What was the last great American werewolf movie? If you answered, An American Werewolf in London, you win the prize. Its combination of reality, humor and absolute terror, hasn’t been matched. Instead the few werewolf movies that have been made have mostly been exercises in gore and heavy breathi...

Question & answer session after festival screening with filmmakers from the July 17, 2025 festival at the Carlton Cinemas, in downtown Toronto, Canada.

Conversation with directors:

- Matt LeMay (Echoes of the Ice (Indigenous Geographic))
- Jude Dauphin (Retrocity)
- Arwen Saleah Mercado (Shado...

Torn between the weight of her secrets and the desire for freedom, a single mother is forced to reveal the truth about her past, her sexuality, and her ex-husband to their children.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Aria: Hannah Ehman
Grace Rose: Val Cole

FREE festival starts at 8pm EST tonight at http://www.wildsound.ca/browse

Watch over 480 award winning short films now: https://www.wildsound.ca/watch-award-winning-short-films-1

what about the children, 81min., USA
Directed by Cortez Mack, Anthony Hill, Selena Sumrell
an inspirational film abo...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

(Sci-Fi for Rob Halford, Written While Sitting On a Curb
Outside Steven Spielberg’s “Amblin’ Entertainment”
Universal Backlot Office, Bungalow 477)

Ravages of starlight
beat upon his head:
This battleground,
a smoking field of dread.

His body feels the pummel
of w...

https://youtu.be/93mTwh2sGlY

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

My poem's theme is grief and the lack of understanding of others. This poem centers grievers and how lonely it is at times. People are not taught and often do not know how to interact...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Number 1

I watch him carry my mother up the stairs as if she is the thinnest piece of glass,

She is full of cracks.

I turn on the shower, a waterfall of memories.
Rubber ducks in the tub as we pretended to be mermaids.

My mother huddles in the shower, scared and...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your short story about?

It's a deceptive tale — subtle, misleading, designed to lead the reader astray. The true meaning only reveals itself in the very last line. To explain more would be to unravel the twist, and I wouldn't want to st...

Performed by Val Cole

https://youtu.be/68IL8F1Fu1s

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Once,
There was a poor little boy
Not poor in coins,
But in comfort.
Not poor in food,
But in love.

He had a mother
Who held a bottle
Tighter than her children,
Who traded bedtime stories
For silence
And babysitters.

She didn’t know
T...

Performed by Val Cole

https://youtu.be/3CdabwJ-w-A

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Like the tides, life rises and falls.
At times, you’re soaring—
High,
Reaching toward the endless sky,
Your crest catching golden light,
Dancing in the sun.

And then—
You’re pulled low,
Crashing down,
Breaking hard,
A surge of force,
S...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Seated alone on the couch, weary from the day’s labor,
full of hard drink and a heavy meal, he was content this
birthday affair may pass without incident.

A bottle of twenty-five-year Scotch adorned his lap.
He made certain she saw him swallow the sleeping pill she...

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

The theme of the poem is the comeuppance and downfall of a politician
who literally lied his way into office and was then found out.

2) What motivates you to write this poem?

What prompted me to write it? I suppose it was to see how I...

Performed by Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your short story about?

On the surface it's about finding yourself as a trans person. It's about understanding yourself and having a support system that sees you and supports you. I think underneath that though, it's about being human. ...

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

- The poem celebrates the vibrant, scenic, and lively essence of San
Francisco. Its themes include:

Natural Beauty and Scenic Charm: Descriptions of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, green ridges, beaches, and star...

https://youtu.be/9DQs3B_4y2g

Performed by Val Cole

POETRY:

Uncle Ricky, a Gentle Giant
Uncle Ricky, a brilliant soul
He gave his near and dear a softer grace
With his gap-toothed smile on his face
His laugh filled a room as he told his vivid stories.
A smooth swagger, a heart in bloom
A brothe...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

My light was out when the message bore
the state of the child’s condition
and brought me kneeling to the floor
and reading what the father knew—
the object as inviolable, though reason claimed we too
would not cease in giving way
when met by forces, I recalled
my ow...

Voice Over: Val Cole

Editor & Visual Design by Adam Bilyea

Produced by Matthew Toffolo

----
POEM:

In naïveté the end begins, not knowing it is the last.

When Saigon was collapsing, my parents were separating.
My father had returned from Vietnam and they tried
to make it work but not all of ...

Voice Over: Val Cole

Editor & Visual Design by Adam Bilyea

Produced by Matthew Toffolo

—-

POEM:

I crave you, but I forgot
how to want. So I panic.

Distract myself like the days
I flirted death. Like the days
before I found the right
piece of myself to kill.

I yip and dance, shoot the moon...

Astronaut's Uniform, 30min., Russia
Directed by Dmitri Frolov
Mockumentary experimental film, which shows one day in the life of a young man.

https://www.instagram.com/astronauts_uniform/

Reflections of Us