PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
FREE courtesy bus to and from Newtown train station. Check the website for more details.
THURSDAY 11 SEPTEMBER
6pm Doors open
6:30 – 7:30pm Entrees served
7:30 – 8pm Welcome speeches
8pm – 9:45pm Shorts from Martha Colburn THE MISCREANTS (George Gittoes)
9:45 – 10:45pm Food & Beverages served
10:30 – 11:30pm PONYCLUB MASSACRE LIVE
11:30 – 12am Lounge Music
SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER
6pm Doors open
6:30 – 8pm Main: SEX GALAXY & RECYCLED SHORTS Fuse Box: AUSSIE ASYLUM
8 – 8:30pm Intermission
8:30– 10pm Main: GOD BLESS AMERICA Fuse Box: MOCK UP ON MU (Craig Baldwin)
10 – 10:30pm Intermission
10:30 – 12am Main: SEVERED CINEMA Fuse Box: POLYESTER (John Walters)
12 – 1:30am ON EVIL GROUNDS
FRIDAY 12 SEPTEMBER
6pm Doors open
6:30 – 8pm Main: SLIPSTREAM (Anthony Hopkins)
Fuse Box: MELTING POT
8 – 8:30pm Intermission
8:30 – 10pm Main: RE:ANIMATION
Fuse Box: THE MISCREANTS (George Gittoes) 10 – 10:30pm Intermission
10:30 – 12am Main: QUALITY TIME (Chris Lamont) Fuse Box: MATERIAL AFFECTION
– 1am Lounge Music
SUNDAY 14 SEPTEMBER
Doors open 4:30 – 6pm Main: WELL-TANNED COMEDY Fuse Box: THE MISCREANTS (George Gittoes) 6 – 6:30pm Intermission
6:30 – 8pm Main: LOVE/SICK Fuse Box: LOST HOLIDAY (Lucy Kralova)
8 - 8.30pm Awards
8.30 – 10pm Closing Night Film: SONG SUNG BLUE (Greg Kohs) 10 – 12am
Closing Night Party with sets by OLLO and Groovescooter djs LIVE + free drinks
Guests please be aware that we now have two cinemas operating at The Factory Theatre, often simultaneously. We have the MAIN CINEMA and the smaller cinema called, FUSEBOX CINEMA (you’ll notice the FUSEBOX programs and films will be in a blue coloured box in the program).
Welcome to the second installment of the Sydney Underground Film Festival. After the overwhelming success and support we received in our inaugural year (plus receiving a high standard number of entrants) we are back with two cinemas now at The Factory Theatre! This means we can bring you bigger and better program of over 9 sessions including such favourites as “Love / Sick” and “Re:Animation”, and 8 must-see features. Filmmakers on the list include George Gittoes, Bill Morrison, Craig Baldwin, John Waters, Martha Colburn, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Winkler, and Larry Clark plus not to mention excellent and entertaining films by local, national and international talent. The events also continue on after the festival with the SUFF Symposia including talks by George Gittoes, Jaimie and Aspasia Leonarder, John Conomos, and Richard Wollstonecroft plus the ‘History of Disappearance’ exhibition at Sydney College of the Arts (see page 34 for more information). We will also be offering a courtesy bus this year thanks to Ralf Otto from Otto Boas Auditing, which means guests can get to and from Newtown Train Station quickly and easily. We would love to thank our fellow team members: Liz Berger, Michelle Berger, Samantha Findley, Brooke Hemphill, Pamelah Otto, Elmo-Dean Kumalic, Anita Huyhn, Stefanie Loffel, and to all our amazing, dedicated, and supportive volunteers and sponsors – thank you!
Katherine Berger & Stefan Popescu
Katherine Berger, Liz Berger, Elmo-Deam Kumalic. Sam Findley, Pamelah Otto, Michelle Berger & Stefan Popescu
Photo credits: Director Stefan Popescu / Camera Ivan Buljan / Camera Nathan Martin
AIMS OF THE FESTIVAL
Our aims are simple. We want to support filmmakers who operate outside of established film industry infrastructures by providing a platform for exhibition, exposure and critical
We want to pay homage to pioneers in experimental and avant-garde film circles and constantly re-ignite local interest in alternative film, as part of an international underground film culture. We want to help produce and distribute quality independent, artistic shorts and features and always be a hub for networking, not for industry politics.
Finally, we hope the festival will inspire passion for subversive and experimental cinema by providing audiences with quality, creative and diverse programming.
