SCENES FROM A PLACE WHERE
RAILS AND WATER MEET
Drayden DeCosta | Canada | 2025 | 74m
In Drayden DeCosta’s debut feature, the first independent arthouse film made entirely on-location in Welland, Ontario:
Dee and his best friend Ken waste another day; listening to the radio until it conks out, throwing rocks at the remnants of industry, being pestered by a stranger... Dee wanders through the place that he calls home, taking in his surroundings and contemplating life. Consumed by an ambient sadness, Dee bears witness to many strange sights, culminating in a chance encounter with another soul that is just as lost and lonesome as he is.
‘Scenes from a Place Where Rails and Water Meet’ is a bittersweet ode to life adrift; an engrossing slice of Niagara New-Wave that is at once, bleak and hopeful.
Drayden DeCosta is a writer/director, filmmaker and movie buff from Welland, Ontario, Canada. Drayden’s films are personal works often based on his experiences growing up in Welland. Drayden has made work across a variety of mediums (16mm, 35mm, 8mm tape, Digital, Hybridity) and across a variety of genres (documentary, experimental, narrative-fiction). Drayden derives his influence from European Arthouse Films, Second-Wave American Independent Films, the Slow-Cinema Movement and Poetic-Realism. You can learn more about his films at: www.railwaterproductions.com
DREAMS
Willow Arts Community | Canada | 2025 | 5m
DREAMS explores what happens when we can choose our dreams. It starts with a nightmare, where thoughts and feelings chase our character. This leads to an abstract place from which we cannot escape, ultimately transitioning into a beautiful dream where they can change their perspective of life.
The central theme of the film is to share these possibilities. A magical object, a mysterious book, plays a significant role in the story. When people touch and look inside the book, they are transported into their subconscious, experiencing a personal dream that allows them to reflect on their lives.
This film is the creation of members of the Willow Arts Community, individuals with lived experience of mental illness/substance use who are motivated to explore their creative identities, to connect, and to learn alongside peers.
The members are being taught and guided in the creation of this film by Luis Martin Flores, a multidisciplinary artist born in Mexico City where he studied arts and filmmaking. Luis moved to Canada in 2000 and has worked on numerous television shows and feature films. He has directed short and feature length films and is in post-production for the documentary No Somos Invisibles.