I interacted with the extraordinary Uchupiamonas people, who taught me the ways of the jungle and the profound importance of protecting such unparalleled biodiversity. They also educated me about the various existential threats to the region and its indigenous people. This lit a fire under me.
In 2023, I returned with a film crew in hopes of bringing their story to the rest of the world, culminating in “Voices for Madidi”, a bilingual expression of the eco-warriors serving the front lives of a little-publicized battle.
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THE AMAZING JOURNEY OF JACOB A. RIIS, 3min., Denmark Directed by Marcus Mandal A very short film about the legendary Danish-American Jacob A. Riis who was one of the 19th century’s most innovative journalists and the father of modern documentary photography.
INCURABLE, 5min., Belgium Directed by Frédéric Roussel The disease had hit him a long time ago. But today, there seems to be a respite, and who knows, maybe a glimpse of hope to recover. Anyway a permanent anxiety and the fear that the nightmare might come back one day, will cast a shadow of despair over this evening that had begun nicely.
SIX-BLACK! WHITE-ONE!, 10min., Belgium Directed by Vadim Kopilets A bank clerk is going to commit a financial crime. After a phone call he tries to hack a secret code. On the display he sees a black crow sitting on a soldering iron with two dices hanging on his neck, black and white ones. A bank clerk is going to commit a financial crime. After a phone call he tries to hack a secret code. On the display he sees a black crow sitting on a soldering iron with two dices hanging on his neck, black and white ones…
SREBENICA, 2min,. France Directed by Thibaut Fleuret This work is about Srebrenica, Bosnia, place of the last european genocide where thousands of muslim people were killed.
ON SUNDAYS, 8min., Brazil Directed by Olavo Junior Domingos, an elderly man with fragile health, follows his solitary routine on a Sunday afternoon, until he receives a visit from a love from the past.
ANOTHER DAY ON EARTH, 16min,. Sweden Directed by Ottoveggio Alexandre Victor have been release after a long time of detention in prison he have a mission to find his daughter that he never met , it s a long walk to his destiny
At a showing of a rental apartment, a young woman stumbles upon a gruesome mystery while taking pictures with her phone.
Review by Parker Jesse Chase:
The film opens with Natalie (Cynthia Galant) visiting an apartment that checks all the boxes for her dream rental, but this seemingly perfect scenario spirals into terror as her phone camera reveals a sinister mystery.
First & Last wastes no time immersing us in the action. Natalie’s excitement is palpable as she captures pictures of the apartment to share with a friend. It’s through this casual act she uncovers something chilling—a bloodstain visible only through her phone. This clever use of the camera as a window into a hidden reality drives the tension, offering a fresh spin on a classic horror trope.
Writer-director Alexander Nonaka Galant’s storytelling effectively layers suspense, from the trail of blood leading to a closed bathroom door to the climactic reveal behind the shower curtain. The gruesome discovery of the homeowner’s body, followed by a ghostly confrontation, feels both shocking and inevitable. Carmen Gillespie’s portrayal of Avira, the ghost unaware of her death, adds a haunting yet tragically human dimension. Her line, “It looks like you’ve seen a ghost,” punctuates the film with dark irony, cementing its eerie tone.
The foreshadowing in the film is subtle yet clever. The phone acts as a metaphorical mirror, reflecting the hidden truths of the crime scene. Everyday elements—a hopeful apartment hunt, casual photos, and the excitement of sharing a potential home with a friend—set the stage for the unfolding horror. Details like a restraining order buried among lease applications hint at the darker backstory, while the music composition intensifies the growing dread.
While First & Last effectively builds tension and delivers an intriguing premise, it doesn’t aim to break new ground. Its execution is solid, but it doesn’t reinvent the genre, its clever use of visual and narrative elements makes it a worthwhile watch. Still, in its brief runtime, the film manages to craft a satisfying story arc with strong pacing and atmosphere, leaving the audience to question, what exactly happened to Avira?
A little boy, fascinated by the legend that the white keys on the old Steinway piano, which “lives” in his parents’ house, are made of elephant tusks, dreams every night of meeting the gray giants one day and never being separated from them…This desire grows from day to day along with the lullaby that his mother sings to him, because there are words in it: “You are special!”