PATRONS
• ALBIE THOMS
• PAUL WINKLER
• DAVID PERRY
• JOHN CLARK
• ARTHUR CANTRILL
• CORINNE CANTRILL
The Sydney Underground Film Festival would like to warmly welcome our new patrons in 2008. Albie Thoms, Paul Winkler, David Perry, and John Clark (all members of the historically and culturally important UBU Films Group and Sydney Filmmaker’s Cooperative), and Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (a couple who have been making experimental films together for over 50 years) are all pioneering filmmakers who have contributed greatly to Australia’s avant-garde film movement, producing some of our most important experimental works.
Paul Winkler, Albie Thoms, David Perry and Festival Director Stefan Popescu Arthur & Corinne Cantrill
how to buy tickets
It’s easy to buy passes and tickets to the Sydney Underground Film Festival. You can purchase passes and tickets through www.factorytheatre.com.au
Festival passes are only $70 ($65 conc) and are valued at over $150. Receive a festival pack when you buy a pass, which includes a collector dog tag (this acts as your entry pass to all four nights).
Festival passes can be collected at the box office during the festival.
BECOME AN UNDERGROUND FRIEND
This is a great way to support the festival for those with big hearts but smaller pockets! Your support will give you ‘underground friend’ status and for only $95 you will receive the following;
• One full festival pass to the 2008 festival. Festival passes give the pass holder access to all festival screenings including the opening and closing nights and selected pre-festival and post-festival events.
• SUFF 2007 films DVD.
• A special goody bag with a t-shirt, bumper sticker, and badge and more.
• Your name listed on the web site as an official ‘underground friend’ of the festival.
Become a ‘underground friend’ now!
Just visit www.suff.com.au for details.
FESTIVAL PASSES & TICKET PRICES:
ADULT
CONCESSION / PENSIONER
pre-festival events
OFFICIAL LAUNCH | THURSDAY 7 AUGUST SUFF ON TVS | THURSDAYS FROM 7 AUGUST
The official launch of the 2008 program
By attending the launch at Oxford Art Factory you will be amongst the first to receive the complete 2008 festival program while experiencing film, music, food, drinks, and weird and wonderful live performances in the glass cube. The night is presented by 2SER 107.3 with DJ’s DAZ CHANDLER (Celluloid Dreams) and PARIS POMPOR (Jumping the Gap), and special music / visual guests ‘SUPERMARKET’ (Dan Monceaux & Emma Sterling from SA). Free drink on arrival* thanks to TITAN BEER and yummy nibblies by BILLY & ROSE and INSPIRE FOODS.
Sydney Underground Film Festival on TVS
“XFILM – Presented by Sydney Underground Film Festival” is a 6-episode series that will air weekly leading up to this year’s opening night on Thursday 11th September (first episode airs on 7th August and runs through to 11th September 2008). The program will broadcast on TVS - Sydney’s not-for-profit community television station, which engages in and appreciates artistic ventures that mainstream stations in Australia wouldn’t touch.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Adam Washington, Aiden Desmond, Aimee Keep, Albie Thoms, Alma Ryan, AM Peters, Anthony Hopkins, Arthur & Corinne Cantrill, Aspasia Leonarder, Atanas Djonov, Ben Carter, Ben Ferris and Sydney Film School, Benedetta Martins, Bill & Lyn Lark from Lark’s Distillery, Bill Morrison, Bon Fleur Florist, Brett & Kat from Breakout Design Print & Web, Brett Bentley, Brietta Hague, Celia & Drum Media, Chris Robinson, Colin Altman and Sydney Posters, Collin Rhodes, Con and Last Drop Café, Craig Baldwin and Other Cinema, Dan Monceaux & Emma Sterling (SUPERMARKET), Dan Sokolowski, Danielle Spurr (for the very generous computer loan), David Firth, Daz Chandler, Dov and Filmink, Elisa Chaffer, Eloise Snape, Francois Aoun, Gabrielle Dalton, Gail and Virginia and Realtime, Garry Maddox, Gary Shead, Geoff Weary, George Gittoes, George Papadopoulos and Accent Film, Gillian Leahy and UTS Media Arts and Production, Glen Remington, Grace Spurr, Grant Crompton, Greg Khoury, Greg Kohs, Hanna Chiha, Helena & Michael Berger, Henri De Gorter from TVS, Holly O’Neil, Ian Howard, Isobel