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MUFF CELEBRATING & PROMOTING LOW-BUDGET FILMMAKERS

This website was created to promote the 2nd edition of the Montreal Underground
Film Festival (MUFF). The content below is from the site's 2007 archived pages.

I was fortunate to be in Montreal during this film festival in 2007. And have
managed to make it to Montreal for almost everyone since. I first learned of
this particular film festival from a friend of my father, Satya Rangarajan who
knew of my interest in the film making, and its history. ALthough Satya's
interests are in software development methodologies, development processes,
strategy, business, new product development, and marketing, he also is a film
fan of emerging talent making trips, when his work permits, to a number of
international and US film festivals. I met him this past year in NYC for the
Tribeca film festival. Even though he serves as the Managing Partner of
Enlightened Capital Management, a social venture fund, and as Principal and
Founder of Enlightened Management Corp., a strategic technology advisory group,
he shares my enthusiasm for film festivals and discovering new talent. One of my
vivid memories of MUFF 2007, other than overdosing on films was the opening
night's festivities. It you were there in 2007, perhaps you'll enjoy taking a
read at this archive content. I hope it brings back great memnories for you.


THE 2ND MONTREAL UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

The 2nd edition of the Montreal Underground Film Festival (MUFF) will unspool at
a frenetic pace over a three-day period from May 17 to 19, 2007. With over 300
submissions hailing from over a dozen countries, MUFF had the daunting task of
selecting the 80 finest and most innovative shorts and feature-length offerings
from local and international artists. Friperie Pote:tr (6029 Du Parc) will once
again play host to three nights of cinematic chaos under the banner “Get
Rocked”, with each film night to be followed by performances from local
musicians and DJs.​



MUFF Access

Tickets can be purchased at Friperie Pote:tr before the screenings. A single
“Lonely Heart” ticket goes for $5. A $20 Silver MUFF pass grants access to 5
screenings, as well as one raffle ticket to win one of our very muffular prizes.
A $35 Golden MUFF pass grants access to all screenings, and includes a MUFF
t-shirt, raffle ticket and other special treats.

 * MUFF Dates: May 17-18-19, 2007
 * MUFF Times: Thursday at 8 pm, Friday at 6pm, Saturday at 7pm
 * MUFF Locations:  Friperie Pote:tr (6029 Du Parc)
 * MUFF Costs:   $5 per screening; $20 for 5 screenings; $35 for unlimited
   access

MUFF Programming

The MUFF lineup is a trail mix of ex-para-mental goodies. Audiences will be able
to indulge in Warholian eye candy (‘’Lust’’ by Glenn Gear of Volatile Works,
‘’Doll-like’’), rabble-rousing non-fiction (Italy’s frightening neo-fascist bent
is explored via wine bottles in ‘’Drink to Forget’’), hypnotic and gooey
installation work (‘’Colonnes dans la mer’’, ‘’The Naked Snail’’), allegorical
fairy tales (‘’Mr. Consumption’’), campy fare indebted to John Waters, ominous
mood pieces (“Mur”, “Time Based Corrector”), gruesome gore by the MUFF-load
(‘’Purgatory’’), poetic meditations on the everyday (‘’Eaten’’) and
post-pornographic burlesque (‘’Condoms’’) to name just a few. MUFF attendees
will once again be made privy to a number of world (‘’Grandma and the
cockroach’’, ‘’The Pit and the Pendulum’’), Canadian (‘’5 1/2 Roofs’’,
‘’Pandrogeny Manifesto’’ starring Genesis P-ORRIDGE) and Montreal (‘’The Bird,
the mouse and the sausage’’, ‘’Nouvel Ordre’’) premieres, along with a hefty
film serving courtesy of Canadian staples Volatile Works, EyeSteelFilm,
Vidéographe and Winnipeg Film Group – including a Guy Maddin ‘’Workbooks’’
collection. This will solidify the MUFF foundation and help it carve out a niche
as the reference point for Canada’s censor-phobic, alternative filmmakers.

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SCHEDULE


OPENING NIGHT – MAY 17, 2007

Mariano & Brown, who also dish it out on circuit tracks as roller girls for the
Montreal Roller Derby League, promise to spice up the opening night festivities
with rollercking good times! Gals on wheels will command Potetr’s opening
cocktail (8:00pm) by selling raffle tickets and providing any eager patrons with
a bad-natured spanking. The Pink Program (9:00pm) is set to kick off the reeling
mayhem, with an unnerving snorting session involving the Queen of Mattel
(‘’Doll-like’’), Dandi Wind as a chick breaking through her golden coating in
John Londoño’s ‘’The Yolke of the Golden Egg’’, and a short by Christian
‘’KinoGod’’ Laurence developed in harmony with his ‘’do well with nothing’’
motto, in the bathroom of a Normandie hotel! (‘’L’éducation nautique’’)

These aesthetic treats will be followed by the much more fright-filled Pink and
Very Black Program, to screen in the Friperie’s Lavorama room. If hidden
monsters aren’t your thing, you might as well find something to keep you busy
for an hour. The Opening Night Party officially begins once the crowd has taken
in just the right amount of dead sardines (‘’Fish’’), cupcake lovemaking
(‘’Strip Show’’) and Guy Maddin rooster quirks (‘’Workbooks: Rooster’’).

