The Boston Underground Film Festival deserves your money and your eyeballs
At 50% of its Kickstarter goal with two weeks left to donate, BUFF announces first wave of programming ahead of March 22 opening
The Boston Underground Film Festival is back for its nineteenth (!!) year with yet another subversive, unpredictable, and unforgettable slate of films. If you’ve never been to BUFF, imagine the thrill of watching USA Up All Night when you were too young, eyes glued to the screen, unsure if they were even allowed to do this on TV or if you were breaking the rules by watching. A day at BUFF is the closest thing to that experience for an adult with a lifetime of media consumption, and its lineup will shatter expectations you didn’t even know you had.
Every year, BUFF is so impeccably programmed and organized that they make it look easy, but there are no shortage of challenges — guests, schedules, crowd management, formatting hurtles, matching features and shorts thematically. Among the most imposing is financing, and while every year in this writer’s experience has seen great turnout and critical reception, a festival this fiercely independent isn’t the sort that relies on massive corporate sponsorship. As of press time for this piece, the Kickstarter effort is at $4,662 out of a required $8,000 with 14 days to go. Rewards range from festival passes to swag to the highly coveted title of Festival Czar/Czarina, so please take a moment to browse the campaign page and consider donating. You and the entire Boston filmgoing community will be glad you did.
And if you’re STILL not convinced, be sure to check out the first wave of lineup announcements. Opening the festival is the delightfully twisted Prevenge, a revenge slasher where a betrayed pregnant woman believes that her unborn child is compelling her to murder those responsible for her husband’s death. (Writer-director-star Alice Lowe was actually pregnant while filming.) Closing night features Marianna Palka writing, directing, and starring in stinging feminist satire Bitch — costarring Jason Ritter and Jamie King — which follows a woman who assumes the personality and identity of a dog.
Other films include Slamdance favorite Dave Made a Maze, Australian thriller Hounds of Love, members of Canada’s Astron-6 with The Void, Boston-based filmmaker Skip Shea’s first feature Trinity, and much, much more. Read all about the first wave here, and stay tuned for more BUFF updates from Boston Reel,including an upcoming look at the local talent represented at the festival.
The Boston Underground Film Festival runs Wed 3.22 thru Sun 3.26 at Brattle Theatre and Harvard Film Archive.
For more information and updates, visit the official website.
To donate to the Kickstarter, click here.