Spurr, Ivan Buljan, Jaimie Leonarder, Jenny Brown, John and Maria from Decolata Café Summer Hill (best Café in Sydney – thanks for helping us wake up in the mornings), John and Southern Cross Merchandise, John Clark, John Conomos, John Gillies and COFA, Kamrul Hai from Austic Printing, Katy Cluclas, Kurt Eckhart, Leah Taylor, Lincoln Mitchell, Lucia Kralova, Maja, Matt O’Brien at B’Side, Marc at Hopscotch, Margaret Purcell and Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE, Milly Jenkinson, Marie Fergusson, Marie Schleimer, Maritza and Vintage Glamour, Mark Gerber and Oxford Art Factory, Mark Wotherspoon, Martha Colburn, Mardi Connor, Mary Kotselas and Campus IT Apple Store Sydney University, Melinda Stanley from ILG, Merilyn Fairski, Merwyn Lim, Michael Daley and Marrickville Council, Michelle Carey, Michelle Vartuli, Mitchell Bowker, Naomi Radom (welcome Valley!), Natalie Clarke, Natasha Prendergast and Crumpler, Nathan Martin, Nerida Olsen, Nic Connaughton, Nick Sallese and Anvers Confectionery Tasmania, Nikita Byrnes, Nischal Maharaj, OLLO, Paris Pompor and Groovescooter Records, Paul Hunt from Hunt’s Lawyers, Paul Winkler, Pearl Clustre, Peter Campbell, Peter Koller, Phil and Mancini’s Pizzeria Summer Hill (thanks for letting us have meeting there every fortnight), Ralf Otto and OTTO BOAS Auditing, Raylene Bliss, Rebecca Newell and Rydges Camperdown, Richard Wolstonecroft, Rob Gravestocks, Ron Sia from Arvato, Rosie Braye, Roselyn Yap and Inspire and Billy & Rose (mad about food), Ry Russo Young, Ryan Leech, Sandra Sutherland, Siouxzi Connor, Soda_Jerk (Dan & Dom), Soh, Sontaya Subyen, Stephanie Gal, Stephanie Little, Suze Moxham (for the MC’ing – you are too good!), Sylvia Raptus, Tabitha Laffernis, Tanya Rolls from Beelgara Winery, Tatiana Pentes, Toni & Phillip Powell, Tony Cosentino, Travis Spiteri, Tricia Kennedy, Tristan Fawley at @www digital agency, Virginia Hilyard, William Mansfield, Yolanda De Bois, Zsolt Nagy and to anyone we may have missed.
‘SUPERMARKET’ Dan Monceaux & Emma Sterling
OPENING NIGHT
The 2008 opening night is not to be missed with THE MISCREANTS, George Gittoes anticipated feature and follow up to Rampage and Soundtrack to War, plus great shorts,
PONYCLUB MASSACRE live on stage, complimentary fine foods by Inspire and Billy & Rose, Titan Premium Lager, SQ3 wine cubes - bottle quality vintage wine, and Anvers chocolates direct from Tasmania.
ponyclub massacre
‘In Ponyclub Massacre, Maja and Naomi access a melancholic beauty, and listening to them is a deep, unusual and intimate experience.’
Some songs sound like they come from a twisted fairy tale, some reminiscent of an East European TV soap. Maja sings in a haunting Bosnian gypsy language and they sound like two old souls reunited.
OPENING NIGHT SHORTS | MARTHA COLBURN
DON’T KILL THE WEATHER MAN!
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 5 mins
dir. MARTHA COLBURN
Using scans of an apocalyptic 15thcentury French manuscript mixed with gas-guzzling, eco-destroying 21st-century imagery, Martha Colburn shows that past and present apocalypse is not too dissimilar.
MYTH LABS
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 7:30mins
dir. MARTHA COLBURN
Martha Colburn makes films that are fantastical and stubbornly rooted in the material. Myth Labs is about “methamphetamines, faith and Puritans”.
OPENING NIGHT FEATURE | THE MISCREANTS
THE MISCREANTS
SPECIAL PREVIEW
AUS / 2008 / 90mins / dir.
GEORGE GITTOES
George Gittoes’ eagerly anticipated new film, THE MISCREANTS (follows Soundtrack to War, Rampage) will be given several special Preview Screenings at this year’s festival.
A mind blowing and entertaining mix of doc and drama, darkness and light, THE MISCREANTS does some serious film rule bending and asks: what is real, what is unreal, what is too real?
Gittoes takes us on an extraordinary journey to a forbidden zone - gathering an astonishing cast of characters, dodging the anti- entertainment forces, they make the ‘last tele movie’ - an over the top action drama, played out in what must be one of the craziest locations in the worldjust a cave or two away from where the most wanted man in the world reportedly runs ‘Terror Central’.
