the program - Melbourne Underground Film Festival

MUFF 8 Director’s
Statement
lead an intellectual war on capitalist humanism and
liberalism that is a necessary invigorating tonic.
Liberal Humanism is the very mental disease that
got us in this mess. Can you imagine if we brought
the standard of living of the third world up to our
own standards and gave every second Chinese
or Indian citizen a car? This would indeed be the
doom of the planet forthwith. These countries and
America are the major world polluters, followed
by Europe. Australia could produce no greenhouse
gas tomorrow and it would make bubkiss
difference to the course of world history unless
these major sources of emissions are tackled. Even
if our planet could sustain the maintenance of
giving cars to every China man… the questions
beckons…for what? The for what of our civilisation
has been pure active empty materialist nihilism…
best represented by the Janus faced ‘dread
levellers’ capitalism and communism.
A Dreamer during the Day
“All men dream but not equally. Those who dream
by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake
in the day to find that it was a vanity: but the
dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they
may act their dream with open eyes, to make it
possible” – T.E. Lawrence.
MUFF 8 is here. The theme is a Benevolent
Psychopathology. Why?
It’s an election year and most people are talking
party politics in our capitalist democratic society.
Talk as they might, democracy doesn’t exist
when there are no real choices on the ballot.
Capitalist 1 (liberal) or Capitalist 2 (labour)? One
will look after the rich slightly better; the other
the poor. Capitalism - the great empty mediocrity
of our age - will keep us marching through the
mall till we end up in that giant Ikea in the sky.
Endless cultural emptiness, vast vistas of hollow
consumption.
Let’s get radical… Capitalism, like Communism,
does not foster the talented, unique and highest
individual in a community; it is the ‘dread leveller’
as Whyndham Lewis noted when describing
Communism.
English author JG Ballard (who has always been
a major sign post in the cultural underground)
prophesied that the only way out of this capitalist
paradigm is through. In many of his mythological
novels of the near future, Ballard searches for a
Benevolent Psychopathology. He finds differing
variants in car crash fetishism, youth killer cults,
terrorism, inter-floor warfare in high rise flats
and in a startlingly prescient trilogy cycle of
novels from Super Cannes to Kingdom Come,
has postulated dangerous variants of middle class
terrorism and fascism. Ballard sees this Benevolent
Psychopathology as the circuit breaker that can
diffuse the capitalist paradigm and create a new
kind of future.
Indeed our Arab friends know all about this as they
blow themselves to smithereens all over various
fronts in what is shaping up to be our age’s major
epochal conflict – the “War on Terror”. They are
certainly not thinking of toasters and designer
furniture as they vaporise themselves to oblivion.
Here is a not-so-Benevolent Psychopathology, the
ultimate destructive Psychopathology that enthrals
billions: Religion.
We must remember also, and list, some basic facts
about the world that signpost our age’s hypocrisy:
MUFF wants YOU!
Slavery: it still exists in outsourcing and overseas
sweatshops, that, for example, produce faulty
toys for children to choke on. Racism: it still exists
unconsciously in most Western policies and mindset. Also, counter intuitively demonstrated by
the simple fact that people feel so insulated and
superior in the Western world that they deign and
feign not to be racist i.e. by going to see culturally
diverse uplifting films and performances as a
form of rampant tokenism (see MUFF 7). Warfare,
what Marinetti called “Nature’s Hygiene”, is
going strong. Wars exist in pocketed conflicts
around the world with particular action in Iraq and
Afghanistan with further wars being promoted as
coming “attractions”. Psy Warfare is omnipresent
with the mood of fear and hate distilling due to
the mostly fake, over-exaggerated, provoked and
trumped up “war on terror” that could well have
been a conspiracy like the Reichstag fire. Indeed
the evidence piling up in 911 conspiracy theories
is startling and ignored by Left critics like Michael
Moore and Noam Chomsky.
Add to that the planet is vastly overpopulated with
pollution and greenhouse gasses rapidly bringing
on Armageddon on our small Gaia (if we can
believe such a trivial thing as science).
But don’t think the answer to all this is liberal
humanism as some would have us believe. A range
of living and dead thinkers from John Gray and
Leo Strauss to Robert Michels and Carl Schmitt
And what of peak oil and the eventual depletion of
this resource? When the oil gets low, the West will
keep it all and allow the Third World and Middle
East (Israel excepted as it is the West’s outpost for
the region) to fall fully into the dark ages (which
they are half in at the moment already, despite
Al Qaeda’s decidedly modern terrorist agenda
resembling organised crime’s hyper capitalism.
See John Gray’s book “Al Qaeda and what it
means to be modern”). The US will secure the oil
(as it has done in Iraq) and then that’s it –mission
accomplished. Scaricity wars are the wars of the
future as John Gray lucidly points out and this
century will make the last look like a cake walk.
Who cares what happens to the population, is
the secret truth behind the Neo Cons resource
wars? Remember that when you hear of Iraqi
atrocities. Whatever happens, good or bad, they are
expendable in capitalist-fascist mobilisation. They
simply do not matter – contemplate the power and
force of not caring for a moment… it is a powerful
force. Allow that truth, the power of inaction
and therefore willing destruction and civil wars
to seep into your pores and you realise Colonel
Kurtz is right around the corner with his dictum
“Exterminate all the brutes”. Indeed, if things
get worse in Iraq, it only means more American
mobilisation, more military spending. You see the
pattern, I’m sure…
There must be a better way, a new way, a pure
way. Therefore, the answer to western Liberal
Humanism could be a Benevolent Psychopathology.
Ballard says he doesn’t look at the Internet because
he’s afraid he’ll fall in. Everyone under 40 already
has “fallen” in and much besides.
But we don’t want to regress as Nietzsche notes to
some Middle Ages-style ignorance with some belief
in a Deity (non existent or not). We want out of this
epoch and onto to the ‘new seas’. As Nietzsche says:
“Never before have we stood before such a sea”. A
sea that is vast rising by the science of it.
A Benevolent Psychopathology is a way out.
It is an exit looked for the work of Bret Easton
Ellis, Thomas Harris and other scribes of the post
modern waste land. Not until people from all
classes go collectively and gently mad can we be
saved. The Western world needs to form elites
and reconstructive groups, create new political
identities that and vital and protean and can take
action. The only two players on the political stage
who are not ‘dread levellers’ are anarchism and
fascism, a redesigned for the times mix of the two
being is our sign post to the future. We need to take
action to stop this capitalist entropy, (which literally
sells the best of human Dasein down the drain) to
stop this cipheric emptiness. Ballard’s examples of
middle class terrorism and psychopathology may
be extreme and dangerous … but like Heidegger
says, where the danger is, also lays the saving
power. Can we navigate these new seas and not
make past historical errors? Ballard’s work is
dangerous because it dreams the day of its factical
existence, providing blue prints in novelistic form.
Ballard like Vaughan is a cultural terrorist masked
as a technician acting through words much as
Heidegger notes, “Thinking is not inactivity, but
rather it is in itself the way of acting that stands in
dialogue with the destiny of the world”. Ballard
helps will a benevolent psychopathology. As do
we. We must risk a little craziness to break the
status quo. We must not accept any “truth” or
propaganda given us from mass media about
recent history and political theory. We must free
ourselves from the past and forge ahead to make
our own history. Beat a new path acting with the
old Nietzshean maxim ‘beyond good and evil’.
I believe a moderate collective insanity can free
us from this historical emptiness and provide real
futurist historical, political and social change. And
if not we always have the nihilistic hedonism of the
times to fall back on as a second option.
Ballard’s novels often feature a demented scientist
or social engineer experimenting with the extremes
of limit experiences. These characters are deeply
fascinating and I feel a kinship to the spirit of what
Ballard is trying to say with characters such as
Vaughan, David Cruise, Wilder Penrose, Richard
Gould and Bobby Crawford. We need to explore
these areas in art and literature and come up with
our own Benevolent Psychopathology in reality
that will circuit break our crisis and push us boldly
into rebirth through our own mythology. Indeed, a
Benevolent Psychopathology maybe the only true
sanity available to us.
Release the irrational! Free the id! See our
program in 2007 and connect the dots. What is
it behind horror and transgressive films, erotica
and porn, conspiracy theories, fascinations with
sex, death and body that unite all this into one
incomprehensibly beautiful expression?
A benevolent psychopathology.
The actual form this will take in the future is up to
us. It only needs a small band of cultural engineers
and executives to steer society to where it needs
to be. The perfect countries for these sociological
experiments are the Scandinavian countries, The
Netherlands, Australia and possibly England with
also zones of opportunity opening in Africa, Asia
and the Pacific Islands. From there, the rest of the
world can watch and imitate.
issues I could raise but who gives a fuck. Live and
let live. I’m happy. I’ve made a new feature that I’m
delighted with and I’m bringing you all a tres cool
risque MUFF – the fest that they all said wouldn’t
last. We are launching the Accent Underground
DVD label that will hopefully provide a distribution
outlet for many more MUFF films in the future
than the ones already chosen. It feels like we have
accomplished something and that we have a lot
more work to do. Prometheus stand by us.
MUFF Neu Out of Competition:
Text by Richard Wolstencroft
Demonsamoungus | Dir: Stuart Simpson
Enough already, so, what else is new?
I made a new feature, The Beautiful and Damned,
which is a modern adaptation of the classic 1922
novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I have been wanting
to make a new feature since the completion
of and festival circuit tour with Pearls Before
Swine in 2001. About 4 years ago, I picked up
the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel and read it. I loved
it! Quickly becoming my favourite Fitzgerald
and once I realized it was in the public domain,
I knew that this book could become the basis
for my next feature. I was looking for something
contemporary to do along the lines of Bret Easton
Ellis; something that reflected certain experiences
running nightclubs in the 90s. The Fitzgerald novel
was perfect. I became a Fitzgerald nut overnight,
re-reading The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise
and his masterpiece Tender is the Night plus
reading The Last Tycoon and most of his short story
collections. I read lit crit on Fitzgerald and found
he was a Spenglerian from the mid-20s on and
fan of many contemporary modernists like Eliot
and Pound. So, we had a strong connection there.
Fitzgerald’s prose was masterful- truly genius. No
one had ever adapted him to our contemporary
era before or moved him culturally and I have
found most of his novels actually timeless and ripe
for modern adaptation. If you do it creatively. It’s
interesting to note that David Fincher recently
shot Benjamin Button (based on The Curious case
of Benjamin Button from Tales of the Jazz Age,
the 1923 short story collection- also in the public
domain). As an aside to the Fincher connection a
Swedish film critic noted the similarities to Fight
Club and Pearls Before Swine back at the 1999
Stockholm International Film Festival. So now
we both do a Fitzgerald adaptation without the
knowledge of the other doing it. The zeitgeist
is never wrong. And it seems Fitzgerald is long
overdue due back in our culture with the other
high modernists as we face many similar problems
this century as we did last. You will have to wait
til next year to see the flick but I’m very happy to
be ‘back in the saddle’ so to speak directing again
and not just bringing you MUFF. The fact that I am
a filmmaker makes MUFF different to most film
festivals in this country and hopefully gives it some
authenticity. A “keeping it real” ethos missing
elsewhere.
So are you waiting for me to go on a rant against
someone here in 2007? Well, I’m not doing that
this year. I’m getting over it myself. There are two
See the fest, its jam packed with great films…I
can’t pick favourites…it would be the festival!
Come to MUFF and entertain letting in a little
complementary madness into your life!
