Boston Underground Film Festival 2019

Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) is gearing up to present its 21st annual event in 2019, and is currently calling for entries for its late submission deadline: 25th November.

Horror Homeroom guest writer Matt Rogerson (MR) caught up with BUFF’s Director of Programming, Nicole McControversy (NMcC), to talk about New England’s annual showcase and celebration of all things horror, fantasy and left of mainstream.

MR: BUFF is over 20 years old – a feat in itself for a genre festival – and I understand it has been an eventful trip getting from your beginnings to where you are now?

NMcC: It has! The festival was founded in 1999 by “the elder statesman of New England independent film,” David Kleiler, as a kind of loosely organized film event in a museum; it was very informal and not at all resembling the format we follow today. It was eventually taken over by Kevin Monahan and Anna Feder in 2005, and under their leadership has evolved into a well-regarded haven for weird and underappreciated indie films.

I joined as Managing Director in 2007 and we started to increase our profile a bit, unearthing some choice repertory titles like Hausu (right before it went on to enjoy its long overdue revival) and attracting higher profile guests like Lucky McKee, Adam Wingard, Jason Eisener, Don Coscarelli, and Mink Stole.

We had another leadership shuffle in 2012, with Anna stepping away from the festival and Kevin and I taking the helm; he stepped up into the Artistic Director role and I became the Director of Programming. Since then, we’ve been steering the festival into genre waters and building from there. We’ve been part of the circuit for a long time and have gotten to know fellow programmers, producers, directors, etc., and just worked really hard at getting our name out there and keeping connected to the community by frequently visiting other genre festivals around the world and working on building relationships, as all festivals should do.

In 1999, the festival was described as “a wonderful hoax of a film festival” and now, in 2018, we’ve been awarded Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston® 2018 – Best Film Festival, and were just named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “30 Bloody Best Genre in the World.” After 20 years we are getting recognition for what we’re doing and being taken more seriously as a contributor to Boston’s arts scene, New England’s film scene, and the wider international genre circuit as well. As genre film begins to be taken more seriously and respected we feel that our city is finally taking notice of us as a valid contributor to the arts landscape.

MR: The emphasis is very much on the underground – you have a reputation for promoting independent and home-grown genre talent over the more mainstream fare. Would that be an accurate description?

NMcC: Yes. We get asked about what underground means all the time and that’s really something that has an evolving definition and varies depending on context. It has changed over time, as movements frequently do. The most basic definition for an underground film is “a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.” As the film industry has shifted over the years that now pretty much describes 90% of all films being made.

“Underground” is also understood as having a look or a feel, perhaps something experimental or paying homage to the forbears of cult and exploitation cinema, or something done on a shoestring budget; it’s not quite the vibrant and organized movement/response it once was, mostly because those boundaries have blurred.

Underground goes hand-in-hand with non-mainstream and that’s the core of what we celebrate, but what is the definition of mainstream in an age when nearly all films can now find a home on Netflix or Amazon Prime? We see our role as giving films a theatrical platform with a fantastic audience that we’ve cultivated for the last two decades, something that few films are enjoying as a result of VOD. All filmmakers want to screen in a theater and we really want to keep cinema-going alive as a culture in our city; we have some wonderful independent cinemas, like the Brattle Theatre, and so our work is as much a support to its mission as it is to local cineastes, and to the filmmakers from near and far who participate.

MR: So what is underground to BUFF, currently? What are your programmers looking for at the moment?

NMcC: We tend to look at what our city offers and lacks and consider what kinds of content our local filmmakers are making, and what our audience hungers for: midnight movies, transgressive films, with a global scope – stories and storytelling that’s powerful, controversial, taboo, and phantasmagorical. Films that lend themselves to mind-bending experiences in a communal setting. Content that, in the context of Boston – a liberal city, but in some ways still shadowed by its Puritanical history–is very outre. We also look towards representation; a variety of voices, both in front of and behind the camera.

In recent years we’ve definitely increased our support and emphasis on New England genre filmmaking. There’s an incredible amount of home-grown talent and we really pride ourselves on giving these folks a platform to engage with an audience, to meet and network with each other, and to connect with the wider industry, beyond New England’s borders. We strive to strike a good balance between local and international content because it’s important to us to try to connect our community with the wider, international genre community–we are all connected, after all.

MR: You also really have a knack for supporting independent genre initiatives and projects. Is there anything you are particularly excited about at the moment?

NMcC: In recent years we’ve been trying to engage more with content and events beyond the cinema. For example, we brought UK-based writer/performer/poet Ross Sutherland to BUFF a few years ago to perform his spoken-word/media masterpiece Stand by for Tape Back-up, something that played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This was something that played with genre in a totally unique format that was personal, universal, and with an element of live performance – and it was really loved by our audience. We are always looking for opportunities to bring our audience incredible genre-appreciating/expanding experiences as they are an incredibly intelligent, well-versed lot.

