This week, Pat chats with another remarkable guest; filmmaker and film festival director, Matthew Toffolo.

One may make the argument that the film industry has been hit the hardest during the global pandemic. Thousands of theaters were closed and hundreds of big productions were stalled almost over night. Unfortunately, many of those theaters will stay closed, and some of those films will never be made. However, the new stay at home normal has opened the door for many creatives to explore storytelling in different ways; and that’s where Matthew Toffolo comes in.

It’s the film festivals where some of the best feature length movies and short films are screened for the first time. The general public knows about the bigger festivals on the circuit like Sundance, Toronto Film Festival, and Tribeca. But what you may not know, is that there are hundreds of these festivals across the country; you may even have one in a town near you. In 2007, Matthew began one of these smaller festivals called, WILDsound Festival.

Matthew created WILDsound film and writing festival with the intention of giving back to the filmmakers. In his experience submitting to most festivals, the criticism that people had wasn’t as constructive as he would have hoped, and didn’t make him a better filmmaker. Where WILDsound separates itself from the others, is that the filmmaker gets real reviews of their work, and they put on weekly events instead of once a year. Matthew has directed over 50 short films in his career, but this episode isn’t only about movies. As a resident of Canadian, Matthew brings a unique perspective on the political climate in the United States, social justice, and even sports. As always, Pat Tully gets his guest to open up about family, new habits during COVID-19, and of course, the world of live events.

“It took a long time to really nail down how to finesse and moderate these things for the best of the filmmakers, and it kind of just took off from there.” - Matthew Toffolo

**Catch the interview on Festival Pass Stories! ** https://festivalpass.com/stories

**You can find Matthew on: **

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/matthewtoffolo/

Website- https://matthewtoffolo.com

WILDsound Film Festival- https://wildsoundfestivalreview.com

WILDsound on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/WildsoundFestivalMonthly

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