Question & answer session after the festival screening with filmmakers from the July 31, 2025 festival at the Carlton Cinemas, in downtown Toronto, Canada.

Conversation with directors:

Sohil Chhabra (OBSIDIAN)

Malcolm Jack (THE CALLBACK)

THE CALLBACK, 10min., Canada
Directed Malcolm Jack
ISAA...

STIGMA, 30min., Tunisia
Directed by Dali Mansour
During the Covid-19 lockdown, "Stigma" explores the emotional impact on Bochra, a young woman living alone in France. Through webcam exchanges with her parents in Tunisia, Bochra struggles with painful memories and a dark past. Confronted with soli...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Please respond the following questions with a number on a scale from one to five (one being least agree and five being most agree).

1. You would turn in your neighbor, should he be revealed to be an undocumented immigrant.
1 2 3 4 5

2. You would spit on him as he’...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Years of betrayal
26 years to be exact
Holidays, vacations, children
Since the day they met

A long time coming
Waiting for the other shoe to drop
It didn’t hurt any less
Or make it easier to stop

On their family vacation
Cheating with him as she slept in their bed...

Performed by Val Cole

1) What is the theme of your poem?

Once, or Maybe Twice is about the longing for an absent person who cannot
be forgotten. The idea that the person is thought of periodically is tongue
in cheek for thinking about them constantly. Most of the imagery is set to
emphasize the...

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

Human Teddy Bear comes from a place of comfort and emotional security. At it's heart it addresses how a person can easily become a safe place whether it feels like the world is crashing down or just an all around ...

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your short story about?

'The Nightmare' is a story told entirely through questions. It asks the
audience about their experiences with bad dreams whilst painting a visceral
image of someone consumed by sleep deprivation and night terrors...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

You keep me,
as if I were a monk
inside the monastery of your heart.

You keep me,
as the deepest secret dwelling
in the darkest part of your heart.

You keep me,
as the quickest sentiment sent and meant
to strike passion in your heart.

You keep me,
replaying insid...

Performed by Val Cole

Visual Design by Adam Bilyea

Produced by Matthew Toffolo

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POEM:

Psalm of deconstruction

By Cameron Crawford

Psalm of deconstruction

A poem about grief, anger, and questioning.

Why the fuck is one so evil left to roam?

We read all about his darkn...

Performed by Val Cole

A chaotic, love-starved pre-doctorate scientist joins a research project in a Greek coastal city, where failed dates, spiritual burnout, and a wildly controlling boss send her spiraling until she realizes the only experiment that truly matters is rebuilding her sense of self and finding the stren...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

Humanity staring into the mirror of AI — seeing both our brilliance and our blind spots reflected back. It explores the paradox of creating something that can echo our thoughts, amplify our vision, and also revea...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

I came to him like Persephone –
A bloom half-rooted in the Underworld,
Hands dusted with the dark of longing –
He, the sun I mistook for salvation.
But I was not the first.

The pedestal bore another’s weight
Long before I climbed its slick, slanted edge.
Her name s...

Performed by Val Cole

Kathryn is facing the longest battle of her life, even with the necessary resources she's not only a victim but also an advocate for her own rights to find a way to stop her stalker from completely ruining the life she has left, after he had made her out to be the predator...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Snow White,
Circling the sky
In search of messengers
To show them the way to newfound
Freedom

TEA TIME, 9min., USA
Directed by B.T. Goldman
A detective interrogates a strange elderly Englishman about a missing person in his neighborhood.

https://www.instagram.com/cybereggproductions/

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-tea-time


EXCESS BAGGAGE, 22min., UK
Directed by...

DIMENSIONS: The Interrogation, 8min., USA
Directed by Robert James Harden Jr.
During an interrogation for the murder of his mother, a man pleads for his release in fear of his life. Two special detectives grill him in order to solve their case. In the shadows of these men's dimension, the answer...