Best Regards
Richard Wolstencroft
Alex Spalck - MIFF has Mr Rush, we prefer Alex
Patron’s Statement
Alex Spalck
“… There’s a benevolent psychopathology that
beckons towards us …”
… Mandatory J.G. Ballard quotation aside, let’s
analyze this statement…Benevolent … Hmm …
Interesting choice … But how can we objectively
investigate the impact of sickness as a positive
force of change and creativity? … How can we
measure the benevolent impact of pathologies
and psychopathologies in our lives? … Is so-called
“normality” necessarily malevolent, brutal and
quite simply too cheap for words or is our judgment
impaired? … Is madness solid? … Liquid? …
Maybe a gas? Can we bottle and drink madness?
Can we feed on art? Can we propagate madness,
spread it like a virus, celebrate its rampaging
destructive exhibitionism and feel exhilarated
by its abject beauty? Yes we can … Can we
operate benevolently within the inane organisms
of normality and sanity and slowly erode their
fundaments? YES WE MUST!!!
… We are driven by our very own sense of
alienation and we will have to act accordingly …
We will live in parallel worlds of depraved words
and sounds … We will move along parallel and
never converging trajectories … We will cross the
Demonsamoungus
main road only to cause havoc and malaise … We
will watch the lights of manufactured reason from
our hideout on the hills and attack the flocks of
sheep at night leaving incomprehensible graffiti on
their carcasses … We’ll never lie, not to ourselves,
at least … TRUTH IS TO BE FOUND IN SICKNESS
AND MORBIDITY ONLY … We will obsess, we will
obsess, we will obsess … and we will document our
obsessions in fragmented and sublime verses …
… We will never belong … Never ever … We will
never read the instructions …
We will improvise and deconstruct our thoughts
and actions … And ultimately we will refuse to act
as planned and will destroy and rebuild … destroy
… rebuild … and leave roadkill behind …
… And is this going to make us happy? No…but
maybe next time it will … or maybe the one after
… or somewhere in the proximity of never … Never
ever …
… So, going back to the core of our main question
… Is Madness a form of Art? Or rather is Art a form
of Madness? Can Sickness lead to Greatness? …
These and other Big Issues will all be dissected and
quartered in MUFF 8 … MUFF has always been a
joyous gathering of uninhibited serial psychopaths
so I don’t anticipate any changes this year …
Richard Wolstencroft will personally guarantee
consistency and continuity and will gladly invite
every guest and visitor to actively manifest publicly
their deepest and most unconfessable pathologies
for everybody’s enjoyment … And if someone out
there has a problem with it … Well that’s jolly
good, chaps … He’ll ride the controversies as usual,
knock out a few critics, smash a few glasses, step
on plenty of toes and, when all is said and done,
he’ll make sure that we won’t go gentle into that
good night, but that we’ll rather RAGE, RAGE,
RAGE(repeat ad libitum) against the dying of the
light …
And if this doesn’t make sense don’t blame me. I
take no responsibility. I make no apologies.
I’m obviously a psychopath.
Not a benevolent one.
Just a nasty old bastard …
Stuart Simpson’s zombie epic returns to MUFF
following its hit late edition screening in 2006.
Not in our catalogue last year (as it was a late
edition) demonsamoungus is a gritty, gutsy and
gory low budget zombie flick with heart and balls.
Distinctive direction and effects combine to present
a classic Aussie living dead flick that you are
certain to love. Soon to come out on the first wave
of Accent Underground DVD’s (the MUFF dvd
platform). Be part of the classic screening at MUFF
8 if you missed it last year. Or want to see it again.
Stuart Simpson to introduce and world premiere his
two new shorts Sickie and Greedy Guts!!
9pm Wed 26 Sept TOFF.
Welcome Stranger | Dir: Jason Turley
The Closing Night film for 2006 (that experienced
technical difficulties) makes its first screening at
MUFF in 2007. Jason Turley’s social realist first
feature about a young ethnic boy sleeping with his
mates mum updates The Graduate to Melbourne
in the 2000’s. Great performances all round with
excellent cameos by John Brumpton and Peter
Lesley make this one of the best MUFF films ever
and future release for our DVD label. Jason Turley
to Intro and Q&A.
7pm Wed 26 Sept TOFF.
Rolling | Dir Billy Saleeby
Drawing upon a variety of documentary
filmmaking techniques, Rolling breaks new
ground by creating a unique faux documentary.
Utilizing the form of a docudrama, cinema verite
style footage entwines with personal testimonials
rendering a fictional chronicle, which captures
the appeal of the drug Ecstasy. The film follows a
diverse group of users as they cross paths in Los
Angeles. At its core, Rolling is an investigation
into a generation’s drug of choice. It is a
dramatized expose of the current state of a cultural
phenomenon that has grown tremendously over
the past two decades. Rolling simultaneously
authenticates a specifically twisted consciousness
while relating to a broad audience with an eye for
detail and human behavior. The film uses a variety
of formats (35mm, super 16mm and DV) giving it
an unusual texture while maintaining an overall
gritty and realistic tone. In doing so, the filmmakers
have carefully constructed a new style that hopes
to stimulate discussion while regaling the senses.
It provides the viewer direct access to the roller
coaster of incidents that often occur to an Ecstasy
user. Rolling is an engrossing, provocative, and
poignant cinematic manifestation of the journey
one has while on the drug
9pm Sun 23 Sept LOOP.
Sleazy Jury Statement:
Credits
Festival Director
Assistant Director
Festival Coordinator
Publicist
Program Director
Additional Curators
Peter Christopherson Jury
Statement
I went out for a drink yesterday - The place
we ended up at was pretty grubby, in a littleknown side street. Quiet except for three fat guys
sitting at the bar deep in conversation. Two were
English (I think) and one Australian - They were
commiserating with each other about local
property prices.
Graphic Designer
Web Stuff for Muff
Muff Logo
Proof Readers
Muff Intern
Festival Pervert/Patron
As my friend and I come in and sit down in the
shadows, a bunch of local boys (18-25) come over
to us, immediately drop their jeans, and start to
play with themselves casually inside their
baggy boxers.
Before long their cocks are all out in plain view and
they have erections. Playfully they encourage us
to masturbate them (as well as buy them a drink)
which of course, we do. Soon one of them comes gasping noisily - splattering across his lean
brown stomach.
The three fat guys at the bar, no more than 10 feet
from us, see and hear nothing - They are enclosed
in a Protecting Veil of Western Misery.
As a species we often choose to misinterpret the
sounds and sights before us, as to accept them at
face value would mean admitting that our lives are
a hollow sham, contained and controlled by the
fears and prejudices of our parents and of society.
Sometimes when the schism between different
versions of reality intruding into our lives,
becomes painful or debilitating we seek medical
intervention to shut down our perception of the
inconvenient visions…
Perhaps instead we should be seeking the courage
to grasp what is really out there.
No matter how hard we try to ignore them, they
remain close - feral and generous, grinning at us,
glistening in the shadows...
Peter Christopherson
Bangkok August 2007
MUFF Jury 2007
Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson
Brian Canham
Matthew Clayfield
Keith Potger
Cheyne Coates
Kristen Condon
Richard Wolstencroft
Eugene Grobbelaar
Nik Vuko
Jono Francisco
Richard Wolstencroft
Jon Hewit, Michael Helms, Mathew Clayfield,
Frank Howson, David Thrussell,
Jack Sargeant and Jason Turley
Marc Martin
Bridget Conway-Taylor
Spike Hibberd
Richard, Eugene, Michael and Julia
Julia Morieson
Alex Spalck
Special Thanks
Peter C. contemplates next weeks bar crawl
Thanks TO ALL MUFF FILM MAKERS
Kristen Condon, Peter, Caroline and George at Accent Entertainment for believing in Independent cinema
in Australia!, Daniel Armstrong, Joffa Hardy, Ross Ditchum, Peter Lesley, Alex Spalck, Marc Martin, Zen
Ledden, Michael, Carman, Brian Canham, Colin Savage, F.Scott Fitzgerald and Peter Cristopherson.
Awards
The new awards:
Best Foreign Film,
Best Foreign Actor,
Best Foreign Female Actor,
Best Foreign Director.
The Trusty standards:
Best Film
Best Director
Best Male Actor
Best Female Actor
Best Supporting Male Actor
Best Supporting Female Actor
Special Jury Prize
Best Use Of The Guerrilla Aesthetic
Most Gratuitous Use Of Pets And Boobs
Most Grattuitous Use Of Violence
Most Gratuitous Use Of Sex
Best Documentary
Best Cinematography
Best Screenplay
Best Sound
Best Editing
Best Short
Runner-up Best Short
Next year we add more shorts awards!!!
Other Thanks
Steve Jennings, Eric Pipersberg, Peter Davey, G Force!, Jack Sargeant, Lynsey Hagen, Paul Elliott, Andrew
Groves, Mark Savage, Colin Savage, Jon Hewitt, Jim Goad, Boyd Rice, Charles Powne at Soleilomoon,
Francois, Johan and Mardelene Grobbelaar,Michael Goss, Nigel Wingrove, The Knife, Fredrik Carlström,
Gaby, Darbyshire, The staff of the Berlin Film Festival, Bill Mousoulis and his MIF site (check it out on line!),
John Harrison, Richard Metzger (Disinformation), Alex, Adam & George (Loop), Marcus and Adrian (Glitch),
Denis Ropar, Phil Anderson, (Bond Bar), Robert Galinsky (Prey), Briony, Michael, and crew (Vice) David
Butcher (Cinevision), Karena at Step Right Up, Dustin at Madman Printing, Rob, Ronnit, Melanie (Beat),
Matt, George (Lucky) Ant Hampel (Think Creative), Sarah and Tim (IF), Nevin Smart, Dov at Filmink,
Stu (Platypus), Jeff Harrison, Mark Pennell, Isadora Van Camp, Robert Fraresso, Robert Pascoe, Thelma
Wolstencroft, Pam and David Wolstencroft, Gawain MacLachlan, Cerise Howard, the memory of William
T Marshall, Anna Reeves, Amigos, Readings in Carlton, all MUFF crew past + present. All filmmakers,
volunteers, supporters, jury members and friends of the festival. Dedicated to Throbbing Gristle- Peter, Gen,
Chris and Cosey keep wrecking civilisation.
Box Office
Opening Night Closing Night Single Session Festival Pass
$15
$15
$10
$45/$40 concession (6 sessions)
MUFF Conditions
* No reserved seating.
* Due to censorship requirements, entry to films
is restricted to persons 18 years and over.
* The festival reluctantly reserves the right to withdraw, change
and replace programs without notice. Any changes are regrettable
and the festival apologises for any inconvenience.
* Ticketing and Program details are correct at the time of
publishing - check back for updates.
* Phone bookings cannot be accepted, send enquiries to: info@muff.com.au
* Any errors in program can be clarified by writing to: info@muff.com.au
Screening Venues
GLITCH
318 St. Georges Road
North Fitzroy 3068
Tel +61 3 9489 9799
THE TOFF IN TOWN
252 Swanston Street
Melbourne 3000
Tel +61 3 9639 8770
REVOLVER
229 Chapel Street
Prahran
Tel +61 3 9521 5985
ERWIN RADO
211 Johnston St
Fitzroy 3065
Tel +61 3 9347 7693
LOOP
23 Meyers Place
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel +61 3 9654 0500
ALWAYS TRY AND REVERSE LOGO WHERE POSSIBLE!!!
CHOOSE FROM:
BOTH ELEMENTS
USE THIS VERSION
(NO TYPE IN THE EYE)
IF USED SMALL!!!
Opening and Closing
Nights
Curated By Richard Wolstencroft
Opening Night
A Nocturne
Dir: Bill Mousoulis Length 70 mins
The new feature from revered underground
filmmaker Bill Mousoulis is right up MUFF’s
alley, hence our Opening Night Guernsey. It is
a moody, violent and gory Vampire flick infused
with Mousoulis’ own reflective time-eschewing
style. It could be compared to Abel Ferrarra’s The
Addiction, but A Nocturne takes on a feel and
atmosphere all of its own. The film references other
classic horror genres and characters like zombie
films and American Psycho, while creating one of
the best Aussie Vampire flicks yet produced, up
there with Thirst and, dare I say it, my own and
Jon Hewitt’s humble Bloodlust. A great cast and
haunting score make this film a must see event for
lovers of Indy cinema everywhere!
