By Priya Amin, news staff
The Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) is known for its focus on thriller movies and this year is no exception. BUFF, scheduled to run through Sunday primarily at the Brattle Theatre and at the Harvard Film Archive, includes grotesque and unusual films from all over the globe which are set in a variety of different weird worlds.
Typically, “underground” in film refers to works that deviate from the norm. The term comes from the film scene of the 1960s. During this time, several unique and new works emerged as the result of a large number of experimental filmmakers.
For filmmaker Jeremy Gillespie, the festival continues to provide a space for experimental film as underground film did in the ‘60s. Gillespie said he and his co-directing partner, Steven Kostanski, wanted to create something serious based on Guillermo del Toro’s “At the Mountains of Madness” but didn’t have a message or theme in mind. Thus, the pair created “The Void,” a film that follows a police officer trying to protect citizens as people around them begin turning into gruesome creatures.
“[The film] is super weird,” said Gillespie, “I have no idea what people will think about it. It’s the kind of movie where you could watch it and it could just be a dumb monster movie to you or it could be a super philosophical, psychedelic mind [expletive].”
This year’s festival will include a secret screening of a film, which has never been done before at BUFF. Nancy McControversy, director of programming at BUFF, said a secret screening is risky because its success depends on how much the audience trusts the committee.
“It’s an act of faith,” McControversy said. “Half of our Kickstarter backers threw in money and bought passes before anything was announced. There are people that trust us and this is an extension of that.”
The films were primarily chosen via an application basis. The committee looked for generally dark and strange films that might have been forgotten in conventional theatres. However, McControversy noticed that this year, high number of films incorporate people losing their minds.
“With most festivals is you don’t really go into the beginning with an idea,” McControversy said. “We watch all the films that are submitted to us and sort of notice themes emerging. That kind of is broadly with societal structure or societal roles being upended or just people going crazy in general.”
Within the theme of dark film the committee tried to include a variety of genres in order to captivate a wide range of people. The festival is an opportunity for attendees to learn about filmmakers and become interested in their work.
“I hope [the festival is] educational,” said Kevin Monahan, artistic director of BUFF. “I hope [people] are coming away and learning about filmmakers they haven’t heard about before and maybe seeking out their work on their own time.”
For Massachusetts-based filmmaker Skip Shea, the festival has personal significance. His film “Trinity” is based on his experience being sexually assaulted by a clergy member he knew as a child. Shea feels that it is very powerful and important that his film is being shown in Massachusetts, where the sexual assault occurred.
“[My assault] is the most important thing about why I do this,” said Shea. “I have known a lot people who’ve been abused, not only by the church. I know too many people who’ve killed themselves. They’re just not here anymore. Saying that I am [here] is so people can see that I’m not dead, and I’m out here, standing up, and being very loud, and letting the church know how I feel and exposing their truth.”
This is Shea’s first feature in BUFF, but his short films have been in the festival in previous years. His works, including “Trinity,” have been shown nationally and internationally. As a filmmaker who’s worked with other festivals, he said BUFF stands out because of how it treats the filmmakers.
“They [BUFF] do everything they can to make the filmmaker welcome,” Shea said. “I’ve been to film festivals where you’re just left aside, especially if you’re not a major filmmaker. It’s completely the opposite with this festival. They’re amazing to every filmmaker, almost to the point where it’s embarrassing.”
McControversy said BUFF fits in well with the Boston area since the city has a huge film festival community that has a wide variety of interests.
“I like the diversity of the scene here, McControversy said. “There’s a festival for every kind of interest. We’re all part of one big mosaic of giving people different ways to explore the totality and craziness of the human condition.”
The Boston Film Festival is happening through March 26. Tickets for individual screenings are available for $12 at http://bostonunderground.org/.
