A showcase of the best new films from around the world today.
AUDIENCE AWARDS (from audience feedback festival):
Best Feature Film: Assassin League: Episode II – Shadows of an Empire
Best Short Film: Touched by Fate
Best 1 Minute Film: Familiar Faces
Best Micro-Short Film: Encounter
Best Story: PATRICK ROWLAND: A Weird Kid Grows Up On The West Side Of Chicago
Best Direction: Go Home
Best Experimental Film: The Past Is Here
Best Family Film: Rookie Run-Thru
Best Documentary: Goalden Chyld: Unity of Peace Movement
Assassin League: Episode II – Shadows of an Empire, 85min., USA
Directed by Matthew Alden
A Chicago-set espionage action-thriller, Assassin League: Episode II – Shadows of an Empire follows elite operative Kendrick Knight as he infiltrates a billionaire defense mogul’s mansion poker fundraiser, where a covert mission to recover a dangerous dossier exposes an empire of private military power, autonomous weapons, and hidden agendas — forcing Kendrick, his partner Michael, and an undercover agent inside to survive a game where the stakes are no longer money — they’re life and death.
https://instagram.com/assassinleaguefilm
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-assssin-league-2
Familiar Faces, 1min., USA
Directed by Gina Bernardini
A girl struggles to fight off an old friend’s relentless attempts to lure her from her work and indulge in their typical adventures.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-familiar-faces
Rookie Run-Thru, 3min., USA
Directed by Sarah Soriano
“A new conductor must learn to battle her inner thoughts and fears while leading a marching band for the very first time.”
https://www.instagram.com/rookierunthru.film
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-rookie-run
ENCOUNTER, 3min., USA
Directed by Renee Pezzotta
A seemingly ordinary rideshare turns into an extraordinary encounter.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-encounter
The Past Is Here, 6min., USA
Directed by Jim Laczkowski
A filmmaker explores the past through various video archives in hopes of making sense of his suicidal ideation. Throughout clips chosen from Archive.org, he begins to understand his present states of anxiety and uncertainty by seeing others who have suffered before he was even born.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-the-past-is-here
Go Home, 13min., USA
Directed by Landon White
After working late, Lexi becomes trapped in an elevator that opens onto painful memories from her past. As each floor forces her deeper into grief, guilt, and fear, she slowly realizes the elevator is not allowing her to go home, but preparing her for the truth waiting outside.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-go-home
PATRICK ROWLAND: A Weird Kid Grows Up On The West Side Of Chicago, 7min., USA
Directed by Ben Guest, Patrick Rowland
In Los Angeles, Patrick Rowland, 50, rehearses his one-man show about growing up on the west side of Chicago, convincing his mother to buy an Atari, and making his first friend.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-patrick-rowland
Goalden Chyld: Unity of Peace Movement, 75min., USA
Directed by Demetrius Matthews
From award-winning filmmaker Demetrius Matthews—best known for Kling: A Teacher Who Defied the System, comes a powerful new documentary that unites music, activism, and grassroots storytelling into a cinematic call for peace.
Home
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-goalden-chyld
Touched by Fate, 17min., China
Directed by Selina Dou
A young journalist investigating an underground medicine trade begins to question whether fate is something she chooses—or a cycle she cannot escape.
https://www.instagram.com/tbf_shortfilm
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-touched-by-fate
