A showcase of the best new films from around the world today.
AUDIENCE AWARDS:
Best Feature Film: TRAIL MIX
Best Performances: SMALL TOWN GIRLS
Best Comedy Film: HAMMERSTONE MEETS WOOFSTOCK
Best Story: ROUTINE
Best Direction: SUPER VILLAIN COFFEE
Best Student Film: THE CALLBACK
Best Micro-Short: COSMIC RHAPSODY: A JOURNEY OF HOPE
Trail Mix, 50min,. USA
Directed by Glenn Robert Sweitzer
Trail Mix follows a 2,000-mile journey from Georgia to Maine, uncovering the personal struggles and healing of hikers seeking solace, purpose, and transformation. Directed by Glenn Sweitzer, the film reveals how nature becomes a powerful path back to wholeness.
http://trailmix.film/https://instagram.com/trailmix_film
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-trail-mix
SMALL TOWN GIRLS, 4min., USA
Directed by Layal Hamdeh
Feeling confined by their small empty town and unambitious locals, Jasmine and Sarah entertain the idea of moving away to New York.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-small-town-girls
Hammerstone Meets Woofstock, 20min., Canada
Directed by Josh Holliday
A film that straddles the line between narrative and documentary, landing squarely on comedy. Steve Hammerstone is a small town radio host and big time buffoon, who’s sent to explore Woofstock: North America’s largest festival for dogs.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-hammerstone
Routine, 5min., Canada
Directed by Abo Fall
Meet Benedicte, a happy young woman living in a beautiful, heavenly garden where she doesn’t have a single worry in the world. She loves to wander around, lay on the grass and simply live in the moment.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-routine
Super Villain Coffee, 15min., USA
Directed by Leonard Frank Smith
“Supervillain Coffee” is a satirical comedy about Maximum “Chaos” Maxwell, a once-feared supervillain now slinging espresso in a hip downtown coffee shop. Max trades doomsday devices for latte art, grumbling about his past while perfecting milk foam with the precision of a mad scientist. His sidekick in this caffeine-fueled redemption arc is Travis “The Trendsetter” Thompson, ex-villain obsessed with livestreaming his barista life for TikTok clout—complete with hashtags like #VillainToVanilla. The shop’s a circus of chaos and coffee until Captain Righteous, Max’s old heroic nemesis, struts in to rub salt in the wound with smug jabs and a lactose-laden latte order that backfires hilariously. Between plunging toilets and dodging Travis’s phone, Max wrestles with his villainous past and barista present—until a rare moment of wisdom from Travis hints at deeper redemption, only for Max to shrug it off with a grunt. It’s a wild brew of absurdity, heart, and sharp laughs—a tale of evil gone mild, one overpriced coffee at a time.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-super-villian-coffee
THE CALLBACK, 10min., Canada
ISAAC is one of several actors auditioning for the lead in the globally renowned action franchise: MAX STORM. Every actor has been invited into the audition room, which is empty aside from a table with a black covering. Suddenly, they’re greeted by the voice of director DEAN WEST over the intercom. “Do whatever it takes to secure the role.” The tablecloth comes off, revealing a massive collection of deadly melee weapons. Everyone is skeptical, but distrust is already growing. When one of the actors sets his sights on Isaac, snatches an imposing knife off the table, and begins to close in, Isaac is forced to fight to survive.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-the-callback
Cosmic Rhapsody – A Journey of Hope, 3min. Singapore
Directed by Susan Mey Lee Lim, Christina Teenz Tan
In 2020, the world seemed to be on the brink. A global pandemic raged, wildfires scorched the earth, and anxieties soared. Yet, amidst this turmoil, a spark of hope ignited: NASA astronauts returned to space aboard SpaceX’s CrewDragon, the first mission of its kind in nearly a decade. This inspiring event, against the backdrop of a world in crisis, gave birth to “Cosmic Rhapsody.”
https://www.cosmicrhapsody.ai/
https://www.instagram.com/cosmicrhap/
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-cosmic-rhapsody
Chicago FEEDBACK Film Festival 