Be the first to see what will surely be one of the most controversial and discussed films of 2009.
session 1 : friday MAIN CINEMA | SLIPSTREAM
SLIPSTREAM
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 96mins / dir. ANTHONY HOPKINS
“The year’s most experimental film....Brilliant” Roger Ebert
“...Slipstream itself is a very interesting outlook on cinema and artistic vision, but in such an experimental way, like David Lynch and sometimes like Terry Gilliam...” Alex Billington, FirstShowing.net
Slipstream is the debut into independent filmmaking by Academy Award-winning actor Anthony Hopkins. If it is ever possible to sense the liberation and creative passion unleashed by such a newfound freedom, we can experience it with Hopkins’s inventive and multilayered work. The film features a sterling ensemble cast, including Christian Slater, John Turturro, Stella Arroyave, Jeffrey Tambor, and Hopkins himself. Aided by acclaimed cinematographer Dante Spinotti and celebrated costume designer Julie Weiss, Hopkins takes us on an incredible journey into the combustion of a writer’s mind and the nature of the creative process.
At times, this film appears to be a conventional, concrete, and straightforward tale about a screenwriter, Felix Bonhoffer. Then it turns riotously hallucinogenic, taking off on tangents and down rabbit holes into dream worlds and streams of consciousness. As the characters from the writer’s fictional universe begin to appear in his “real” world, the audience starts questioning the limits of the human brain.
With a structured elegance, at times an overwhelmingly visceral kinesthesia, overflowing with film and artistic references, Hopkins announces he is a filmmaker with an unwaveringly artistic vision on a mission into the ineffable.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | MELTING POT session 1 :
THIS SESSION CONSISTS OF AN ECLECTIC RANGE OF ORIGINAL AND CREATIVE SHORT FILMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD, RANGING FROM ROMANIAN DRAMAS TO ARCTIC CIRCLE ANIMATIONS.
COLD
ON COLD
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
CAN / 2004 / 4mins / dir. DAN SOKOLOWSKI
A meditative view of dawn from the arctic circle combining photography and painterly effects.
FOREST FROM TREES
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 7mins / dir. MATHEW ROBERTS
A minimalistic Cinéma vérité inspired piece with a hint of black comedy. Forest From Trees juxtaposes the detrimental and trivial decisions in life.
DOG’S MERCURY
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
UK / 2006 / 23:30mins / dir. MARTIN RADICH
Worlds collide, interactions take place. Dog’s Mercury is a microcosm of a moribund community.
Observational video work accompanied by “Vmeste Veselo Shagat” - a Russian
LIGHT YEAR - A TRIP AROUND THE SUN
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
CAN / 2002 / 3mins / dir. DAN SOKOLOWSKI
A trip around the sun which reminds us that even in a world where our lives are seemingly controlled by exterior political and economic forces, we still only exist because of a ball of fire 92.9 million miles away.
LUNCH WITH FRIENDS
AUS / 2007 / 3:30mins / dir. PETER HUMBLE
We see a woman sharing her food with some friends during lunch hour in downtown Melbourne. Are we watching madness or are we mad to judge such innocence?
WALKING TOGETHER
Australia / 2007 / 3mins dir. ATANAS DJONOV
Observational video work accompanied by “Vmeste Veselo Shagag” - a Russian children’s song from the 1970’s
CROOKED (ORCUS) ROT
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
UK / 2008 / 4:20mins / dir. DAVID FIRTH
A stop-frame experiment using an SLR and strange items and toys found in his backyard, results in Firth’s rich and bizarre visually impressive short.
TICKETWEAVELS
AUS / 2004 / 2:15mins / dir. CAROLINE HUF
Two Sydney train tickets weave themselves together and apart like weavels - their weaving is their undoing. It is the simulation of growth and decay and the inbuilt obsolescence of industrial society.
STONE BRUISE
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
CAN / 2007 / 4mins / dir. DAN SOKOLOWSKI
Linked by a road and a battered windshield, hand processed/tinted 16mm images flow past the viewer in an ever changing mosaic of landscape, form and colour.
LEAVING TOGETHER
AUS / 2005 / 2mins / dir. KATE MURPHY
Kate works within a documentary mode, creating both single and multi-channel video work. She is interested in how documentary, in its many forms, surrounds and influences us and adopts the use of multiple synchronised cameras to observe and capture her subjects.
SYNOPSIS DOCU-DRAMA
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Romania / 2008 / 23:20mins
dir. VLAD TRANDAFIR
Marius, a film directing graduate, employs his friend to line up a documentary directing gig. This delightfully synical film explores industry and politics as Marius’ passionate yet awkward entry into the world of filmmaking is stunted as soon as it starts.
8.30pm - 10pm
session 2 : friday
MAIN CINEMA |
RE:ANIMATION
A CWERKY, COMICAL CLEVERLY CRAFTED COLLECTION PRESENTED BY CRUMPLER.