Plus
The MUFFumentary (a preview)
Dir: Steve Jennings Length 30 mins
Early 2006 I was approached by Indy Filmmaker
Steve Jennings (alias Fabio De Niro, Mr Blonde,
etc) and was asked if I would mind being
interviewed for an entirely independent-fromour-festival doco about MUFF and the Indy film
scene down under. I happily agreed, wondering
when someone would finally get off their ass
and document the status quo of the film scene
and what we have tried to do at MUFF. After
being interviewed a number of times and Steve
interviewing many filmmakers, punters, fans (and
haters) of MUFF, Steve has decided to show us 30
mins of his work in progress feature. Come and see
if you’ve made the cut.
Plus
BUGCRUSH
(2006) USA Director: Carter Smith 36 minutes
Welcome to high school where young Ben is
developing a heavy crush on
new guy Grant who possesses a self-confidence
that’s attractive as
it’s alarming. Ben eventually inveigles his way into
the lives and Grant and
his two friends only to discover too late the source
of their power. Based on the short story by Scott
Treleaven, which appeared in Queer Fear II an
anthology of gay horror fiction, BUGCRUSH is the
highly skilled work of fashion photographer turned
filmmaker Carter Smith. It’s no wonder that soon
Garth Goes Hitch Hiking
after BUGCRUSH hit the festival circuit Smith
was taking in meetings with the likes of Steven
Spielberg, for whom he’s just made horror film THE
RUINS up in Queensland. Find out why by taking
in this mystery-laden ode to teen fears and other
alien situations in BUGCRUSH.
Opening Night: 7pm at Toff in Town Sept 20
Closing Night
Garth Goes Hitch Hiking
Dir: Greg Pakis Length 69 mins
Greg Pakis/Garth Petridis: where does one end and
the other begin? MUFF hit The Garth Method, soon
to be released on Accent Underground DVD, is a
classic gem from a few years back. Garth, an out
of work actor desperate for a job, abducts people
to act in his indy movie King of Comedy style. To
promote the film, Greg Pakis (the director) would
stand around in a T-shirt with his own face on it
and hand out cheap fliers that looked crappy. I
remember getting the flier before seeing the film
and, to be honest, the publicity turned me off
rather than on to the film. But after seeing the film,
this act of Garth’s is an in-joke that you have to
see the film to get. It’s a deliberately lo-fi Garthean
strategy of promotion that is almost too clever
for its own good. Due to Garth’s success, Greg
Pakis has made a sequel, Garth Goes Hitchhiking,
about Garth going from Melbourne to Cairns by
thumbing it. What results is a great road movie/
doco about Australians on the road with many
candid confessions and great moments plus crazy
footage of Greg/Garth ruffing it in the wild, in the
rain and sleeping in the grounds of schools. We are
proud to present this mini feature on closing night,
alongside Llik Your Idols.
Llik Your Idols The Cinema Of Transgression
(2007) France
Director: Angelique Bosio
Producer: Alexandre Perrier
Energi 69 minutes
The cinema of transgression burst out of New York
in the 80s like a shot glass of pus that had just been
smashed by a pair of king-size and steel capped
Vanessa De Largie - A Nocturne
RM Williams. Then it slowly began to seep its way
into an eager international filmhead audience care
of the hipster film mag with attitude once owned
by Latrry Flynt, Film Threat. It took an Englishman
to write the book (Jack Sargeant — Deathtripping,
1995) and now a French woman to make the film.
Bosio has crafted a great work here by taking
the most energetic images from over 30 films
that loosely form the cinema of transgression and
presenting them in frenetic explosions throughout.
Their collectively energy positively pulsates with
this type of taster presentation that’s surely going
to lead any audience back to the original works.
Besides excerpts from some of the best known
titles such as SUBMIT TO ME NOW, FINGERED,
WHERE EVIL DWELLS THRUST IN ME & THE
WILD WORLD OF LYDIA LUNCH you also get
to see exciting bits from lesser known titles like
THE SEWING CIRCLE, MOMMY MOMMY
WHERE’S MY BRAIN, SHITHAUS and even more
recent efforts by nominal face of transgression
Nick Zedd and his LORD OF THE COCKRINGS
(2002). Of the talking heads, and it’s a bonus that
we don’t see Henry Rollins, the art world is well
represented and the music biz connections that
bore influence on this loosely collective movement
are also highlighted. Interviewees, who on the
whole remain articulate and enlightening (one
guy summarizes the whole thrust of the cinema
of transgression as capturing people doing things
on camera that they’ll never do again) include
Joe Coleman, Thurston Moore, Jack Sargeant,
Bruce Labruce, Richard Hell, Richard Kern, Russell
Simmins and many more. Subjects broached
include the social conditions surrounding the
emergence of the cinema of transgression, No
Wave and Invisible Cinema. LLIK to see this film.
alexandre@kidam.net
www.kidam.net.
- Michael Helms
Llik Your Idols Length 60 mins
Closing Night: 7pm Sunday Sept 30 LOOP.
MUFF SPECIAL EVENT
Frank Howson’s long awaited and controversial
book about his experiences in the film industry gets
an exclusive MUFF preview. Howson will present a
reading from his book “A Life in the Circus”. This
highly anticipated night will delight and shock in
its honesty about Howson’s journey through the
local film industry and ascent to the international
markets. His relationships with Guy Pearce, Steven
Berkoff, John Savage, Kerry Armstrong and various
other names will be revealed in warts-and-all
detail. This evening is bound to be talked about
for some time to come as it will be a once-only
reading of the unedited and uncensored version
of the book. After the reading, a Q&A session with
Frank Howson will be available for all those who
wish to delve even deeper into the details of his
extraordinary personal and creative life.
Book Reading Event: 5pm Saturday Sept 29 LOOP
He will speak about many things not normally
related to Indy film making like the importance
of developing an independent an interesting
Weltanschauung (world view), the importance of
literature and philosophy to film making and his
notion of ontological cinema. Maybe he will also
show a scene from his new film The Beautiful and
Damned. Add a little salacious gossip to the mix
and you have a MUFF academy session not to be
missed!
1pm Sun 23 Sept LOOP.
The MUFF Academy 2
Prometheus Rising
The MUFF academy is back and we are here to
remind you that filmmaking cannot be taught.
However, you can be inspired and enlightened.
We hope and aim to do our best to put the Indy
film makers in touch with other filmmakers
who know what they are doing, have done it
before and can tell you how they did it. The
whole Promethean process is what we are about
elucidating here at MUFF. It is YOU who will
create the great cinematic artworks of the future.
It is the Promethean fire that we wish to awake
in you at the MUFF Academy. So for $50 you get
eight sessions that will inspire, confront and vitalise
you to make your own Indy movies forthwith. No
delay, no excuses. Signned by Headmaster Mr
Wolstencroft.
Frank Howson
The MUFF Academy curriculum:
Jon Hewitt
Fresh from shooting Acolytes with Joel Edgerton
in Queensland with a 4 million dollar budget,
Jon will spread the joy on moving from Indy films
to being abale to work with a larger budget and
crew. He will espouse the virtues of the Viper
camera (from Fincher’s Zodiac) he used and if you
behave yourselves he may even show a trailer
for Acolytes. Jon is a font of cinematic ideas and
wisdom, so make the most of his session at the
MUFF Academy.
3pm Sat 22 Sept LOOP.
Peter Sleazy Christopherson
Sleazy will hold a special MUFF academy session
in the middle of the festival. He has made a
number of high quality and budget video clips that
make Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry look like
the pussies that they are. Sleazy will share his wit
and wisdom on the cosmos with you and show a
few Coil clips and other stuff he’s done and maybe
even some of the bizarre visuals he’s created for
The Threshold House boys Choir. You want his
credentials? They are manifold, but you remember
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here LP cover? When
Peter worked at Hipgnosis in the 70’s he did that.
Need we say more?
5pm Wed 26 Sept TOFF.
Alexi Vellis
Acting, acting, acting. Three words that any Indy
filmmaker needs to have banged into their head.
The importance of performance in an Indy film
cannot be overstated. It makes the difference
between a releasable product and a talented
amateur. Alexis Vellis (director of cult Oz classics
Nirvana Street Murder and Wogboy) will give
Arno Breker: Prometheus I - Fire Walked With Him
Frank talks on the perils of success. What happens
if you make it as a filmmaker? That’s normally
when things go really wrong. The pitfalls of
actually succeeding as a filmmaker are looked at
by industry veteran and legend Frank Howson. In
1989 Frank Howson’s Boulevard Films’ 5th movie
production was entitled Beyond My Reach. It was
conceived to be the prequel to his highly successful
AFI winning film Boulevard of Broken Dreams. It
tells the tale of two young Aussie film-makers, a
writer and a director, who make a small budget
local film that gets picked up for distribution in the
U.S. The two naive local guys go to Los Angeles
and are hit with many compromises to their little
gem. As one of the partners is seduced by the lure
of Hollywood success and the other fights for his
integrity, it creates a rift in their friendship. As
us the scoop on how to achieve a fine level of
performance in an Indy movie. Alex takes a great
acting class at the Film Space in St Kilda and is
a brilliant teacher and philosophiser on the art of
acting. No Indy filmmaker out there should miss
this session.
3pm Sun 23 Sept LOOP.
Daniel Armstrong
Daniel Armstrong from Armstrong Pictures
will advise you on how to make trailers and
put together websites / myspace sites for your
independent movies. The art of self-promotion
is an art all Indy filmmakers need to master and
Armstrong is an expert in this area. He has a
number of cool horror projects on the boil from
The Disturbed to Z3D5, not to mention the up
coming sci fi gore female wrestling flick From Parts
Unknown. Daniel will show trailers for his work
that look like they cost a lot of money but did not
and can tell you how to put what little money you
have up on screen. A horror and genre nut, he will
share his enthusiasm for the movement.
11am Sat 22 Sept LOOP.
Richard Wolstencroft
MUFF director will take a class to share his evercontroversial views on Australian cinema and
guerrilla filmmaking. He has just completed his
fourth feature and has much advice to impart.
Arno Breker: Prometheus II - Burn Baby Burn
one spirals down on La La Land excess, the other
turns his back on Tinsel Town fame and fortune
and returns home. Frank Howson will show the
feature to the class and then answer any questions
regarding the film and the series of events that
produced it. 11am Sun 23 Sept LOOP.
Gregory Pakis
The man who brought us The Garth Method
gives you his tips and philosophy on low budget
filmmaking. Greg has a particularly lo-fi aesthetic
and is a dedicated self promoter and marketer of
his work. Come and get the scoop from Greg/Garth
in the flesh at The MUFF Academy. Greg will play
some clips of his films and talk about his many
experiences indepth with his characteristic charm.
1pm Sat 22 Sept LOOP.
MUFF Neu
Notes by Michael Helms
and Tricky Dicky
Programmed by Tricky Dicky
All the new films from our ‘call for entries’ that
gets bigger and bigger each year! We play
about as many Australian features as MIFF (The
Melbourne International Film Festival) and more
shorts, so get down and support local talent! Also
check out our amazing selection of international
films sent to MUFF for the competition. Awards
will be presented on Closing Night at LOOP. Be
there early, as it is certain to sell out (and you may
find out after the festival that your film, or your
favourite film, has won a MUFF award)!