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Friday, May 18, 2007


COCKTAIL & WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING – ‘’SPECTACLES D’AUTRES MONDES’’ (6PM)

The 52-minute documentary ‘’Spectacles d’autres mondes’’ (Valérian Mazataud /
France) follows two spirited young artists on a road trip with the world as
their backdrop. They pedal over 21 000 kilometres on their bikes, through 28
countries and 5 continents, to offer free clown shows in hospitals, orphanages,
schools and retirement homes. The world premiere of this adventurous doc, an
‘’Un oeil sur le monde’’ production inspired by the NGO Clown Without Borders,
will be preceded by a cocktail at 6pm.


TEEN ANGST NEVER LOOKED SO ANGSTY: PASCAL ROBITAILLE AND FLORIA SIGISMONDI (8PM)

Step back Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club: a new generation of artists have a
lot to get off their chests, and it’s neither diluted in digestible fluff nor
packaged in broad stereotypes for mass appeal.

Postmortem Bliss’’ (Floria Sigismondi / Canada) is the first short by acclaimed
fashion photographer and music video director Sigismondi. In homage to Rebel
Without A Cause, Sigismondi recasts Nicholas Ray’s portrayal of the turbulence
and pain of adolescence in a modern light. Postmortem Bliss is a film about the
over-medicated, addicted, and misdiagnosed generation of today.

An alumni of INIS and a prolific emerging filmmaker with many shorts and prizes
under his belt, Pascal Robitaille will present the world premiere of his
mind-bending tape ‘’Le Goût du Néant’’. While his parents are away, teenage
Julien decides to self-destruct. Over the course of two days, he throws away all
his goods and possessions, then retires from current life. With a small digital
camera, an intimate friend records fragments of this process before he lets
himself sink into nothingness with him. An inspired work from a young talent to
look out for.


MUFF PULLS A ROCKY HORROR WITH ITS THROW RICE AT THE POSERS EVENT! (10PM)

Hosted by Éric “Roach” Denis and Random Killing’s own Drew Kiteley, this
anarcho-punk tag team will introduce the Canadian premiere of Julie and Kenneth
Van Schooten’s documentary ‘’King of Punk’’ (U.S.A.) Has punk been commodified
into a cute little subculture of poseurs, or do young bands like Louisiana’s
OBGYN do justice to the punk icons of yesteryear? MUFFgoers will have the final
say as they’ll be encouraged to get all hot and bothered by throwing rice at the
screen to voice their discontent. Expect interview snippets with members of
legendary punk bands like The Ramones, The Adicts, Exploited, Avengers, Stiff
Little Fingers, DOA and Dead Boys.

The screening will be followed by ‘’Punk Le Vote: Roach en Élection’’, Roach’s
in-your-face primer on how the squeegee kid on your windshield could one day be
your prime minister.

+++

Saturday, May 19, 2007


HOMELESS NATION SPECIAL PRESENTATION (7:45PM)

Some of the most stellar and powerful work to come out of Canada’s only website
created by and for homeless Canadians will be screened in a special program
hosted by Gadget, Montreal’s Outreach Coordinator. This will be preceded by
‘’Chloé et ses amis de la rue’’, a touching debut short from 9 year-old Chloé
Turcotte, who takes us to the streets with a smile.

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CLOSING PARTY: CRIMSON PROGRAM (MIDNIGHT)

After the more experimental and melancholy White Program and the absolutely
demented Virgin Blue Program featuring works by many loose screws, the Crimson
Program will cap off a drunken weekend of underground celebration with some of
the most terrifying flicks of the bunch. For this special night only, Montreal
cult classic ‘’Bad Blood for the Vampyr’’ (Lisan Tibodo, 1984) will be
resurrected from the German video vault. Suburban housewives beware: the
communist zombies in ‘’Red Men Rising’’ (Cindy Murdoch, Canada) only eat the
brains of the rich! Bestiality meets necrophilia in ‘’Pig Heart’’ (Jesika Joy,
Canada), which explores the relationship between intimacy and violence, desire
and disgust. Count on the night to end with a bang, or at the very least a pig
thrust.

 

+++

May 17-18-19, 2007

OPEN TO EVERYONE

Deadline: April 2nd, 2007

"As long as the music's loud enough, we won't hear the world falling apart."

Borgia Ginz, - Jubilee

+++


MUFF MANDATE

MUFF celebrates and promotes low-budget filmmakers and those who challenge the
boundaries of mainstream Hollywood and the conventional film aesthetic attitude.
We encourage you to confront your artistic freedom, through the experimentation
of filmmaking and art production, making the world a more exciting, challenging
place to live.