THE WONDERFUL WONDERFUL
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUS / 2006 / 6:30mins / dir. MARK LUGANA
A stop animated short that explores the construction and culture of the soap opera. It illuminates the surreal generic environments in which soap operas seemingly attempt to recreate reality.
I SLEPT WITH COOKIE
USA / 2008 / 3:30mins
dir. KARA NASDOR-JONES
The film details a woman’s struggle with and triumph over domestic violence.
ANIMAL INSTINCTS
AUS / 2007 / 5mins / dir. CAMERON EDSER AND MICHAEL RICHARDS
Animal Instincts is an action packed claymation of epic proportions. A cow and a sheep battle it out in a fight for ultimate farmyard supremacy.
2 IN THE AM PM
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2006 / 7:30mins / dir. JG QUINTEL
What happens when two teenagers are left alone to run a gas station on Halloween night? They feed each other candy... filled with drugs.
VIDEOTAPE
AUS / 2008 / 2:00mins
dir. ANDREW GOLDSMITH
Videotape is a live-action stop-motion short about a man who abuses technology until it fights back
A BREAK IN THE MONOTONY
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 4mins / dir. DAMIEN SLEVIN
In a post Zombie holocaust world, a man laments his empty lifestyle and questions the futility of working in a corporate wasteland. But all is not as it seems.
GREASELAND
UK / 2008 / 6:50mins
dir. PETER BOYD MACLEAN
This comedy is set in a road side cafe in the middle of the middle off nowhere. The Café owner Leroy likes to reminisce about the days he used to be Elvis Presley’s minder.
ZANY DICK
USA / 2008 / 2:40mins
dir. RICKY SPRAGUE
An eccentric, bald surgeon grafts a sexual deviant’s penis onto the pianist husband of a woman he loves.
I LIVE IN THE WOODS
WORLD PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 3:30mins / dir. MAX WINSTON
A Woodsman’s fast - paced journey, fueled by Happiness, slaughter, and a confrontation with America’s God.
session
MAIN CINEMA | RE:ANIMATION
A CWERKY, COMICAL CLEVERLY CRAFTED COLLECTION PRESENTED BY CRUMPLER.
ROBOT DREAMING
WORLD PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 10mins / dir. ROY MAGNUS
A robot captures a man and performs a series of experiments on him in order to learn exactly what makes a human a human.
PRICK
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
CANADA / 2008 / 3mins / dir. WRIK MEAD
Prick is a short animation where the technique used manipulates a penis whose desires become its own demise.
THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD
WORLD PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 5:10mins
dir. JON MONAGHAM
Brutal, spiritual, and completely digital imagery based on Kundalini yoga and Alchemy.
UNTITLED
WORLD PREMIERE
NETHERLANDS / 2008 / 1min
dir. WYKPE JANNETTE WALDEN
A one minute photoanimation of a girl in a room and the feeling of time passing by.
CANARIES IN COLOUR
NZ / 2007 / 3:30mins / dir. JILL KENNEDY
A nostalgic pastiche of found graphic material from AV learning programs of the 1970s. The viewer is taken on a psychedelic journey through a book of canaries, with animated excursions to scrolling landscapes in New Zealand and back again.
MUTO
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Italy / 2008 / 7mins / dir. BLUBLU
An incredibly captivating and at times bizarrely ambiguous animation painted on public walls.
TELEPATHIC
WORLD PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 3:30mins
dir. BRADLEY SCHAFFER
Can the human brain really move inanimate objects through scientifically unexplainable means? Or is it just a crazy myth created by desperate liars attempting to sell books to meatheaded morons?
REVOLUTIONS
AUS / 2008 / 2mins / dir. SHAHRIAR SHADAB
An Australian boy visiting his Persian Grandmother in post Islamic revolution Iran realises there is more to his heritage than he previously thought. He looks out the window to see a world in turmoil then his grandmother helps him understand why.
EMMANATION
AUS / 2008 / 1:25mins
dir. EMMA PRESSMAN
A fantastical exploration of a family portrait within a mountainous Mexican landscape.
(CONTINUED OVER NEXT PAGE)
Vintage Glamour where innovation surpasses imitation
MAIN CINEMA | RE:ANIMATION (CONTINUED)
A CWERKY, COMICAL CLEVERLY CRAFTED COLLECTION PRESENTED BY CRUMPLER.
KARAOKE SHOW
GERMANY / 2007 / 4:30mins / dir. VARL TEBBE
A mixture between sauna and disco, as a man imagines himself a rock star.
THE BIRTH OF BRAINFLY
USA / 2008 / 6mins / dir. NANDITA KUMAR
Birth of Brainfly charts a surreal course of a psyche’s evolution within the invisible landscape of the mind.