The Following is written by RW:
Left Ear
Dir: Andrew Wholley
This film is a bizarre gem. Sort of like Borat if it
was a piece of social realism. It is the video diary
of a Polish immigrant who seeks ‘sexy time’ with
members of the opposite sex, but all he finds is
a sex doll. Great performance from lead Lech
Malchevska – grim, but brilliant. This film came
highly recommended to us from Kim Lewis and
was a toss up for Closing night. Funded by the
AFC and rejected by MIFF and SIFF (The Sydney
International Film Festival), MUFF presents the
world premiere of this controversial work. Lech
Malchevska in person, straight from Europe plus
the film makers to intro q&a.
9pm Sat 22 Sept Glitch.
Second Session added to anticipate demand 10.15pm Sat 22 Sept Glitch.
Susan For Now
Dir: Robin Franzi
After a ten year celibacy trip, a woman explores
the world of BDSM. Yes… it’s spanks a lot after all
that no-sex nonsense. This mature and revealing
film probes the underbelly of the Sadomasochistic
Moonlight and Magic
underground and comes up trumps. Can you dig it?
Midnight Sat 29 Sept Glitch.
Moonlight and Magic
Dir: Timothy Spanos
Timothy Spanos is back with a cool new feature.
A mohawked free spirit and diabetic older women
embark on a road movie that takes them across
the country in search of adventure and mischief.
Spanos’ lyrical film making is a treat to watch.
From the same director as past MUFF hits Prisoner
Queen and Nicholas Dickmuncher.
5pm Fri 21 Sept Glitch.
Ashley and Kisha
Dir: Tony Comstock
Well, we played Damon and Hunter last year
(against the wishes of our Big Brother at the
OFLC) and we will do our best to do so again with
Ashley and Kisher, this time a hot lesbian romp
that will have even the hetero men lining up at
the door. Comstocks’ films are open, honest and
frank portrayals of homosexuality and with the true
atrocities on our news every night it seems absurd
to want to ban two women or men going down on
each other and talking frankly about it later. Fight
censorship for real at MUFF 8!
10:15pm Sat 29 Sept Glitch.
The Hidden
Dir: Jessie Kirby
[Dur: 65 mins]
Movern Caller meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre
set in Ireland and you have this great late entry
from Jessie Kirby. The Hidden is a classic tale of
Irish horror with killer and missing teachers, not to
mention plenty of spooky atmosphere to rely on…
10:15pm Thurs 27 Sept Glitch.
Streetsweeper
Dir: Neil Mansfield
Left Ear
A lonely poet rambles across the city he once
loved in this poignant and well made exploration
of homelessness and the disenchanted. Mansfield
delivers a clever film filled with insight. Well shot
Ashley and Kisha
and edited.
10:15pm Thurs 27 Sept Glitch.
(Double w/ The Hidden)
Rhythm and Poetry
Dir: Brendan Hay
A cool little doco about the burgeoning Aussie rap
scene. Its about how hip hop came to Australia.
From expressing local identity to confrontation
with culture, local rap artists cover the origins of
the local sound through to its rising commercial
popularity. Rhythm and Poetry is an inside view of
the Aussie rap Underground.
5pm Tues 25 Sept LOOP.
The Truth About Weapons of Mass Destruction
Dir: Paul Haines
Saddam didn’t have them but they still hung him
like a dog to be played all over You Tube. This
Aussie doco explores the question of WMD’s and
raises some very timely and important questions.
One for controversy and conspiracy buffs. 4 lads set
off to get answers and find chemical weapons on the
side of roads and get inside one of Europe’s biggest
chemical weapons facilities. Spooky stuff …
5pm Sun 23 Sept TOFF.
Roaring Whispers
Dir: David Phillips
Have we got a treat for you! MUFF filmmaker
David Phillips (Dusk) is back. A powerful and
ruthless corporation with total control over the
world’s rapidly dwindling natural resources ... A
kid with the courage and knowledge to stand up to
them ... His only ally? A hit man with a death wish
and a “dead” girl. Can they save the world?
5pm Thurs 27 Sept LOOP.
The following is written by Michael Helms:
Black Water
(2007) Australia
Dir: David Nerlich & Andrew Traucki [Dur: 86 mins]
The trio of Grace, Lee and Adam deliberately
remove themselves from suburbia for a short
fishing trip and some much-needed physical
Black Water
renewal when things start to go pear-shaped.
Without directions or supplies they find themselves
stranded in a swamp and up a tree being stalked
by a crocodile. As the day wears on, fear rises
and the tension begins to seep off the screen.
A tense thriller with an identical synopsis to
the forthcoming ROGUE, BLACK WATER was
made on 1/25 of the budget but 100% of the
talent. Stripped down BLACK WATER is a horror
thriller that’s been heavily influenced by OPEN
WATER but manages to completely transcend it’s
limitations by continually subverting expectations
to emerge as an extremely intense experience
that’s not afraid to take the downbeat route. The
acting of Maeve Dermody, Dianna Glenn and Andy
Rodoreda is high calibre and entirely credible
while the special effects (which are the specialty
of co-writer/producer/director Nerlich) are used
with great efficiency to enhance this great human
drama of a horror film. Filmed entirely in Sydney
(except for Croc shots), BLACK WATER will give
you full tropical fever and is a superb feature
debut. BLACK WATER is easily the best Australian
film we’ve eyeballed this year and definitely not to
be overlooked. You will kick yourself if you don’t
catch it at the MUFF premiere screening.
9pm Sat 29 Sept ERWIN RADO.
70K
(2006) Australia
Dir: Jamie Howarth [Dur: 46 mins]
The work of 70K can be regularly seen sprayed on
trains and other parts of public transport systems
across the country. I had to walk underneath a 70K
adorned bridge to get here. But besides aerosol
cans, 70K have also been aiming cameras at their
walls and the result is essentially a clip collection
culled from more than a few years of regularly
going on and off the rails. While the quality of a
lot of the footage is understandably rough at best,
there’s not a lot to learn about the artists at work
in 70K other than their ability to digitally mask
any recognizable presence and their choice in
music that includes Thin Lizzy, Dolly Parton and
the obvious Ozzy Osbourne track, “Crazy Train”.
At 26 minutes there’s 30 seconds of narration
but other than an even shorter snatch of a train
worker reporting graffiti over a radio, the only brief
70k
footage towards the end demonstrates that, “there
is more to life than just vandalism”, like vomiting,
staggering and falling down. Recommended for
gunzels, potential gunzels and those who just can’t
get enough graffiti. tullski@gmail.com
www.thekingdomofsadmachines.com
6pm Sun 23 Sept LOOP.
The Subject
(2006) Australia
Dir: Chris Scott
W&P: Matthew & Chris Scott [Dur: 67 mins]
A woman is abducted on her way back from the
local shops only to be taken to a backyard surgery
where messy experiments in corpse re-animation
are being conducted. The woman in the titular role
unexpectedly comes back to life and overpowers
her captors before she ventures onto the mean
streets of Lithgow to create her own brand of
havoc. Meanwhile a shoddy police investigation
conducted by an eager to please female forensics
officer who doubles as a detective and a portly
male (played by co-writer/producer Matthew Scott)
detective who is obsessed with the film PREDATOR
and seems to be auditioning for the title role in
a feature length version of the old comedy skit
BARGEARSE, clunks into gear. Suffice to say it
all ends in trauma and tears for all involved.
The Brothers Scott out of Lithgow have hatched
a chunk of no-budget shlock that’s as dumb as
it’s cheap but manages to keep a cinematic sense
of humor about itself as the amateur cast do their
best with such lines as, “some re-incarnation
bullshit”, when required to explain why the body
snatching has been occurring. THE SUBJECT
is dumb fun. zartbot@yahoo.com www.myspace.
com/thesubjectmovie
6pm Mon 24 Sept LOOP.
Taber Corn
(2007) Australia
Dir: Linden Reko
W&P: Blake Ryan [Dur: 85 mins]
Not to be confused with a mockumentary Taber
Corn is a pisstakeumentary. You will piss yourself
laughing as you witness a 7 minute short become a
feature when in the Spring of 2006 film student J.D
Love Runs Faster Than Blood
Sebastian sets out to document the life of someone
who influences culture at a grass roots level. And
that someone is the misanthropic but likeable
Buddha Wilson who runs the website Fulci Metal
Jacket. A (hopeless) laborer for a landscaper by
day Buddha is an around the clock enthusiast for
Italian shlock of which he has more than a passing
preference for quarry pit epics like Warriors Of
The Wasteland and The New Barbarians, which he
gets to screen down his local. Sebastian describes
The New Barbarians as the perfect analogy for
Buddha’s personality, “unbearable”. Buddha’s
greatest problem seems to be remembering what
discs he’s ordered over the net after a heavy
drinking session. Sebastian also interviews Alex
Del Rio, a kebab maker turned auteur, whose
filmography includes Cannibal Kebab Shop,
which received a favourable review on Fulci Metal
Jacket. Del Rio seems to be returning the favour
here. To strike a balance Sebastian also talks
with Buddha’s rival Leon Brown. Things soon get
ugly when Sebastian finds Buddha drinking and
feeding coins into pokie machines at 10.00am and
Buddha retaliates by hanging shit on Sebastian.
Buddha soon gets onto his dream project though
the sublime The Clones Of Bruce Lee Vs Ilsa
In The Devil’s Triangle which mainly features
stolen footagethat incorporates a smattering of
original material (including shots of Buddha as
Ilsa). A series of events (like Buddha selling his
film through his website) sees him convicted of
copyright offences and sent to Bradstow Minimum
Security Prison with only his knowledge of
Women In Prison Films to protect him. Buddha is
soon wondering why the warden would tell him
that jail sex isn’t gay and what venues he can
take his dinner show of Bloodsucking Freaks 2
to when he finally gets paroled. Ex-chair of the
MUFF judging panel Chopper Read steps into
rap things up. Highly recommended. ezra-cobb@
yahoo.com lindenreko@gmail.com www.myspace.
com/tabercorn
5pm Sun 23 Sept Glitch.
Watch Me
(2006) Australia
Dir: Melanie Ansley
Producer: Sam Voutas [Dur: 78 mins]
Flesh
A guy comes home to his flat to find a bathroom
sink filled with bloody hair and an e-mail with an
attachment labeled WATCH ME. Responding to
the electronic communication causes a red-haired
ghost girl to appear who promptly sticks her blood
red painted nails and fist and arm down his throat.
A girl Jill, who’s doing research into a thesis on the
power of the voyeur rents some discs from a guy
she’s learnt about at uni. Taking the discs home she
settles in but decides to open WATCH ME as her
flat-mate makes popcorn. Ghost girl reappears and
is soon claiming her next victim and applying her
signature move of stitching the eyelids. A police
investigation ensues as Jill’s flat-mate and the
sleaze film expert become drawn into discovering
the secret behind the sudden rash of bizarre
deaths. J-horror is a rich cinematic vein that’s been
readily co-opted by mainstream US horror films so
why not a no budget version shot in Australia and
China by Australian filmmakers? That WATCH ME
can take the best of J-horror and do it cheaply but
entirely convincingly attests to the latent talent of
all involved. A truly striking feature debut from
director Ansley. film@scopofile.com
www.watchmemovie.com
7pm Tues 25 Sept Glitch.
Love runs faster than blood
(2007) Japan
Dir: Hideki Kitagawa [Dur: 77 mins]
Obtuse, obscure and not afraid to proceed at a
contemplative pace LOVE RUNS FASTER THAN
BLOOD seeks to examine the relationship between
a couple who rise naked from a box in a large
dimly lit room in the first scene. Via shards of the
woman’s narration and flashbacks we learn of her
history of abuse at the hands of her uncle after
the death of her father who she is yet to bury. She
picks the maggots off her father’s face and has
forced sex with uncle on the hard wooden floor
beneath the bed upon which her father still lays.
