Melbourne cineastes get a new indie festival as the inaugural edition of BUFF gets underway
the Brunswick Underground Film Festival (BUFF) launches in Melbourne tonight! From the minds behind cult cinema collective Static Vision, BUFF stands as a new home for forward-thinking, transgressive and independent cinema. Running from Friday 30 May – Sunday 1 June at Estonian House and Static Vision HQ on Melville Road, the festival offers a whole weekend bursting with cinematic treats.
We’re talking three screens, three days, 33 feature films, 25 shorts and 17 retrospective presentations – a menu to offer something for even the most discerning fan of outré cinema.
The Brunswick Underground Film Festival lands with a bang, with the opening night screening of a triple feature of Jackass: The Movie (2002), Jackass Number Two (2006) and Jackass 3D (2010). It’s the 25th anniversary of Johnny Knoxville’s gonzo franchise, and a rare opportunity to see the affable masochist and his mates risk their lives, limbs, stomach linings and dignity for our entertainment.
Also worth a look-in:
Ukrainian-American writer/director/actor Eugene Kotlyarenko’s The Code (2024),makes its Victorian premiere at BUFF Closing Night. Starring Peter Vack, Dasha Nekrasova and Ivy Wolk, it’s a comedy set in the early pandemic brings us a paranoid couple trying to revive their deteriorating relationship by embracing surveillance and spying. Spliced together from footage from over 70 cameras, memes and TikTok reels, it’s a voyeuristic at the attention economy and our relationship with technology.
Making its Australian debut, The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man (2024) sees a paranoid young man launch a bizarre crime spree against the citizens of Toronto in this underground feature starring Rishi Rodriguez, Spencer Rice (Kenny vs Spenny), and Paul Bellini (Kids in the Hall). Based on a true story, too, for what it’s worth.
Having blown away Sydney Underground Film Festival audiences last year, RATS! (2024) is a wacky hangout movie set in 2007, with the peak of emo-culture in full swing and a stacked ensemble of compelling weirdoes driven mad by the constant threat of the cops, the FBI and a nuclear disaster.
Queer provocateur Bruce LaBruce, a mainstay of underground cinema, brings us The Visitor (2024) which re-imagines Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 Teorema in sensual, charming and vulgar ways, set to a throbbing EDM score.
And in the retro section, the cream of the crop must be Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker (1990). Amateur scientist Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) slaves his grief over the death of his fiancé, Elizabeth Shelley (Patty Mullen) by resurrecting her in a new body… made from the corpses of murdered prostitutes. It’s a schlock classic – when it came out on VHS the case had a motion-activated cip in it that purred “Wanna date?” to whoever wandered by. If that tickles you, this is a must.
And there’s plenty more than that, mes amis! Shoot over to the official Brunswick Underground Film Festival site for info and tickets.
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