ZOMBIE GETS A DATE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 2:30mins / dir. LEETAL PLATT
Zombie has a date tonight, but his poor partner isn’t so excited about what’s in store for her.
PANEYE
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 1:30mins / dir. JESSICA MUTASCIO
A visual interpretation of what happens when the weight of one’s mind exits through the eyes.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | THE MISCREANTS
THE MISCREANTS SPECIAL PREVIEW
AUS / 2008 / 90mins / dir.
GEORGE GITTOES
George Gittoes’ eagerly anticipated new film, The Miscreants (follows Soundtrack to War, Rampage) will be given several special Preview Screenings at this year’s festival.
A mind blowing and entertaining mix of doc and drama, darkness and light, The MISCREANTS does some serious film rule bending and asks: what is real, what is unreal, what is too real?
Gittoes takes us on an extraordinary journey to a forbidden zone - gathering an astonishing cast of characters , dodging the anti- entertainment forces, they make the ‘last tele movie’ - an over the top action drama, played out in what must be one of the craziest locations in the world - just a cave or two away from where the most wanted man in the world reportedly runs ‘Terror Central’.
10.30pm - 12am
session 3 : friday
MAIN CINEMA | QUALITY TIME
QUALITY TIME
USA / 2007 / 80mins / dir. CHRIS LAMONT
Meet Stewart Savage – Stewart lives in an idyllic, soft-focus universe, where his girlfriend adores him and his family is as wholesome as the Osmond’s. He also lives in a world where he strangles his girlfriends, hates his meaningless job and prefers the psychotic solace of the world inside his head.
One day, Stewart brings home his latest girlfriend and victim to meet the parents for a family birthday celebration. Accustomed to their son’s antics, the helpless Savage’s play along with Stewart’s quickly devolving sense of reality while attempting to bag the fresh body of his girlfriend before others arrive.
Corin Nemec (Parker Lewis Can’t Lose), Nancy Allen, and John De Lancie stars in this dark, dystopian, surrealistic comedy, where a heightened and experimental execution of its visuals builds to an unstable and engrossing crescendo. Quality Time is all wrapped into a package that will keep an audience entertained with a fresh innovative style.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | MATERIAL AFFECTION session 3 : friday
A UNIQUE PROGRAM OF ARTISTIC AND INNOVATIVE FILMS THAT INTERSECT NARRATIVE WITH MATERIALITY
LIGHT/STRIKE (AN OPEN WINDOW)
WHO BY WATER
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 3mins / dir. GEOFF WEARY
Light/Strike is one of a series of short works created and recorded with the use of an original Sony Porta-Pak camera system, circa 1975. The unique properties of the camera render the subject matter of the film as a fragile, vaporous presence.
MONDAY MORNING
AUS / 2007 / 2mins
Editor NICHOLAS RYAN
An experimental underwater emulsion adventure.
THE ACROBAT
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 6mins
dir. CHRIS KENNEDY
Inspired by a poem, the film is a consideration of the relationship of gravity and politics – the beauty and necessity of rising up, but also, perhaps the significance of allowing oneself to fall.
AYVALI
AUS / 2005 / 2mins / dir. DAVID MACKENZIE
In the first snows of winter, Ayvali a small Turkish village, is terrorised by a stray dog. Inspired by early Surrealist documentaries, Mackenzie explores the uncertain worlds of observation and documentation.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 18mins
dir. BILL MORRISON
Ship passengers are depicted staring wordlessly into the camera’s lens. All of their numbers have by now been called. And in staring back at them, we contemplate our own fate.
PAPERHOUSE – THE 5:19
AUS / 2008 / 4mins
dir. PETER NEWMAN
Free-to-air television fuses at 5:19pm
CLOTH BIRDS
UK / 2008 / 3:35mins / dir. DAVID FIRTH
I decided to make the most of the fact that my room was crawling with insects last summer and filmed them all close up. Music video for EVENT CHOKE by Datach’i.
MANY BUDDHAS
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 15mins / dir. PAUL WINKLER
Impressed by the enormous variety of Buddha figures seen in South-East Asia Winkler, creates a kind of homage to the Buddha figure.
THE PAIN WITH BEING
THIRSTY AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 6:20mins / dir. DAVID YEH
Juxtaposing found footage of Japanese Internment camps in Arizona with a found letter written by Babar Ahmad (a Muslim prisoner accused of running AlQaeda websites and awaiting extradition to Guantanamo Bay) this film traces a connection between the way Japanese Americans were perceived during World War II and how Arabs and Arab Americans are being treated in a post-9/11 world.