The relationship with her photographer boyfriend
gets serious living up to his philosophy that,
“Our passions take everything beyond comfort”.
Ultimately, they share Arterial spray as they drink
each others blood. Not a horror film but an art film
with an aggressively experimental approach to
narrative LOVE RUNS FASTER THAN BLOOD
Dale Reeves - Lords of The Underworld
is exquisitely shot imbuing every scene with a
magnetic beauty. This is the debut feature from
Hideki Kitagawa. With music by Aphex Twin and
from Jacques Demy’s LA BALE DES ANGES.
Hidekikitigawanyc@mac.com
5pm Wed 26 Sept LOOP.
Flesh
(2007) Australia
Dir: Stuart Stanton [Dur: 90 mins]
On their way to an outback gig a musical
threesome, Trav, Gray and Alex, stop by the side
of the road in a dense bush area so that Trav can
take a toilet break. While the other two sleep Trav
has an encounter with a bearded living dead guy
who bites him before he can fend him off and stab
him. Keeping things to himself they arrive at their
destination only for things to get ugly and highly
hallucinatory during the night as the craving for
the titular material takes hold. Shot with little
budget, FLESH still manages to provide some
original ideas and most importantly moments of
fright. The opening sequence on a beach takes
place during broad daylight but remains creepy
and effective. So to does Trav’s initial encounter
with the bearded ghoul. A modest production
that delivers and shouldn’t be lost in the ongoing
shuffle of zombie cinema. shedguest@yahoo.com.au
7pm Tues 25 Sept LOOP.
Lords of The Underworld
Dir Dale Reeves
Shot on a budget of over million dollars this
spiritual/gangster/sports genre mix is one to watch
at MUFF Neu! Starring and directed by Melbourne
club identity Dale Reeves (Nightclubber) with a
host of baddies seen from American B movies.
Imagine Rollerball (Basketball/Murderbal style)
mixed with Carlito’s Way or The Funeral mixed
with bizarre spiritual visions of demons and angels
and you have the cinema of Dale Reeves in this
film. An important cross genre exploration that
is violent and intense. Daring for its genre Lords
of the Underworld shows a breadth of ideas on
the filmmaker’s part that bodes well for his future
work. Dale’s performance in the lead is menacing.
7pm Sept 29 Erwin Rado
SEE WHATʼS
BEHIND THE
COVER.
Performance
Donald Cammell:
Performed
gangster epic decades ahead of its time starring
a bona-fide rock God in a bravura role that¹s still
out-there 30 years on!
9pm Tues 25 Sept ROOFTOP CINEMA.
By Jon Hewitt
WHITE OF THE EYE (1988) is an astonishing
serial-killer-as-artist chiller made well before
silent lambs turned it cliché, appealing as much to
the brain as the spleen and featuring a knockout
performance from a criminal underrated actor
David Keith. Also starring Cathy Moriaty
7pm Mon 24 Sept Revolver.
When Donald Cammell’s Glock blew a 9mm hole
through his brain on 24 April 1996, the curtain
raised on the final act of a transcendent filmmaker’s
lifelong obsession with violence and death as
ritualistic work of art.
In the 45 minutes it took him to die he saw the
face of Jorge Luis Borges (just like we did when
James Fox blows a hole in Mick Jagger¹s brain
in PERFORMANCE) and contemplated his death
mask in a mirror (just like a victim of David Keith¹s
psycho in WHITE OF THE EYE).
Cammell, a super-talented-manic-depressivemodel-gorgeous-nutcase Scottish painter,
completed only four films in a 62 year life devoted
to art and cinema ­ and three of these are on the
list of all-time faves. Sure it’s a big list, but that¹s
an incredible strike-rate for a filmmaker who had
to fight for every frame of every project, even after
death.
PERFORMANCE (1968) is a breathtaking feverdream, a super-swinging drug-fucked rock’n’roll
WILD SIDE (1994) is a deliriously fractured
psycho-sex-drama only delivered in its true
Cammellian shape after Don’s suicide gave its
craven producer an angle to make money out of
a ‘restored director¹s version’. Anne Heche gives
the performance of any lifetime as the bi callgirl
swinging between Joan Chen and a nutzoid
Christopher Walken.
Midnight Sat 22nd Sept Glitch.
Demonseed (1977) Don’s classic 70’s horror that
explores the metaphysical ramifaications of
being fucked by an alien. Thi is a truly tripped
out sci-fi horror that is a mini masterpiece. Alien
insemination uber alles. Starring 70s sex bomb
Julie Christie.
7pm Tues 25 Sept ROOFTOP CINEMA.
/54./77(%2%!,,'//$-!'!:).%3!2%3/,$
WWWFILMINKCOMAU
MUFF8 2007
Glitch
Bar
20
THURSDAY
22
SATURDAY
23
SUNDAY
24
MONDAY
25
TUESDAY
5pm
Moonlight and
Magic
Sugar and Spice
Taber Corn
WR Mysteries
of the Organism
Short Night of
the Glass Dolls
7pm
Taurobolium Larry Wessel
Snuff Movie
Flesh
Colours of the
Dark
Watch
Me
9pm
Porn King
Al Goldstein
Left Ear
Theo Van Gogh
Doco & May 6th
The Night Evelyn
came out of the grave
10:15pm
Death Weekend
Left Ear
Session 2
26
WEDNESDAY
27
THURSDAY
Streetsweeper
& The Hidden
Donald Cammell
Wild Side
Midnight
Revolver
21
FRIDAY
7pm
Donald Cammell
White of the Eye
Avant Muff
Session 2
School Girl
Report 1
9pm
Mathew Barney
No Restraint
David Lynch
Shorts
Sleazy 2
Rooftop
The Toff
in Town
5pm
7pm
A Nocturne +
Muffumentary
9pm
11am
1pm
3pm
29
SATURDAY
Sleazy 3
Ashley & Kisha
The Perfume Of a
Lady In Black
Susan for now
MUFF Academy
Sleazy 1
Larry Wessel
Tattoo Delux
The Great Ecstasy
of Robert C.
Larry Wessel
Sex, Death & H
Demonseed
Welcome
Stranger
Lords of the
Underworld
Mike Figgis’
Hotel
Avant MUFF
Session 1
Performance
demonsamongus
Blackwater
Threshold House
Boys Choir Gig!!
Back
Front/Back
MUFF Academy
Daniel Armstrong
MUFF Academy
Frank Howson
MUFF Academy
Gregory Pakis
MUFF Academy
Richard W
MUFF Academy
Jon Hewitt
MUFF Academy
Alexi Vellis
Front/Back
5pm
Back
Rythme & Poetry
Back
Back
Love runs faster
than blood
Roaring
Whispers
Back
Frank Howson
Book Reading
6pm
Suck Dog
70k
The Subject
7pm
The Believer
Freestyle
The Art of Rhyme
Mini-MUFF 1
Mini-MUFF 3
Mini-MUFF 5
Mini-MUFF 7
Born Rich
Rolling
Mini-MUFF 2
Mini-MUFF 4
Mini-MUFF 6
Helen Keller
Larry Wessel
Zebedy Colt
Double
9pm
30
SUNDAY
Erwin Rado
The Truth about
WMD’s
11pm
Room
Loop
Bar
28
FRIDAY
Closing Night
Garth Goes
Hitchhiking
&
Llik Your Idols
Session 3 7pm Tues 25 Sept LOOP.
Mini MUFF
Local & International Short
films curated by Jason Turley
Programmers picks; Seizure And Synesthesia,
Lap Of Death, B-17: A Mini-epic, Gary’s Touch,
Ingrid Sits Holding A Knife, Whore, The Ultimate
Survival Guide.
Session 1 7pm Mon 24 Sept LOOP.
BROKEN SPELL
Dir: Magda Matwiejew/2007/Australia/4 mins/
Experimental Animation
Broken spell is about the concepts of love and
climate. A modern day “Romeo and Juliet”
THE METHOD MAN
Dir: James Portanier/2007/Australia/10 mins/
Experimental Drama
A brave young Psychonaut’s journey to the sigma
plateau.
A SHORT COLLECTION OF HILARY
FLAMINGO’S DREAM VOCATIONS
Dir: Harriet Fleuriot/2007/United Kingdom/6 mins/
Experimental Drama
A dissatisfied factory worker escapes into a
delicious selection of cake-fuelled fantasies.
TEAT BEAT OF SEX
Dir: Pierre Poire/2007/USA/Italy/4 mins/Animation
A film about sex from a woman’s point of view.
60 SECOND RELIEF
Dir: Rupert Owen/2006/Australia/1 min/
Experimental
A challenge to the OFLC.
UNDER DEVELOPMENT
Dir: Audrey Lam/2007/Australia/7 mins/
Experimental
A city under development. A murder investigation
becomes an act of resistance.
BUSH
Dir: Fran Apprich/2007/Northern Ireland/6 mins/
Experimental
A little girl talks about how much she hates the
bushes, is it a political statement?
10 THOUSAND STEPS
Dir: Qiao Li/2007/Australia/5 mins/Drama
In a city that never stops, on a hill that never ends,
a girl reflects on who she is and what she wants.
UNDERGROUND
Dir: Audrey Lam/2007/Australia/4 mins/Animation
Subway subservience subverted when a
subterranean submerges the subconscious!
I AM HEARING THE LAST BIRD
Dir: Ryan Tebo/2006/USA/5 mins/Experimental
A meditation on blindness and the end of life.
SEIZURE AND SYNESTHESIA
Dir: Clint Lewis/Damien Pascoe/2007/Australia/19
mins/Rockumentary
Follows front man Trash McSweeney as he recalls
the two seizure’s that caused him to hear music
in colour and inspire him to form Australia’s most
unique band ‘The Red Paintings’.
Physical Graffiti
CLIMATE, CHANGE, BICYCLING AND YOU
Dir: Kurt Diegert/2007/Australia/12 mins/
Documentary
Have you been naughty? Do you drive your car
three blocks to the grocery store?
Session 2 9pm Mon 24 Sept LOOP.
HOUSE WARMING
Dir: Lee A. Marquardt/2006/Australia/12 mins/
Animation
Tina and Gloria move into the house of their
dreams. When a meteor hits the cemetery next
door, zombies threaten to put an end to their
domestic bliss.
LAP OF DEATH
Dir: Jean Luc Syndikas/2007/Australia/USA/9
mins/Experimental Horror
Ever had a lap dance? it can be quite an adventure,
especially when the ejaculation comes at your
expense…
THE MAN AMONGST TREES
Dir: Josh Tanner/2007/Australia/10 mins/Drama
In the eerily dark shadows of a pine forest, two
feuding bushwalkers discover an enigmatic figure
arched over beside a tree.
DISAPOINTMENT
Dir: Jason Sweeney/2006/Australia/16 mins/
Experimental
A disturbingly bent and dark sinister tale of
a postcard city you love to hate. Welcome to
Adelaide, the city of light.
AXOLOTL
Dir: Allan Cameron/2007/Australia/New Zealand/5
mins/Experimental
The strange tale of a man who becomes an Axolotl.
ABSENT
Dir: Simon Rauh/2007/Australia/3 mins/
Experimental
A woman awakes in the wilderness by a phone
ring.
B-17: A MINI-EPIC
Dir: Arturo Cubacub/2006/USA/36 mins/
Experimental
Sarah and Yumi are top-secret sex slaves for a
high-ranking government official. They spend their
days in a bizarre play-pen/torture chamber/slavelabor station, where they produce pro-war polo
shirts by hand and live in constant fear.
THE WRATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN
Dir: Lucien Spectre/2007/Australia/15 mins/Drama
A devout Christian follows the scripture when
shocked by a Domestic Disturbance.