Review by Andie Karvelis:
What an intriguing tale the filmmakers came up with, it really captures your attention and draws you in. We start with a little boy fascinated by the ivory keys on a Steinway piano in his home. He believes that the majestic elephants willingly shed their tusks to create the piano keys. A child’s innocence and imagination are second to none. HIs mother is a musician and she wants nothing more than her son to grow up and be a musician. So each night she sings to him a very special lullaby.
One of the things I really loved was how the filmmakers used a gaussian blur on the footage to give it that memory/dream feel. The colors were vibrant and yet everything was just slightly out of focus to simulate memories. The voice over was perfectly paced and had nice emotion and inflection. The music was beautiful but anytime you have dialogue being said over sung lyrics it’s going to pull your focus and make it hard to understand what to pay attention to.
As we transition into the present, the cinematographer gave us desaturated tones and a crisp picture. We meet the little boy, now an adult. He is not the musician his mother wanted him to be and he admits this to us. The areas where he addressed the camera and spoke directly to the audience was a fascinating choice and it worked. As the film progressed, it became less and less desaturated and more colors started to come in when he moved that Steinway piano to a local bar and played for them.
The story was very well told and engaging. The leading actor did a marvelous job in the voiceover and on camera. His performance was believable and organic. The choice to end the film on the lullaby was great because it had everything come full circle
Go to the Daily Film Festival Platform http://www.wildsound.ca and sign up for the free 7 day trial to watch a new and original festival every single day.
DEATH IN LAVENDER, 10min., USA Directed by Tyler W. Moore Secrets begin to unravel after the untimely passing of the patriarch of the Pennington family.
THE LESSON, 11min,. USA Directed by Lindy Hudis The tables are turned when a neurotic and abusive homeowner learns a hard lesson about manners and karma! After verbally abusing a supposedly inept housekeeper, Angela goes to an important business dinner meeting with the CEO of her company, seeking a promotion. The boss’s date and fiancé is Kelly, the young college student working part time as a maid to earn money for school. Somebody is about to learn a lesson!
AURORA, 30min., USA Directed by Thomas Negovan, Aaron Sharps The true story of the first documented UFO crash in American history. Written and directed by Thomas Negovan and Aaron Shaps.
KNOCKOUT, 33min,. USA Directed by Ralph Giordano Knockout is the story of a young man trying to find success in the competitive world of Boxing, only to face external conflict and confront inner demons.
THE BIRDS, 5min., Canada Directed by Joe Chang Unspoken and free from any conventional set of characters, The Birds employs a unique ink washed style to offer a heartfelt, imploring of humankind to take the time to truly admire the beauty of birds and to connect with nature.
Río Monstruo, 6min,. USA Directed by James Crowder A monster in the LA River finds the music of a young girl soothing and needs her all to itself.
SKATE FAST TURN LEFT, 1min., USA Directed by Mary Hawkins Two friends, Fifi Fleshwound and Little Mary Switchblade, have a quick conversation about their roller derby years…
My friend Andrea came up with Things Took a Turn, and I’d wanted to submit ever since I’d heard about it. It’s an animation anthology for women and gender minorities, and it just sounded like good weird fun… I told Fifi about it, since I’m not a writer-of-things and she is, and we chatted a bunch about ways to react to the prompt for that season: the End of the World. We’d meet in a diner, talk for about fifteen minutes about how we were going to approach the project and then veer off into old derby gossip. Eventually, I told her that we needed to nail things down and while we were at it… why didn’t we make the film about us and our experiences. We’d been coming up with little fictional scenarios, but our actual experience was better and more interesting. We’d put years of work into roller derby. It’s an all-consuming hobby and a really interesting community.
What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I loved the reactions! People put so much love and thought into their feedback and I really enjoyed hearing what they had to say, especially since most of the people who’ve talked to me about my film have been people I already have a connection to, either because they’re friends or also played roller derby or live in NYC. To see that total strangers were also interested in my film and really got what it was about really made my morning. My movie is only 45 seconds long. so nearly any description of the film is longer than the film itself.
Festival Reviews 