VESSEL AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
GREECE / 2007 / 30 mins
dir. ANTONIOS PAPANTONIOU
A vehicle of unknown origins. A driver of unknown purpose. A trip inside the forest’s web.
“Dark Horse has brung da shit”. Jimmy Sore-
nger
AVAILABLE FROM: BORDERS, JB HI-FI
A tasty treat of 1970’s Blaxploitation featuring the legendary comedic prowess of Rudy Ray Moore, the hard hittin’ celluloid of Jamaa Fanaka and some of the wildest disco beats and funk ever laid to vinyl. DVDs that will beat a Mutha F#%ker down - and raise him up with laughter... So baaaad, they slapped the Black outta Michael Jackson!
MAIN CINEMA | SEX GALAXY & RECYCLED SHORTS
MAKE LOVE NOT WAR... THIS PROGRAM IS SEXY, FUNNY, AND 100% GREEN.
ALIEN CHRIST WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2006 / 2mins / dir. TONY LAWRENCE
8mm 50’s burlesque reels, ‘club films’ and 60’s American Mid-West home movies marry with the raw fuzz rock of Alien Christ.
EISENSTEIN’S MONTAGE
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUS / 2005 / 1:10mins / dir. ATANAS DJONOV
Read aloud, each word in an excerpt from Eisenstein’s Film Sense is matched by the artist with an image found by searching for that word in Google.
SEX GALAXY WORLD PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 78mins / dir. MIKE DAVIS
One hundred years in the future... Due to overpopulation and the effects of global warming, sex has been declared illegal on Earth. When a crew of astronauts hear of a distant planet inhabited by insatiable female creatures who exist only to satisfy man’s desires, they decide to take a detour from their routine mission in search of the mythical star system known as the Sex Galaxy. Written and directed by Mike Davis, ‘Sex Galaxy’ marks the auteurial debut of the twisted mind behind cult comedy sensation and Russ Meyer grindhouse horror homage ‘Pervert!’ starring Mary Carey.
ASTRO BLACK: A HISTORY OF HIP HOP (EP. 1)
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 6:30 mins / dir. SODA_JERK
A lesson in the intergalactic origins of hiphop turntablism, this narrative remix video is composed entirely of samples from existing film and music sources. Set in the Bronx in the mid 70s, this video remix kicks off with the alien abduction of three pioneers of the hip-hop ‘old skool’: DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Baambattaa. Once on board the Mothership with Sun Ra and George Clinton, the three DJs are transported to Planet Rock where they are skilled in a secret alien technique – the scratch. Armed with this sonic intelligence, they are returned to the Bronx to unleash hip-hop turntablism onto the airwaves of planet Earth.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | AUSSIE ASYLUM
“IT’S OK FOR AN AUSTRALIAN FILM” NEED NO LONGER APPLY...WELL AT LEAST NOT TO THESE FILMS.
REMOVED
AUS / 2005 / 4:30mins
dir. JOHN HOBART HUGHES
An audio-visual daytime ghost story concerned with societies fear of the sun and our dangerous relationship with the climate.
BEFORE CLOSING
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 13:30mins / dir. ZAK HILDITCH
Alex deals with the aftermath of his girlfriend’s ordeal, only to discover that his actions trigger a chain of events which prove nothing except his misguided love.
WITHOUT A SHADOW
AUS / 2006 / 12mins / dir. DAVID FARNJIC
A prostitute acts as a confidant for a disturbed man who forces her to question the morals of every day people and reassess her place in life.
DOGS RUN LOOSE AROUND
AUS / 2008 / 6:30mins
dir. MICHAEL HOATH
This is the story of a woman who loses her young daughter while out shopping and the subsequent confusion that leads to a man being accused of the young girls abduction.
A DIFFERENCE IN SHADOW
NSW PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 3:30mins / dir. MICHAEL MIER
As the sound of approaching soldiers grows louder an Old Man and a Young Girl must escape the darkness before too much light is shed on the situation.
BRASS MONKEY
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 2:30mins
dir. CHRIS ROBINSON
Real life is not as shocking as fiction.
THE WIND CALLS YOUR NAME
AUS / 2005 / 6mins
dir. JOHN HOBART HUGHES
The film is an open narrative, a collage of landscape and objects, a weaving of places, a rediscovery of moments, a reflection of the past, an arrival at a mound of dust, and a reinvention of self.
THE MAKING OF A WINNING TROPFEST FILM
AUS / 2007 / 4mins / dir. TIM MARICIC
When “Australia’s Funniest Home Videos” rejects his entry, an ambitious filmmaker is forced to seek success in the most prestigious, respected, career-boosting, and quintessentially Australian film festival of all time.