THE GLIMPSE
Dir: Zak Hilditch/2006/Australia/7 mins/Comedy
Sebastian gets a lot more than he bargained for on
the day of his school ball. From the Director of The
Actress MUFF hit from a few years back and soon
to be released on the Accent Underground Label.
LOCAL HERO
Dir: Nicole Smith/2006/Australia/5 mins/Comedy
A short man has to get a very tall, very unconscious
woman out of a burning house.
THE INTERROGATION OF BRYAN
Dir: Tom Salisbury/2007/Australia/22 mins/Drama
Bryan, a 20 something outcast, is accused of
committing a horrific crime. Based around the
strange case of Martin Briant and postures a
malevolent conspiracy theory. Fest Director Richard
Wolstencroft and Colin Savage recommend this
one as one of the best shorts.
LES GUNZ DU NOIR (THE ARMS OF DARKNESS)
Dir: Daniel ‘Lance’ McDonald/2007/Australia/4
mins/Drama
Les Gunz Du Noir is a film noir about the power
play between four men playing a deadly game of
chance.
PHYSICAL GRAFFITI
Dir: Daniel Hayward/2007Australia/20 mins/Drama
Three Melbourne Graffiti artists lounge around one
afternoon drinking and watching illegal graffiti
videos they filmed. Little do they know their day of
fun is going to end in violence due to the discovery
of an unwanted pregnancy and the confrontation
that follows.
Session 4 9pm Tues 25 Sept LOOP.
INGRID SITS HOLDING A KNIFE
Dir: Charlotte George/2006/Australia/15 mins/
Drama
Post-Apocalyptic Melbourne. A young woman sits
in her room, holding a knife. A knock on the door
reveals Phillip, her ex-boyfriend. They have to get
out. They have to go as far away as they can.
PENSION DAY
Dir: Gordon Napier/2006/Australia/5 mins/Drama
An old man lies dead on the floor and the mystery
of his death unfolds before our eyes.
NOTHING
Dir: Prasan De Silva/2007/Australia/9 mins/Drama
A morning in the life of two lovers unable to see
past their own vanity.
THE AGREEMENT
Dir: Jason Munn/2006/Australia/11 mins/Drama
An executive finds a murdered girl in the car park,
the killer returns, an agreement is made
ANNO DOMNI
Dir: Chris Stone/2007/U.K/11 mins/Drama
A classical music backed period film based on a
Roman Praetorians love for his emperors wife.
THE LORD IS MY SHOTGUN
Dir: Gabriel Dowrick/2006/Australia/7 mins/Drama
The Object Of My Affection
Opening just after a Robbery gone wrong, four
goons stand between this violent, vigilante cop and
the car park exit-his imaginary salvation.
GARY’S TOUCH
Dir: Ken Takahashi/2006/Canada/25 mins/Drama
A dramatic short exploring how far a reclusive
man is willing to go to satisfy one of life’s most
compelling drives, the drive to reproduce.
Session 5 7pm Wed 26 Sept LOOP.
CROOKS LIKE US
Dir: Sedon Pepper/2006/Australia/7 mins/Drama
When a street wise crook mugs a weeping man for
his wallet, his conscience prevails.
DOG MEAT
Dir: Mat Govoni/2007/Australia/4 mins/Comedy
An elderly lady is determined not to let the sudden
death of her dog put a damper on their daily walk.
EXOSKELETON
Dir: Michael Dean/2006/Australia/10 mins/Drama
A man is forced to deal with issues related to his
personal identity, after he meets and falls in love
with an amputee.
JOHNNY DEFORMED AND THE IGLOO
HOLIDAY PARADE
Dir: Steven Hughes/2006/Australia/10 mins/
Experimental
The Cheese goes off again. Things between
Johnny and his girlfriend Amy go awry. Powerless
to stop her leaving, Johnny suffers in his vomitsoaked living room.
THE MORNING AFTER
Dir: Daniel Knight/2006/Australia/7 mins/Comedy
Emily is about to have a very bad morning. So bad
in fact, she’s going to have to chew off her right
arm.
WET DREAMS
Dir: Peta Manning/2004/Australia/4 mins/Drama
When you’re in love, you’re emotions can take
over. Set in a bathroom, where water is like wine
and soap is like caviar. ‘Wet dreams’ is a fantastical
love story out of this world.
THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION
Dir: Natalie Vella/Peta Manning/2004/Australia/5
mins/Comedy
In this surreal mockumentary, Frida reveals her
unusual affinity with objects and how they have
fulfilled her life.
Welcome to Pipe Mountain
LILITH
Dir: Jim Stamatakos/2006/Australia/5 mins/
Experimental
A woman faces her demons. Loosely based on the
myth of ‘Lilith’ the first eve.
WHORE
Dir: Isabelle McEwen/2006/Germany/4 mins/
Experimental
A whore guides us through a vision of hell.
GEMINI DESCENDING
Dir: Jenna Davis/2007/Asutralia/9 mins/Drama
Norma’s & Jack’s dysfunctional relationship comes
to an equally dysfunctional halt when Norma’s
fantasy world becomes her reality as she tries to
escape the misery that is her life.
HOTEL MOTEL
Dir: Michael Wannenmacher/2007/Australia/13
mins/Drama
Two on-the-run crims hole up for the night in a
lonesome hotel motel. Cut off from information.
their search for a television brings them into
contact with the other denizens of the hotel who
are even more desperate than they are.
Session 6 9pm Wed 26 Sept LOOP.
PREGNANT PAWS
Dir: James Teh/2006/Australia/2 mins/Comedy
Vanessa, an expectant mother, never expected
what was to happen next at the office.
WEREWOLF PRIEST
Dir: Naz Mantoo/2007/Australia/5 mins/Comedy
A small Swedish community is under siege. A lone
nun is their only hope against the unholy wrath of
the werewolf priest.
DETACHED
Dir: Dave Wade/2006/Australia/3 mins/Comedy
Dave’s girlfriend is having an abortion and its
time to ask the serious questions. Should they go
through with it? Would he be a good father? and
where did his big toe go?
LET’S DANCE
Dir: Konrad McCarthy/2007/Australia/7 mins/
Drama
A modern story of love, hope, laughter, redemption
and Vampires.
PELICAN BOY
Dir: Dick Dale/2003/Australia/6 mins/Comedy
The heart warming story of a boy and his bird,
friendship, loyalty and gratuitous violence.
LUST FOR LOVE
Dir: Anton King/2006/Australia/9 mins/Comedy
Daniels new years lust for love goes unfulfilled as
he has a few below the belt complications
BOX WARS
Dir: David Broder/2006/Australia/10 mins/
Mockumentary
Explores the unusual passion of several curious
Australians for one-on-one combat in an
underground culture movement, Box Wars.
NUMB SKULLS
Dir: Kelly Sheeran/2007/Australia/13 mins/
Comedy/Horror
tired of mindless TV? you’ve come to the wrong
place!
UNKNOWN COMBO
Dir: Steve Trevaskis/2006/Australia/7 mins/
Comedy
Clancy’s gang are a bunch of misfit gangsters who
do a regular trade of suitcases with Roland. When 3
other crims turn up instead of Roland, distrust and
a terrible cold may be the death of them all!
DISGRUNTLED
Dir: Cameron Parry/2006/Australia/15 mins/Drama
As a call centre operator, Nadia has to cope with all
manner indignities on a daily basis. But today, she
will make contact with a disgruntled customer with
revenge and murder on his mind.
Session 7 7pm Thurs 27 Sept LOOP.
THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL GUIDE, A CIVIL
DEFENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
Dir: Rowan Barr/2006/Australia/10 mins/
Mockumentary
The year is 1956, a deadly new threat is teaming
at our shores. This horrible disease is spreading
through our country, threatening our freedom.
The government releases an educational video
explaining how to survive this new terror.
ZOMBIE LOVE
Dir: Yfke van Berckelaer/2007/USA/The
Netherlands/37 mins/Musical
This musical extravaganza tells the story of a
zombie boy who tries to change his flesh eating
ways in order to gain the love of a mortal girl.
WELCOME TO PIPE MOUNTAIN
Dir: Kenta McGrath/2006/Australia/24 mins/Drama
August 2011. A young man travels into the forest
at the foot of Pipe Mountain, an infamous Suicide
spot.
DUSTED
Dir: Chad Aston/2006/Australia/3 mins/Drama
A broken world, no fuel, no ammunition, no
government. Man will always find something to
fight over.
FORGED
Dir: David No/2006/Australia/38 mins/Drama
Darak is an ageing Sword Master and Juda,
his apprentice son. In a drama of startling
consequences, Juda recounts the events leading to
the devastation of their relationship.
Larry Wessel
It’s Time To Pay Homage: Larry
Wessel
Jack Sargeant
In an age in which film is characterized by rapid
fire edits designed to sate the briefest of attention
spans Larry Wessel makes movies that demand
the audience sit down and watch. While some
contemporary documentarians maintain a didactic
narration, and even an on-screen presence to
guide an audience, Wessel’s work is characterised
by long takes that seek to render - to quote Mel
Lyman – “something as it really is”.
Influenced at an early age by Robert Flaherty’s
homage to the Inuit existence already disappearing
into memory Nanook of the North (1922) and
Fredrick Wiseman’s 1967 grim asylum documentary
Titicut Follies, Wessel – in the majority of his films
– occupies the role of passive observer, letting the
world unveil itself before his gaze. Wessel takes his
camera to the kind of places most people don’t get
to see and meets the individuals most people don’t
get to meet. In Tattoo Deluxe (1998) the camera
presents life in a San Pedro tattoo studio, while
Sugar and Spice (1995) depicts the Los Angeles
transgender and drag communities, and features
the legendary Goddess Bunny amongst others.
Letting the camera roll and giving his subjects the
time and space to be themselves Wessel enables
the audience to maintain a degree of empathy with
the various personalities that populate his films.
Wessel’s obsessive nature ensures that his work
pursue uniquely personal interests unwaveringly.
Each shot, each frame, each edit building upon
and revealing his own fascinations. Best seen in
Taurobolium (1994) his masterwork, created from
footage from more than 200 of Tijuana’s corridas,
the film captures the Duende of the bullring with a
relentless rhythmic intensity that only ends in the
gore of the slaughterhouse.
Larry and skulls
the band the Ugly Janitors of America. Once again
the emphasis is on paying witness, as the band
rehearse and record in front of Wessel’s camera.
The films chosen for this MUFF retrospective cover
Wessel’s work throughout the ‘90s, and offer a
glimpse into the world of Wesselmania. In addition
to Wessel’s documentaries MUFF will screen LipStick Liz a prize-winning music video by Wessel.
Also included here is the short Disinfo Nation
documentary about Wessel. Currently directing
a documentary on Boyd Rice, Wessel promises
that it’ll screen at MUFF in the future, but in the
meantime a teaser will be screened before each
session.
Taurobolium (1hr 45min)
+ Lip-Stick Liz (3mins) 7pm Fri 21 Sept Glitch.
Sugar and Spice (2hrs) 5pm Sat 22 Sept Glitch.
Tattoo Deluxe (1hr 42min)
+ Disinfo Nation (3mins)5pm Mon 24 Sept TOFF.
Sex, Death, and The Hollywood Mystique (2hrs
35min) 7pm Mon 24 Sept TOFF.
Song Demo For a Helen Keller World (2hr)
9pm Thurs 27 Sept LOOP.
In 1997 Wessel began working on Sex, Death
and the Hollywood Mystique. Loosely based
on the historical writings of cult LA noir author
John Gilmore, stardom intermixed with sleaze,
decadence, and other tales of the Hollywood
Dream gone bad. The film marks a break with the
director’s previous direct cinema style instead. As
Wessel wrote, the movie has “a more Felliniesque
approach to the documentary form” which includes
a scene depicting Gilmore shovelling dry soil onto
a naked female. Michael Moore never did this.