We were really chuffed to be approached by House of Leaves publishing this year about Scared Sacred. As lovers of traditional media (film, vinyl, BOOKS!) and academic explorations of genre and horror, we’re happy to be in a supportive role and hope that we can tap into the passion and ravenous curiosity/thirst for knowledge that our audience has for all things genre. All of us fans really want genre film to be taken more seriously because for us, genre is serious. It explores the entire gamut of human experiences. Other, more mainstream genres of filmmaking have been regarded as “serious” for so long, when there’s plenty to analyze and lift up in our genre history. That sort of DIY ethos that often drives genre filmmakers seems to be driving academics to create the books that they want to see out in the world; as a festival, we absolutely want to support that however we can.

MR: For a fan, Scared Sacred is a really exciting project, both in terms of content and the diverse cast of film critics, historians and writers it has brought together. Any particular contributors you’re looking forward to seeing in print?

NMcC: There are some incredible writers involved like Alexandra West, Amanda Reyes, and one of our own programmers, Chris Hallock, folks who have incredibly astute and poignant perspectives on horror as form and medium.

MR: In general we’re seeing a stronger emphasis on celebrating women creators in horror this year, which is of course long overdue. BUFF 2018 featured works by Deborah Haywood, Hélène Cattet, Agnieszka Holland and also Coralie Fargeat’s very impressive Revenge.

NMcC: Don’t forget Issa Lopez and her BUFF audience award winning Tigers Are Not Afraid!

MR: Oops! Of course. Tigers Are Not Afraid is a wonderful film, and is enjoying well- deserved success on the festival circuit. Having a diverse line-up of creators is clearly important to you and the BUFF team.

NMcC: Absolutely. We have always aimed to include a wide diversity of voices in our line-up year after year. Often, inclusion is at the mercy of distributors, producers, filmmakers vying for other spots, and all the myriad reasons a film may not play at a particular festival. But the desire is always there and we make every attempt to invite films from all over. We felt incredibly lucky and fortunate to have had a strong showing of women filmmakers in our 2018 line-up and definitely hope that is simply the norm in future years.

MR: 2019 is quickly creeping up on us…

NMcC: It is, and our call for entries is in full swing! Our next deadline is November 25th. For 2019, we are hoping to see more submissions from women and people of color. More content exploring the human condition in ways that are jarring or uncomfortable for mainstream audiences. More fantasy, science fiction, transgressive filmmaking. We have received many exemplary films so far, but we always want more. The more we have to consider, from as broad a swath of perspectives and voices as possible, the stronger our program will be.

MR: BUFF is a very singular experience. Can you tell us what makes it so special?

NMcC: BUFF is fortunate enough to be part of a vibrant, warm, welcoming community of filmmakers and film fans. We have a really intimate vibe and work hard to prioritize both the audience and filmmaker experience. We’re a little rock’n’roll in the sense that you won’t find a red carpet or a step-and-repeat (though maybe it’s finally time…?), or a division between groups of people (like press, attendees, film-makers) with cordoned off areas. We all mingle together.

The festival staff wear many hats and approach things with a DIY attitude; we like to be in the thick of things, visible and approachable. We throw parties in small venues and dive bars. We like to engage and involve the local music scene in our events and/or bring attendees/guests to unusual spaces. We call one of the region’s finest indie arthouse cinemas home – the Brattle Theater. Working with the theater, we’re supporting a local cinema with a mission and dedication to film that mirrors our own. It’s also one of the only rear projection theaters in the country – a fun fact for true film aficionados. We try to be connectors, and in a sense we are curating people, bringing interesting guests to Boston, bringing everyone together, and showing them all an amazing time. And we have an amazing PR team, headed by the glorious mastermind Kaila Hier, which works tirelessly to get the films in our program — both shorts and features — some visibility in Boston and beyond.

I guess what makes us special are all the wonderful humans that volunteer, attend, host, and support the festival. You won’t find a kinder, more enthusiastic, engaged, and dedicated group of people. It’s a total lovefest. And our size truly works to our advantage. Films don’t get buried in a sprawling line-up; everything in the program is treated equally, whether presented at noon or at midnight.

MR: Nicole, thank you so much. We very much look forward to BUFF 2019.

Boston Underground Film Festival’s Call for Entries is open. The LATE DEADLINE is November 25, 2018. Film-makers can submit via Film Freeway, Withoutabox and Festhome. BUFF site for details: https://bostonunderground.org/submit/

Scared Sacred: Idolatry, Religion and Worship in the Horror Film will be published in 2019. Learn all about it here: https://www.holpublishing.com/