"An experimental film is a film organized neither as narrative fiction nor as
non-fiction. As such, film scholars consider the experimental or avant-garde
film to be one of the major modes of filmmaking, along with the narrative film ,
the documentary film and arguably animation ."

As the term suggests, the experimental film is often but not necessarily made to
test an audience's reaction to certain performances or types of presentation not
normally found in mainstream cinema. Such films are usually avant-garde and may
shock or surprise their viewers, intentionally or otherwise. Of all of cinema,
experimental film tends to have the closest relationship to the other visual
arts and their avant-gardes.

We want to expose your 'MUFF' of visual EX-PARA-MENTAL film, video, sound, and
even a little performance art to a numbed, oblivious and quite brainwashed
culture of hungry fleshy pods (humans that is). So hit us with your best shot
and come forth with the goods. EXPOSE YOURSELF!!!

+++

 


MUFF 2007 REGISTRATION GUIDELINES

March 19th, 2007

 

ELIGIBILITY

Independent productions accepted only

Films produced, financed, or initiated by a major motion picture studio are not
eligible for screening at the Montreal Underground Film Festival.

Prior Screenings

Previous or scheduled screenings at other festivals are acceptable. The
"Montreal Premiere" status is preferred, but not mandatory.


SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS


FORMAT

Preview copy must be submitted on VHS tape (NTSC) or DVD . Before sending your
computer-burned DVD to us, please test it on a stand-alone DVD player.

Screening copy must be on DVD or MiniDV.


MANDATORY ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS

 * Completed and signed MUFF 2007 entry form;
 * Preview copy. Please label both the case and the preview copy with the title,
   running-time, and contact information;
 * Photo of the film and photo of director;
 * Please send a photo and synopsis of your film by e-mail for our website;
 * If receipt of entry is required, include a self-addressed stamped postcard.


SELECTED FILMS

Only filmmakers of selected films will be contacted.   

If your film is selected, you must provide the following materials by April
23rd, 2007:

 * Press kits, including photos (2 or more kits);
 * Posters / Postcards and other available publicity material;
 * Additional 1/2" VHS videotapes of the film;
 * The screening copy in DVD or MiniDV only.


SHIPPING

For all materials, shipping and handling costs to the festival office will be
covered by the entrant. Preview copies and promotional material will be retained
by the festival.

+++


THIS IS WHAT WE WANT

Unknown, alternative, mysterious, HARDCORE, avant-garde, novel, private,
radical, resistant, revolutionary, subversive, GORE, clandestine, unbowed, VIDEO
ART, cloaked, unconventional, undercover, ANIMATION, buried, hermetical,
subterranean, SUSPENSE, cadaverous, underfoot, illegitimate, DOCUMENTARY,
bootleg, EXPERIMENTAL, shady, abstruse, covert, buried, clandestine, covered,
DOCUDRAMA, cryptic, DOCUTRAUMA, dark, disguised, eclipsed, esoteric,
(un)exposed, screened, FILM NOIR, enclosed, undisclosed, clouded, unperceivable,
THRILLER, indiscernible, sequestered, invisible, latent, masked,
sub-terrestrial, mystical, EROTIC, sexy, obscure, occult, unusual, private,
unseen, concealed, recondite, SOFTCORE, secreted, shadowy, shrouded, FICTION,
surreptitious, ulterior, undetected, HORROR, secluded, unrevealed, oblique,
suspended. GIVE US WHAT YOU GOT!

+++

+++

This year was a success!

Over 550 people came to MUFF!

Thanks to everyone who came to the festival. Thanks to everyone who supported
us, who gave us their time. And especially thank you to all the wonderful
filmmakers who gave their art and who made it possible for us to dazzle, shock
and please our audiences! Rock on! See you next year!

 



The 3rd Edition of MUFF will take place on May 15, 16, 17 2008


MUFF 2007 PRIZES:


VISION GLOBALE

($500 in services)

Winners: The Volatile Works Collective


STUDIO XX

(one free workshop)

Winner: Marijo St-Amour

 


VIDÉOGRAPHE

(Robert Morin DVD collection and book)

Winner: Éric “ROACH” Denis

 


IMAGE + NATION

(3 VIP passes to the festival and screening of the film at I+N 2007)

Winners: Alexis Baran for DOLL-LIKE

Marijo St-Amour for LUCY AND THOSE EYES

Jesika Joy for PIG HEART





THE GOLDEN MUFF PRIZE

(a sleek sheer tiger teddy)

Winner: Jesika Joy, for her very needed weird art and  for her very welcomed
presence at MUFF 2007!

Lots of MUFF kisses to EYESTEELFILM  for giving us a home!

You ROCK! xxx

MontrealUndergroundFilmFestival.com