Film Festivals | Massachusetts

Bringing Back the Bite: The Boston Underground Film Festival

1 Feb , 2001  

Written by Paula Noyes | Posted by:

From the truly beautiful to the utterly disturbing, this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival has something for everyone.

"Devious, disturbed, and defiant" describe both the tone and aspirations of this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival. For festival director David Kleiler, the goal of the festival is to present films that "create controversy and provide a forum for active debate about film." Citing Luis Buñuel, Gilles Deleuze, and Salvador Dali as creative allies, he acknowledges that he is "… always trying to open people’s eyes, sometimes pleasantly, sometimes painfully, to other ways of seeing."

What makes a film an "underground" film has been grist for debate for some time. The informal charter of this festival is that it strives to show films that not only demonstrate "good filmmaking," but that also pose the kinds of aesthetic and political challenges that are no longer the bread and butter of independent film.

"Once upon a time indie films were button pushing," says Kleiler. But since the debut of "Brothers McMullen," he feels that many indies have simply become "low budget versions" of Hollywood movies. Instead, Kleiler is aiming for films with the old sentiment. "If Darren Aronowksy’s ‘Pi’ hadn’t gotten the distribution it did, that would be a film that I’d want to include in the Underground festival. There has to be something even mildly upsetting about [a film] for it to fit."

According to Kleiler, Kat Thomas, Managing Director, deserves a tremendous amount of credit for pushing this year’s festival a quantum leap ahead of last year’s success. "Kat has done an outstanding job this year, as she did last year. [She] has a great sense of design and a good minimalist aesthetic. I intuitively trust her."

Putting the festival together remains a formidable task, albeit a labor of love, and has required more than a few all-nighters for both Kleiler and Thomas. Working on his birthday — the one day he routinely takes off each year — was a must this year, Kleiler explained, as there was still a large amount of work to be done. Despite the fact that this year’s festival has significantly expanded from last year’s, reality does impose its limits, "We couldn’t get everything we wanted this year because we don’t have the infrastructure," states Kleiler. "We have as many people this year as we had last year when we put on a $2000, 3-day show; this year, we are putting on a $35,000, 8-day show."

The number of submissions this year has more than quadrupled: 200 to last year’s 40. And while submissions include films by directors from all over the world, the festival’s directors remain committed to presenting 40% of the titles made by New England filmmakers. So far, there have been 26 films accepted into the festival in comparison to last year’s 15, with several National and New England premieres.

Here is a small sampling of what you can look forward to:

Local filmmaker Andrew Mudge’s "Night Neddie Night Ned," a film about a man who is too attached to his dog will be shown as will Northhampton animator Luke Jaeger’ s "Out of the Fire.’ Jaeger is known for making animated films that combine drawing, painting, and photography, among other techniques. "Out the Fire" sets animation to a 1946 calypso tune and was very popular at the Woods Hole Film Festival earlier this year.

Canadian filmmaker, Guy Maddin, will have his American premiere of his 5-minute short, "Heart of the World." According to Kleiler, it’s "… one of the greatest shorts made in the history of the world." A favorite at the Toronto Film Festival, this 35mm features a woman who studies the earth’s core and finds out that the earth is on the brink of a fatal heart attack. The rescue attempt involves a visually stunning solo trip to the center of the earth. A combination of Soviet montage and German Expressionism, "It’s a jaw-droppingly great film." Having its New England premiere will be Bill Plympton’s "Mutant Aliens" which screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Tentatively scheduled is the American premiere of a French film, banned in France and in Ontario, titled "Baisse-Moi." As Kleiler describes it, this film is a porn version of "Thelma and Louise" made by two women, a former porn star and a former prostitute. If "Baisse-Moi" does not screen, Gaspar Noe’s "I Stand Alone" will replace it. This film follows a 50-year-old former butcher who is released from prison. "A little harsh," according to Kleiler, "Both films belong in an underground festival."

"There is a benign portion of the show, a PG-13 version as well," says Kleiler. "We don’t want the parents to freak out too much." That said, "One of the best films we have is an 18-minute black and white film called ‘Pleasureland.’" Kleiler describes it as "… sort of like David Cronenberg’s "Videodrome" about a guy who is freaked out because the people in the porn videos he watches come to life. It’s more metaphysical than it may sound. It’s a very disturbing film and clearly a keeper for the festival."

This is the first year that the festival will feature in-house judges. Animator Bill Plympton is heading up the panel along with: Kevin Fennessy of Kevin Fennessy Casting; Tim Grafft of the Massachusetts State Film Office; actress Dorothy Dwyer; and Kaj Wilson, the program director for the Boston Jewish Film Festival.

To-date, venues for the festival include: the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center in the South End; the Footlight Theater in Jamaica Plain; and the Revolving Museum.

Awards will be given to films in the categories of Best of Festival, Most Effectively Offensive, Most Experimental, Best Narrative, Best Non-Narrative, and an Audience Award. Winners will walk away with their own Bacchus the Bunny, a large, purple, vibrating rodent (it’s plastic) with an as yet to be discovered connection to Swedish erotica.

The festival runs from February 20-27, 2001. Check out the festival’s new web site http://www.bostonundergroundfilmfestival.org due out the first week of February, for this year’s schedule.