On his first day of college, Mark Shoots, an anxious underachiever planning to drop out, arrives early at a large, empty lecture hall. There, he encounters Amanda Lists, a driven overachiever anxiously awaiting news from an Ivy League waitlist. Initially hostile toward each other, they gradually ...

Come the Nightfall, 23min,. USA
Directed by Tom Michaels
A wealthy licentious offers a lift to a beautiful femme fatale in the middle of a deserted road with a shocking aftermath.

http://www.orzelfilms.com/
https://instagram.com/orzelfilms

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-come-...

HAPPINESS IS, 45min., Canada
Directed by Jason Wayne Frye
A search into the past reveals a journey of Love, Family and Connection

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-happiness-is

THE NINETEEN-YEAR HUNT, 18min., Hong Kong
Directed by Kelly Siu
On the sea‑facing walkways of Wah Fu E...

Voice Over: Val Cole

Performed by Val Cole

Voice Over: Val Cole

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POEM:

On the streets,
Paved in gold,
Is where she roams.

She’s waiting...
Waiting to be.

Into the arms,
Of the cold,
Lies an unknown home.

A blissful place...
That can never be.

Forgotten thoughts,
And memories,
Of what could have been.

Branches out...
Like a bro...

Nancy, a highschooler in Southern California, recalls her memories of her older toxic boyfriend while she teetered on the line of forgiveness and hatred.

Performed by Val Cole

Voice Over: Val Cole

360 words

Performed by Val Cole

https://youtu.be/dhaZ680a4zc

Performed by Val Cole

Question & answer session after the festival screening with filmmakers from the October 30th, 2025 festival at the Carlton Cinemas, in downtown Toronto, Canada.

Conversation with creators:

Ryan Port (The Last Christmas)
Louis Rémillard (Folie Glacée)
Anthony Joseph Spatafora (AN ANATOMY OF GRIEF)

Voice over by Val Cole

Standing Crooked Logline: A boy born with club feet in Troubles-era Belfast survives a traumatic childhood and 42 surgeries, discovering that while the body may falter, the right words can teach a man how to stand.

Performed by Val Cole

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Get to know the writer:

1. What is your short story about?

What if we could be programmed, our circuitry overwritten, erasing any trace of humanity, or attempts to, and if we stray into uncertainty, a threat to the system, we will be targeted and upgraded to fit nic...

Performed by Val Cole:
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POEM:

Where are my Krispy Kremes?
Did someone take them away?
Hot and fresh and slowly glazed,
I must embrace the great sensation.

Where are my Krispy Kremes?
For I’ve watched they as they were made.
Jelly filled, chocolate covered, or Bavarian crème,
The variety of...

Samantha Strohbusch
The Man Or The Bear
Short Horror (2900 words)

The antagonist in this story is lost in dream-like states, sifting through generational trauma. She bites her way out.

Performed by Val Cole

Poetry Reading by Val Cole

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Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?
How the creative process works, and how the different factors – inspiration, tradition, beauty and in particular melody – all work together and relate.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

I had b...

Jake & Pete's Christmas Special, 20min., UK
Directed by Luke Marley
When the spirit of Christmas seems to have left a small town in Gloucestershire, Jake and Pete must find a way to restore it in time for Christmas.

https://www.instagram.com/jakeandpeteshortfilm/

https://www.wildsound.ca/vide...