Wessel’s 1999 documentary feature Song Demo For
A Helen Keller World sees
the director watching prankster legend
John – ‘Blind Man’s Penis’ - Trubee working with
Larry and his new wife, congrats from MUFF
Peter “Sleazy”
Christopherson:
Our Man in Thailand
The sleazy wrecker of civilisation from TG and
Coil is cumming all the way from the East Tower.
Given that name by his Throbbing Gristle (TG)
band mate Genesis P. Orridge back in the day, we
are happy to welcome, all the way from Thailand,
Peter as our International Guest in 2007. Having
seen the error of his ways, Sleazy has abandoned
the West and now lives in Asia WAY upriver,
deep in the mountainous jungles, shaven headed,
musing in the shadows on snails and straight
razors, surrounded by a Private Army of young,
loyal and bloodthirsty bodyguards, waiting to
fulfill his every whim, no matter how bizarre,
perverted or outlandish.... Well the last part is true
anyway! A little known aspect of Sleazy’s work as
an artist, musician and troublemaker has been the
production of moving images, video clips, short
films and film clips. He worked at Hipgnosis in the
70’s and conspired on some classic Floyd covers,
not to mention a major hand in the early TG covers
and visual imagery. MUFF is proud to present
the first film festival focus on the visual aspect of
Mr.Christopherson’s work.
We have a bumper program of three sessions and a
live gig of the Threshold House Boys Choir Peter’s
new live band after the untimely demise of Coil
following the tragic death of John Balance. Check
it out and remember the vultures call us all and
that gold is metal …
Session 1 (Part of MUFF Academy)
5pm Wed 26 Sept TOFF.
Film clips, video clips and short films by Peter
Christopherson from NIN and Ministry to his own
work with TG and Coil. If you want to see cutting
edge video clips (not seen on sleepy Rage), that
really pushes the envelope, attend this section.
Also included will be a screening of a rarely seen
controversial clip by Sleazy! Intro and Q&A by Peter.
Thai piercing festival - Sleazy style
Session 2 10:15pm Fri 28 Sept Glitch.
A rare and exclusive recording of a live
performance by Coil - The closest we will ever
come to seeing Coil live after John passing. Intro
by Sleazy.
Session 3 9pm Thurs 27 Sept Revolver.
Threshold House Boys Choir: A live gig and short
film of Peter’s new band. Cutting edge electronic
music and much besides, with an intro by Slz. Plus
extra clips from Uncle Sleazy!
Plus … a live Samurai band from Japan! Not
connected to Sleazy, but still cool.
“Theatrical Samurai Kabuki
Hard Rock Show”
Traditional Japanese instruments such as
Fue(Flute) and Koto(Harp) with a hard rock base!
Samisen Dramatic Performance includes sword
fighting with invisible demon and original dance
on the stage! http://www.myspace.com/orochijyo.
Onstage 11pm
LIVE GIG @ THE TOFF IN TOWN Wednesday 26
September Doors open at 11pm
Sleazy performs live in Australia for the first time
ever! This gig by his new band, the Threshold
House Boys Choir, is a must see one-off special
event. See our separate flier for booking details
or contact the Toff in Town. This event is certain
to sell out. If you live in Sydney and need
Sleazy you will have to travel down to the more
cultured Melbourne to see this fine live evening’s
entertainment. The supporting act is David
Thrussell (from Snog and Black Lung). Sleazy on
stage around the witching hour of midnight …
Tickets on sale from Metropolis Books,
Polyester Records and the Corner Box Office Phone: 9427 9198 or online:
www.cornerhotel.com”
You wont see this on many Emo’s in Melbourne
Giallo One …
www.introuble.com.au
Sex, Death and great Outfits
(and really great Music).
By David Thrussell (SNOG, Blacklung, The Enemy)
Conceived and executed as “exploitation” cinema
the best of the Italian Gialli exert a timeless and
morbid attraction.
born FREE
Psychedelic, brutal and philosophically and
politically bleak, in spite of themselves they are
a vivid reflection of the times they were made
in. During the 1960s and 1970s (the era of the
“strategy of tension”, Operation Gladio and a less
than fragile “parliamentary democracy”) there
were few nations more turbulent and troubled
than Italy. Labyrinthine plots, countless intrigues,
relentless nudity, eye dazzling design and musical
scores (most often by Bruno Nicolai and Ennio
Morricone) that soar with sublime melodies one
moment and suffocate in dissonance the next, the
Giallo is an under appreciated genre that sees
Italian Cinema turned up to Eleven!
All The Colours Of The Dark (Tutti I Colori Del
Buio) Italy 1972
Jane Harrison (played by Giallo stalwart Edwige
Fenech) is tormented by the loss of her unborn
child in an automobile accident. After pursuing
more conventional treatments for her sorrow
(psychiatry, drug therapy etc.) she finally settles
upon joining a Satanic Cult (naturally) as
recommended to her by her neighbour. After a
steady diet of orgiastic sex, blood sacrifice rituals
and psychedelic drug intake she seems to be
progressing well. But not everybody is so happy.
The bodies pile up, the hallucinations become
more wild (or are they really hallucinations?) and
Bruno Nicolai’s score smoulders through avantjazz Al Dente. Some small minds might suggest
that drinking Foxes blood and committing Ritual
Satanic Sex with a whole coven of Witches may not
be the best path for a troubled soul but our jury is
still out on that one.
7pm Mon 24 Sept Glitch.
The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave (La
Notte Che Evelyn Usci’ Dalla Tomba) Italy 1971
Lord Cunningham (Anthony Steffen) is a deeply
disturbed individual who leaves a trail of death
and torture in his wake. But hey, the guy is totally
loaded (and has a pretty neat castle to boot) so who
are we to pass judgement on him? He bounces in
and out of his friends psychiatric clinic to bouts of
dressing up prostitutes to look like his dead wife
and then whipping and torturing them to death
(as you do). The Lord’s rich slug pals aren’t too
The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave
bothered by his gruesome nocturnal activities and
in fact take him out partying to find him a new
wife, as they correctly sense (after a handful of
cruel murders) that the poor sod is probably just a
little “lonely”. But not all is as it seems. The ghost
of his late wife (or is she really that “late”?) returns
to frolic naked in the gardens of his estate with her
many lovers. The good Lord’s psychotic episodes
intensify and those closest to him may not after all
have his best interests at heart. Features one of the
best Giallo scores by Bruno Nicolai that is groovy,
sensual and jarring (often all at once!).
9pm Mon 24 Sept Glitch.
The Perfume Of a Lady In Black (Il Profumo Della
Signora In Nero) Italy 1974
Clearly inspired by Polanski’s tale of Satanic
subterfuge “Rosemary’s Baby” yet nevertheless a
remarkable film, The Perfume Of a Lady In Black
centres around Sylvia (Mimsy Farmer) an industrial
chemist whose mind is slowly getting away from
her. Haunted by the apparition of a psychic
child who comes to share her apartment and the
innermost workings of her head, Sylvia descends
into a world of suburban voodoo and cannibalism
(that may or may not be real). Astounding and
vibrant cinematography, a highly effective score
(by a young Nicola Piovani) and an ending that will
stay with you long after the curtain falls. An Italian
Polanski on Mescaline?
Midnight Fri 28 Sept Glitch.
Short Night Of The Glass Dolls (La Corta Notte
Delle Bambole Di Vetro) Italy 1971
Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel) lies (apparently) dead
on a morgue slab inPrague trying to reconstruct
just how he got there and who“did him in”.
Through a Kafkaesque catacomb of orgiastic sex
and blood-letting rituals (again?) Gregory finally
figures it all out (in flashback) but is it too late?
Director Aldo Lado wears his politics on his sleeve
(and methinks he is probably just about dead
on). Features a beautiful, chilling score by Ennio
Morricone and perhaps the most disturbing ending
in the history of cinema. Serious.
5pm Tues 25 Sept Glitch.
MUFF Real
Avant MUFF
By Kristen Condon (Teknikunst, MUFF kunst)
Hand-Made and Home-Grown:
The Films of Evan Mather and
David Lowery
This year’s small selections
of documentaries are
examinations of various
cultural paradigms and
examples of certain
individuals and events in our
culture.
Born Rich
Twenty-year old heir to the Johnson & Johnson
pharmaceutical empire Jamie Johnson offers
an authentic perspective on the lives of today’s
newest trust fund kids when he turns the camera
on himself and ten of his contemporaries. Born
Rich provides a stunning insight into the subject
that is said to be ‘just not polite to talk about’.
Yep, you guessed it folks; apparently it’s just not
polite these days for rich people to talk about
their money. Through a series of interactions with
Josiah Hornblower (Vanderbilt/Whitney heir), S.I
Newhouse IV (media heir), Ivanka Trump (real
estate heiress) Giorgianna Bloomburg (media
heiress), Luke Weill (gaming industry heir), Cody
Franchetti (textile heir), Stephanie Ercklentz
(finance heiress), Carlo Von Zeitschel (European
royalty), Christina Floyd (professional sports
heiress) and Juliet Hartford (A&P supermarket
heiress) Johnson provides a fresh perspective
with characters that actually provoke emotion and
sharply contrast the paddling pool shallow lifestyle
of Miss. Paris ‘I’m gonna change the world now
that I have a fresh perspective’ Hilton. And though
some are just as vacant as the aforementioned prize
winner, there are others that are sure to charm the
viewer with their honestly.
7pm Sat 29 Sept LOOP.
No Restraint
For all their differences, the films of Evan Mather
and David Lowery are, in some respects, very
similar. Specifically, they are the films of artists
who are similarly concerned with the intricacies
of place, memory, nostalgia, imagination, and the
physical processes of filmmaking itself. Mather
and Lowery are filmmakers who, like children
with scissors and glue, ‘hand-make’ their films;
who use their films to remember their pasts, or to
rewrite them; and who imbue place – be it Baton
Rouge in Mather’s Scenic Highway, Las Vegas in
Fansom the Lizard, or Texas in Lowery’s work more
generally – with a loaded emotional resonance
tied, inexorably, to childhood, adolescence, and to
events further back in the collective memory of our
culture. The will be the first time either filmmakers’
work has screened in Australia.
Buena Vista Fight Club
(1’50 / 2000 / DV / USA)
Fansom the Lizard
(9’22 / 2000 / DV / USA)
Airplane Glue (12’25 / 2001 / DV / USA)
Red Vines (3’50 / 2001 / DV / USA)
Icarus of Pittsburgh
(10’2 / 2002 / DV / USA/Finland)
Revert (3’29 / 2002 / DV / USA)
Bodybags (10’54 / 2003 / DV / USA)
Clowntime is Over
(6’22 / 2003 / DV / USA)
A Fool’s Errand (5’ / 2004 / DV / USA)
My Big Fat Independent Movie (Opening
Sequence) (2’30 / 2004 / DV / USA)
The Image of the City
(6’23 / 2006 / DV / USA)
Scenic Highway
(17’ / 2006 / Super 8/DV / USA)
Program 1: 9pm Mon 24 Sept TOFF.
The Hand-Made Films of Evan Mather
Program Running Time: 110’ approx.
Program 2: 7pm Tues 25 Sept Revolver.
The Home-Grown Films of David Lowery
Program Running Time: 75’30 approx.
Evan Mather is an independent filmmaker and
animator based in Los Angeles. His eclectic body of
work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival,
South by Southwest, the International Film Festival
Rotterdam, Seoul Net Festival, and the One Reel
Film Festival, as well as profiled in RES, Sight
& Sound, Wired, Newsweek, Senses of Cinema,
and The New York Times. He has been a guest
lecturer at UCLA and MIT and the subject of a
retrospective at the Seattle Art Museum.
