WILDsound Film Festival

Infobox Film Festival
name = WILDsound Film Festival


host = [http://www.imdb.com/company/co0190463/ Wildcard Pictures]
number = 100 - 120 / year
location = Toronto,Ontario,Canada
language = International
website = http://www.wildsound.ca/The WILDsound Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held every month except September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival is held at the National Film Board of Canada, world-renowned for animation including the Oscar-winning The Danish Poet (2006) and Oscar-nominated Madame Tulti-Putli (2007). WILDsound screens shorts selected from international submissions and hosts readings of new scripts.

Each WILDsound monthly festival is a two-day event.

Fridays feature the best new screenplays submitted from writers around the world. Depending on what is received, television pilots, feature film scripts, short screenplays, or spec scripts may be programmed.

On Saturdays, WILDsound screens a selection of international short films. There is no restriction on genre, although few films of more than 30 minutes are screened.

General

WILDsound bills itself as a "feedback film festival" and claims to be the most unique film festival in the world because it constantly turns a critical eye on the writers and filmmakers that participate. Each event is moderated by an industry professional who leads the audience in a feedback session after the screenings or reading. The artists are encouraged to be present, but do not identify themselves or participate in the feedback.

Past moderators have included Toronto International Film Festival co-founder Bill Marshall, film critics Norman Wilner, Bruce Kirkland, Liz Braun, Liam Lacey, and Susan Walker, radio host John Moore, writer/actor Paul Bellini (Kids In The Hall), writers Elan Mastai, Karl Schiffman, and James Hurst (Degrassi), actors Pamela Sinha and Peter Keleghan, casting directors/agents Ron Leach, Glenn Cockburn, master story editor Marguerite Pigott, and other industry professionals like Tasso Lakas (ACTRA), John May, Michael Kennedy, Erin Faith Young, John Galway (The Greenburg Fund), Colin Brunton, and David Weaver.

hort Film Festival

Since January 2007, WILDsound has screened well over 100 shorts from around the world including The Shovel featuring David Strathairn and Tim Guinee (2006) [ [http://www.david-strathairn.com/film/shovel.html David Strathairn Online] ] , Marc Lougee's The Pit and the Pendulum, Darling Darling starring Michael Cera, award-winning animated film Red Princess Blues [ [http://www.redprincessblues.com/press.html Red Princess Blues awards and selections] ] and controversial Sundance Film Festival hit First Date by Gary Huggins.

creenplay Festival

At the Features Head to Head to Head events, the first act of each of three features is read and the audience selects their favorite to be read in its entirety the following month. The winning feature film is also accompanied by the finalists of the One-Page Screenplay Competition, and the winner of that is made into a short film. Past winners of the One-Page Competition include Bea C. Rodriguez's Pronouncing, a first screenplay by a Filipino writer from Chicago. Winners of the Features event include screenplays from England, Canada, and the United States, while showcased writers have come from all around the world.

The scripts are read by professional Canadian actors, including Chris Violette, Von Flores, Joe Dinicol, Chris Owens, and many other respected performers.

Screenplays have included "The Swimmer Manuscript" by Joseph Kenny, one of the most highly praised feature scripts of all time, "Heart of America" by veteran television writer Rogers Turrentine (The Rockford Files, Magnum P.I.) who has also worked extensively with Sopranos creator David Chase, "Kinky and Remus Get Blunt!" by Rae Dawn Chong and "Streetcar" by Frederick Weller. WILDsound has also given writers an opportunity to showcase their television spec scripts from such current and past television shows as Corner Gas, Entourage, and 30 Rock.

Website

WILDsound has one of the largest, most extensive, and fastest-growing film sites in the world, featuring hundreds of online shorts and feedback videos from past events.

WILDsound also features regular entertainment industry columnists including actress Precious Chong (daughter of Tommy Chong, writer Daren Foster, and Huffington Post official blogger Mitchell Bard [ [http://anotherblogsorry.blogspot.com/2008/06/return-of-my-boys-and-bill-engvall-show.html Mitchell Bard, June 19, 2008] ] .

History

The WILDsound Film Festival was created by Matthew Toffolo and began life as "Lift Out Loud", a monthly screenplay reading series at the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT).

In June 2006, Lift Out Loud was re-invented as WILDsound by Toffolo and Wildcard Pictures Corp partner Jen Frankel. The reading series moved out of LIFT to the Pilot Tavern, a historic pub in Toronto's Yorkville district. The Film Festival began in January 2007 at the National Film Board of Canada, and the Reading Series event moved to the NFB as well in June 2007. [ [http://www.ifilmalliance.com/newsevents/newsletter/newsletter17.php Wildcard Pictures interview] ]

From January 2008 until June 2008, the Festival featured a Sunday matinee event as well, at which new features or longer-form shorts were screened, including the acclaimed documentaries "Alcatraz Reunion" [ [http://store.pagetfilms.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=PFA001 Alcatraz Reunion DVD] ] and "Working Class Rockstar."

The WILDsound selection committee has included writers Jen Frankel and Robert Reece, director Drew Potter, editor Mark Sanders, casting director Ron Leach, writer/comedian Andrea Mitchell, and actor Wes Berger.

Founders

Matthew Toffolo moved from a successful career in grocery store to film after attaining both broadcasting and film degrees. He has produced and/or directed more than a dozen shorts and music videos including the big-budget "Headhunter" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434069/ IMDB - Headhunter] ] and "The Yard Sale" [ [http://www.bravofact.com/shorts/details.asp?projectID=2767&searchStatus=active&DisciplineID=0&provID=0&searchText=the%20yard%20sale&ANDOR=AND BravoFact - The Yard Sale] ] .

Jen Frankel is a writer, producer, and performer and partners with Toffolo in Wildcard Pictures Corp., a film production company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has performed across Canada in Fringe Festivals [ [http://www3.sympatico.ca/jennfrank444/ London Fringe] ] and is the author of a novel "The Last Rite" [ [http://www.amazon.com/Last-Rite-Jen-Frankel/dp/1588987361 Amazon.com - The Last Rite] ] . With Toffolo, she wrote or produced ten short films since 2005.

Films produced by Wildcard Pictures Corp. have screened internationally at festivals like the Bare Bones International Film Festival [ [http://barebonesfilmfest00.tripod.com/schedule/id6.html Bare Bones] ] , The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival [ [http://www.mglff.com/press/pr032307.php MGLFF] ] and the Connecticut Film Festival [ [http://ctff.bside.com/2006/?_view=_filmdetails&filmId=5626998 Connecticut Film Festival] ]

Mandate

WILDsound prides itself in its rigorous commitment to excellence and to the development of artistic talent through feedback from both industry insiders and the general public. Every submission receives constructive criticism from a panel of professionals, and films and scripts that make it to the live event also have the opportunity to review the comments of audience and moderator on DVD. It is the only Feedback Festival in the world.

References

External links

* [http://www.wildsound.ca Official website]
* [http://thatradio.podhoster.com/index.php?sid=1352 "The Show" - WILDsound's entertainment radio broadcast]
* [https://www.withoutabox.com/03film/03t_fin/03t_fin_fest_01over.php?festival_id=5562 WILDsound on Withoutabox]
* [http://www.livewithculture.ca/content/view/full/13895 Live With Culture - Arts in Toronto]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1773773/ IMDB - Matthew Toffolo]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2412314/ IMDB - Jen Frankel]
* [http://www.imdb.com/company/co0190463/ IMDB - Wildcard Pictures]