WILDsound Offers Unique Platform for Black and Minority Filmmakers

The best place for exclusive interviews and exciting developments in the film industry is the WILDsound podcast. Matthew Toffolo, owner and CEO of the WILDsound Festival, has recently featured special guests from the Black and minority communities, including a recent winner of the Black Feedback Film Festival, which focuses on the best movies and screenplays from the Black community. It was created to showcase the most outstanding and powerful Black films and screenplays and serves to promote more films and stories of Black individuals worldwide. Each film displays the struggles of the Black individual and/or features Black actors.

WILDsound goes a step further and showcases Black screenwriters as well. With the overwhelming popularity of popular Black films such as “Get Out” and “Us”, the world is seeing more and more brilliant Black films and television shows. But not as much is said about Black screenwriters, so it’s exciting to see screenwriters of color such as “Christian Morris” creator J.A. Brown on the podcast.

The podcast is associated with the WILDsound Festival TV app, a streaming daily festival of the world’s finest creative content. The Canadian company broadcasts a unique film festival each day of the week and highlights the world’s best indie films, readings of original screenplays, novels, short stories, and poetry. 

J.A. Brown – Christian Morris

“Christian Morris” by J.A. Brown won the Drama Festival Best Scene Reading in May 2022. The screenplay describes a man dying of AIDS, reuniting with his best friend to clear his conscience of his promiscuous past and disclose long-kept secrets. The characters in the screenplay are Black, a nod to Brown’s own heritage.

The dying title character, Christian Morris, confesses to his best friend Dr. Dominic Rhoades that he may have infected many of his sexual partners with HIV. Christian fears that his friend would hate him if he knew, and he is desperate to relieve the emotional burden before his death.

During the podcast, Brown discusses his military background and a bisexual friend of his that had ended up catching the AIDS virus, which ended up being the inspiration for Christian Morris. Brown remembers wondering if his promiscuous friend had ever told his previous sexual partners of his diagnosis. The story germinated for years, he shares, and eventually came out in the screenplay.

Les Dotson – Power of Intimate Touch

“Power of Intimate Touch” won Best Film at the May 2022 Black Feedback Film Festival. This short film was created to explore the global misunderstanding about the real definition of intimacy. While many believe that intimacy always means physical sexual relations, true intimacy is first and foremost a connection between heart and soul, then mind, and then the body.

Intimacy, filmmaker Les Dotson reveals, is actually a powerful concept that can manifest in many ways besides sex. Dotson filmed two couples exploring six different intimate exercises that, Dotson says, all lovers should learn to increase their connection and strengthen their relationships.

In his podcast interview Dotson says that the documentary is a beautiful story about how we have almost forgotten how to touch each other, partially due to the effects of COVID-19. Intimacy can be a simple hug, Dotson shares, and can be between any two people, whether it’s people who have just met or deeper relationships such as a spouse. He describes the concept of “safe touch”, something far beyond sexual touch as it involves deep trust and emotional connectedness that reaches past the physical.

Dotson addresses the ancient practice of Tantra, its roots in India, Indonesia and Thailand, and how the practice has made its way West. He has practiced it for 18 years and describes how it connects the heart, soul, and body all together.

WILDsound: the Festival, the App, & the Podcast

The WILDsound Feedback Film Festival has been going strong since 2007, when Toffolo started it with the intention of creating a unique feedback platform for filmmakers and screenwriters. “I wanted to offer a meaningful film festival experience focused on audience feedback,” Toffolo shares. 

In January 2022, Toffolo’s company expanded with the WILDsound TV app. “Streaming services are the new currency,” Toffolo shared. “It’s like having your own cable station in the 1980’s.” The festival, app, and podcast all work together to offer multiple opportunities for filmmakers to promote their work.

In the decade and a half since its inception, WILDsound has shown over 10,000 films, including both short films and feature-length films. It has also shown recorded readings of over 8,000 original screenplays. What began as a monthly event in Toronto has expanded to Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as incorporating the podcast and new app.

The podcast is free, and movie buffs can try WILDsound TV free for seven days. After that, the service is only $3.99 per month. Users can watch the daily film festivals and access an ever-expanding library of content.

Learn more about WILDsound

Website: http://www.wildsound.ca

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 416-568-9046

Follow: YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, & Instagram. 

Podcast: WILDsound podcast 

Submit script/film to the festival on FilmFreeway.