The Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) is an Austalian independent film festival featuring mostly genre, controversial, transgressive and avant garde material.

History

The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreements over the content and running of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). When director

Richard Wolstencroft Richard Wolstencroft (born April 23, 1969) is an Australian filmmaker and director of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival or MUFF. Wolstencroft also founded the Melbourne BDSM venue Hellfire Club under the pseudonym 'Richard Masters.' Caree ...

's film ''Pearls Before Swine'' was not accepted by the Melbourne International Film Festival, Wolstencroft claimed it was because his film was too confrontational for the tastes of MIFF. As a response to the film's rejection by MIFF, Wolstencroft founded MUFF in 2000 as an alternative independent film festival, featuring mostly genre, controversial, transgressive and avant garde material. MUFF has been known for controversy with a screening of Bruce LaBruce's '' LA Zombie'' gaining worldwide attention including coverage in the ''New York Times''. Over the years, the festival has been outspoken on the need to make more local genre films, and has championed many issues of freedom of speech and outsider politics and ideas.{{ The festival has also discovered (first world festival to show the work of) Australian directors like

James Wan James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian director, producer, screenwriter and comic book writer. He has primarily worked in the horror genre as the co-creator of the '' Saw'' and ''Insidious'' franchises and the creator of The Conjur ...

, Greg McLean, Scott Ryan, Spierig brothers, Stuart Simpson, Patrick Hughes, Andrew Traucki, Dave de Vries, David Nerlich, Neil McGregor, Mark Savage and many others. International Guests of MUFF have included

Bruce LaBruce Bruce LaBruce (born January 3, 1964) is a Canadian artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer, and underground director based in Toronto. Life and career LaBruce was born in Tiverton, Ontario. He has claimed both Justin Stewart and Bryan Bruce as ...

Lloyd Kaufman Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr. (born December 30, 1945) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Alongside producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their featur ...

William Lustig William "Bill" Lustig (born February 1, 1955, in The Bronx, New York) is an American film director and producer who has worked primarily in the horror film genre. He is the nephew of former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta. Film career As ...

Ron Jeremy Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) is an American former pornographic actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", Jeremy was ranked by AVN at No. 1 in their "50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also made a number of non-pornographic m ...

, American film director Chris Folino, Michael Tierney, Peter Christopherson,

Jim Van Bebber Jim VanBebber (born November 24, 1964) is an American film director. Born in Greenville, Ohio, VanBebber attended Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as ...

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a ...

Gene Gregorits Justin Gene Gregorits (born November 5, 1976) is an American writer, editor, publisher, and convicted sex offender. He founded and published '' Sex & Guts Magazine'', an independent arts and culture journal, that ran from 1997 to 2004. Subseque ...

Terry McMahon Terry McMahon is an Irish director, producer, writer, actor and acting coach, best known for his roles in ''Batman Begins'' and '' Patrick's Day''. McMahon was producer, director and writer for '' Patrick's Day'' for which he received many awa ...

and

Geretta Geretta Geretta Geretta (born Geretta Marie Giancarlo; is an American actress, director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Ireland, South Africa, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. Her film roles include several Italian horror films, inc ...

.{{Ciation needed, date=November 2022

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Melbourne Underground Film Festival Site
{{Melbourne events Film festivals established in 2000 Underground Film Festival Underground film festivals Experimental film festivals 2000 establishments in Australia {{film-festival-stub {{Melbourne-stub