David Lowery is Texas-based filmmaker whose
work has been seen in festivals around the world,
as part of the Berlinale Talent campus, on IFC and
PBS, and through his website.
Programmed by Matthew Clayfield
Born Rich
Theo Van Gogh Double Have a good weekend in Spite of Everything
And
May 6th
The murder of Theo Van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker
and outspoken critic of Islam, tests the very limits
of our tolerance in liberal society. Theo was a
loved Dutch filmmaker who championed the
work of feminist Muslim women (Ayaan Hirsi Ali).
Theo Van Gogh was murdered for championing
a work that criticised the misogyny of Islam. This
fascinating doco raises many valid and confronting
questions whilst providing all the facts on the case.
For those viewers seeking further information on
the topic I would recommend that they read “The
Limits of Tolerance”, an interesting novel that
explores the Van Gogh slaying. This screening will
also be accompanied by a screening of the last film
by Van Gogh that is about the assassination of right
wing politician Pim Fortuyn.
9pm Sun 23 Sept Glitch.
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
Kevin Fitzgerald’s award wining rap documentary
comes to MUFF 8. A fascinating below the surface
exploration of the rap milieu will have even nonfans of the musical genre entranced. The great
soundtrack and fascinating verbal insights make
this a must see at MUFF Real.
7pm Sun 23 Sept LOOP.
Alison Chernick provides a rare insight into the
creative process of renowned artist Matthew
Barney (the Cremaster Cycle) in this ‘making
of’ Drawing Restraint 9. With appearances from
the magic man himself, Bjork and a ship full
of Japanese whalers No Restraint provides a
fascinating portrait of the artist in-vitro. Barney’s
complex post-modern mythological method is
explicated in a confronting torrent of images and
ideas that can’t help but leave the viewer exited
and intellectually simulated.
9pm Mon 24 Sept Revolver.
Mather first came to prominence in 1997, after
series of short animations starring Kenner Star
Wars action figures came to the attention of the
webmaster of a Star Wars fan site and, eventually,
were featured by the then-booming AtomFilms.
com. The body of work that has developed since
has taken the same lo-fi aesthetic, hand-made
charm, and irreverent willingness to re-write pop
culture and made them the basis of an ongoing
inquiry into the nature of truth, memory, nostalgia,
history, autobiography and, ultimately, cinema.
http://www.evanmather.com/
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/05/35/
evan_mather.html
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
A Catalog of Anticipations | Scenic Highway
Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars
(3’20 / 1998 / DV / USA)
Vert (14’45 / 1999 / DV / USA)
Les Pantless menace
(3’50 / 1999 / DV / USA)
Lowery’s work belongs at once to both the tradition
of the European art film, with its echoes of Bresson
in particular, and to that of various American
independents, such as Cassavetes, Linklater,
Bujalski and others. More recently, however,
with his increasingly avant-garde approach to
narrative and image-making, other influences have
become apparent in the work, most notably that
of video artist Matthew Barney, whose impact is
most keenly felt in Lowery’s finest work to date, A
Catalog of Anticipations.
http://www.road-dog-productions.com/
Land Of Nod (3’21 / 2006 / DV / USA)
Still (20’ / 2003 / 16mm / USA)
Looking For Love (3’ / 2003 / DV / USA)
48 Ribs (9’52 / 2005 / DV/ USA)
A Delineation (2’59 / 2005 / DV / USA)
Unfinished Animated Project
(1’40 / 2005 / DV/stills / USA)
Some Analog Lines
(6’34 / 2006 / DV / USA)
The Outlaw Son
(10’55 / 2006 / 16mm / USA)
It’s A Secret (4’18 / 2007 / HD / USA)
A Catalog of Anticipations
(11’55 / 2007 / HD/DV/stills / USA)
Some
Psychopathologies
(benevolent or not)
From Wacko Richard Wolstencroft
This is a new selection of topnotch cinema from the MUFF
director designed to showcase
our theme and show some shit
hot cinema all at once!
Snuff Movie | Dir: Bernard Rose
The new film from the director of US masterpiece
Ivan’s XTC (MUFF 2003) sees Jeroen Krabbe as
Boris Arkaddan - a Polanski style movie director who had his gal and guests bumped off by a psycho
cult in the 70s. Now Arkaddan invites a posse of
actors to his massive house to shoot recreations of
the event using a multitude of in house cameras. A
brave and daring concept is played well by director
Rose and an excellent Lisa Enos (from Ivan’s XTC),
the aforementioned alwayd cool Krabbe and host
of new comers. This film has the feel of a modern
Jean Rollin film with burnings at the stake and other
bizarre scenes of violence and excess.
7pm Sat 22 Sept Glitch.
The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael
Dir: Thomas Clay
Superb and disturbingly violent English home
invasion flick that has divided critics worldwide.
Shot with a Kubrickian style remove from its
subject matter, The Great Ecstasy documents a
group of loser English teens with a particular
focus on a one dorky Robert Carmichael. The films
features a rape at a house party and violent home
invasion that even had MUFF director Richard
Wolstencroft looking squeamish. But if you can
handle it …Robert Carmichael is a brilliant and
unsettling experience. As soon as the shy teen
Carmichael is seen jerking off to the later pages of
Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom … you know you are in
trouble. A brilliant debut feature from Clay who is
one to watch.
7pm Sun 23 Sept TOFF.
The Believer | Dir: Henry Bean
Want to know why Ryan Gosling is on everyone’s
lips? This film is why. Gosling plays Danny Balint,
an intense Jewish Neo Nazi (based on a true
story!). Taking the cliché of the self-hating Jew to
a disturbing logical conclusion, Gosling as Balint
adheres to an extreme racial Nazism all the while
still holding a reverence for the Jewish faith and
respect for the Torah. The film explores Balint’s
The Believer
perception of religious fascism in the Jewish
faith… as displayed in the extreme authority and
unquestioning omnipotence of God and believers
adherence thereof. This intense religious devotion
seems to unhinge our main character in a act of
pious blasphemous rebellion Balint goes skinhead.
Contains much controversy like Balint’s speech to a
gathering of Neo Nazi New York elite about the only
way of defeating the Jews, he claims, is to stop hating
them and simply assimilate them completely and
will a forgetfulness about their ideas of difference.
Gosling’s performance is disturbing and profound.
The ending is haunting and powerful. A must see.
7pm Sat 22 Sept LOOP.
Dynamic 1: David Lynch Shorts | Dir: David Lynch
Some cool shorts from David Lynch including
Out Yonder Neighbour Boy, Bug Crawls and The
Darkened Room. These are mostly shot on mini DV.
You’ve seen Inland Empire Lynch’s brave new DV
masterpiece then enjoy these early explorations in
the medium. Lynch is truly a daring and original
image maker who is fearless in his intentions to
move forward in the medium.
9pm Tues 25 Sept Revolver.
Hotel | Dir: Mike Figgis
A Dogma style film from cool director Mike Figgis
explores the many different characters of a bizarre
haunted hotel as a film crew comes to make a
film there. Cast includes Danny Huston, John
Malkovitch, Burt Reynolds, Salma Hayek, Rhys
Ifans, Julian Sands, Lucy Liu and Saffron Burrows.
Hotel is an amazing and adventurous cinematic
experiment from the director of Leaving Las Vegas
and Timecode.
9pm Sun 23 Sept TOFF.
Death Weekend | (1976) (aka The House by the
Lake) | Dir: William Fruet
The film that inspired Mark Savage’s Marauders
and that itself drew on Last House on the Left for
inspiration has a rare screening at MUFF 8. Death
Weekend is set in the Canadian wilderness where
rich dentist dude Harry has a huge mansion 10
square miles from anything or anyone. He has
invited pretty model Diane (Brenda Vaccaro)
there for the weekend. On the way Diane insists
on driving his flashy Corvette & gets involved in
an ugly road rage incident with Lep (Don Stroud)
& his gang of thugs, Stanley (Don Granberry),
Frankie (Kyle Edwards) & Runt (Richard Ayres)
which ends up with Lep’s pride & joy parked in a
ditch in a stream. Harry & Diane continue their
journey to his place while Lep & his buddies are
left understandably upset by being humiliated by
a woman,they decide to get even & teach Diane a
lesson so follow them to Harry’s house. Cue rape,
revenge, mayhem. Stylishly directed by William
Fruet (Spasms) and produced by Ivan Reitman
Death Weekend is a little known gem of film that
portrays very dangerous psychopathologies with
brutal clarirty. Highly Recommended. An absoulute
classic and rare as fuck!
10.15pm Fri 21 Sept Glitch.
Sexy MUFF:
Psychopathia Sexualis
A benevolent selection of
naughty streets that will
liberate your desire and
get you begging for some
revolution Wilhelm Reich and
Kraft Ebbing style!
Curated by Dr. R. Von Wolstencroft, Pd.D(Self styled)
WR: Mysteries of the Organism | Dir: Dusan
Makavejev
What starts as a documentary about the life and
work of Wilhelm Reich quickly descends into a live
action film about sex weirdos in New York and a
liberated Communist root rat chick in the former
Yugoslavia. Yes, it’s Tito porn ladies and germs.
Get it whilst it’s hot! This true erotic art movie from
1971 is a total freaking classic and a MUST SEE.
5pm Mon 24 Sept Glitch.
Schulmädchen-Report: Was Eltern nicht für
möglich halten
Dir: Ernst Hofbauer
The classic salacious sex report pseudo doco from
swinging 1970’s Germany makes an appearance
at MUFF 8. Translated as Schoolgirl Report: What
parents don’t think is possible was a huge hit in
the Fatherland back in the day. Featuring eighteen
and nineteen year old German Uni honeys with
long hair getting it on intermixed with interviews
with real Uni students. Lots of fun and part of the
classic German trait to disguise erotica as scientific
research.!
7pm Thurs 27 Sept Revolver.
Suckdogs
Porn King – The Al Goldstein story
Al Goldstein claims in his biography that he gives
people of Jewish descent a bad name (i.e. being
the NYC gutter pornographer of the infamously
scatological Screw magazine) but we love good old
Al and won’t hear a word of it. Read his biography,
“I, Goldstein”. It’s a real hoot! Dear old Al went
from having it all (well, money, broads to suck his
schlong, loads of expensive watches hidden away
under beds, etc) at Screw magazine to losing it
all and becoming a homeless bum on the streets
of NYC eating out of garbage tins. Ohhh poor Al.
Here is the whole sad and crazy rags to riches and
riches to rags story of the sleaziest smut peddler of
the last 30 years… the one and only irrepressible Al
Goldstein. Enjoy!
9pm Friday 21 Sept Glitch.
Suckdog - a suckumentary
Lisa Cristal Carver (Boyd Rice’s ex and mother to
his son Wolfgang) was a crazy, wild gal in her late
teens and early twenties. This doco captures the
wild kinetic energy of her performance art with an
older more Zen Lisa these days looking back on her
wild and misspent youth of performance art and
mayhem. Get her cool book “Drugs are Nice” and
find back copies of her ace 90s zine Rollerderby.
6pm Sat 22nd Sept LOOP.
Zebedy Colt Double feature:
Sex Wish and The farmer’s daughter
Two short features (absolute 70s erotica classics)
from Zebedy Colt aka Edward Earle Marsh.
Sex Wish features a cool electronic soundtrack as
Zebedy plays a rapist who breaks into women’s
homes with a bag of unusual tricks. Zebedy’s
performance is truly bizarre… Then comes The
Farmer’s Daughter - clocking in at one hour in
length, it’s sort of an erotic version of Last House
on the Left. Look out for cheap and nasty sex
scenes about home invasion, incest and violation.
There’s also an early appearance from comedian
and political commentator Spalding Gray getting
up to no good… This is true Psychopathology, raw
70s style!
9pm Sat 29 Sept LOOP.