SATURDAY 17TH
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 3:30mins
dir. HAMISH CHARLTON
Psycho with a truly psychotic twist.
session 1 : saturday
FUSEBOX CINEMA | AUSSIE ASYLUM
“IT’S OK FOR AN AUSTRALIAN FILM” NEED NO LONGER APPLY...WELL AT LEAST NOT TO THESE FILMS.
CHICKEN
AUS / 2005 / 5mins / dir. JAMIL YAMANI
An Indonesian woman prepares a chicken for a tourist customer.
THE DISCOVERY
OF
DOCTOR M. AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 4:24mins
dir. VIRGINIA HILYARD
An intriguing story, combines moving image, historical scientific data, photography and medical imaging. The physicality of the image takes us on a journey of disquiet.
POLICE DEMONSTRATION
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2006 / 1:20mins / dir. DOUG MASON
During APEC, the scale and intensity of the state and federal agencies presence dwarfed the demonstration conducted by the public so much the event could be viewed as a police demonstration.
THE BRIDGE
NSW PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 4mins
dir. ROD MCMILLAN
In June 2007 massive rains swept across Gippsland, Victoria. How did one small swing bridge spanning the George Creek cope with the rising flood waters?
WATER OFF A DUCK’S BACK
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 3mins / dir. PIA DULU
A dark fairytale emerges in the western suburbs of Melbourne, where the backyard is the setting for sibling rivalry.
PEAR SHAPES
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 4mins
dir. RICHARD TUOHY
Super 8 pixilation, exploring seductive forbidden fruit and the borders between peoples.
ESCAPE
AUS / 2005 / 4mins
dir. ATANAS DJONOV
A little human figure made from wire is depicted in his film editing studio, where he is lured into embarking on a journey of exploration into the mysterious realm of photography and cinema.
FLED
AUS / 2003 / 4:30mins
dir. MAHMOUD YEKTA
‘Fled’ is an experiment with the limits of becoming other. Fled is the story of becoming shadows and its “flesh”ing out.
URBAN SPICE
NSW PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 3:30mins / dir. DAN MONCEAUX AND EMMA STERLING
This turbulent portrait of the artist’s recent travels reanimates the inanimate (architecture, scultpure, concrete urband space) by camera technique, and contrasts this mechanical movement with the natural wonder of Niagra Falls.
8.30pm - 10pm
session 2 : saturday
MAIN CINEMA | GOD BLESS AMERICA
...ALL OTHER COUNTRIES ARE RUN BY LITTLE GIRLS. A UNIQUE, PATHOS DRIVEN AND SOMETIME HUMOROUS DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM PROVIDING AN INTIMATE LOOK INTO LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC EVERYDAY AMERICANS.
STEPHEN LEAVES HOME
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 18mins
dir. BENJAMIN WILSON
Adulthood comes with strings attached for Stephen, who at 17 years old has had twenty-seven surgeries. He must leave his childhood neighbourhood behind to reflect on his past, present and future.
NICK MOSHER’S HOMELESS KEG PARTY PART 2
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 19mins
dir. NICK MOSHER
Watch out, Nick Mosher is back with another wacky Homeless Keg Party. Bring the family!
TRAILER TRASH - A FILM JOURNAL
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 48mins
dir. DON RAMIREZ
Trailer Trash - A Film Journal is an intimate documentary that chronicles nearly a three year period of intense turmoil in the filmmaker’s family. Don’s honest and open documentary of his familial decay, unfolds as a white trash story of deceit, illness and murder.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | MOCK UP ON MU
MOCK UP ON MU
NSW PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 114 mins dir. CRAIG BALDWIN
It’s the year 2019 on the Empire of Mu -- aka the moon -- where L. Ron Hubbard (Damon Packard) is building theme parks, selling crater-naming rights and beaming corporate logos back to “that prison planet called Earth.” Craig Baldwin offers with his new feature MOCK UP ON MU, his usual blend of fantasy and bizarre satiric narrative. It combines existing footage from spy, sci-fi, Western, and even horror films and new footage, of real life and fictional characters. The result is a collage of stories (mostly true) about Californian post war subcultures and religions, including scientology and the ‘new age’ movement.
This combination of archival and newly-shot footage makes up a playful, exploratory trajectory through the now-mythic SoCal matrix of Jack Parsons (founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab), L.Ron Hubbard (sciencefiction author-turned-cult-leader), and Marjorie Cameron (bohemian artist and “mother of the New Age movement”). These intertwined tales spin out into a speculative, farcical critique of the militarization of space and the corporate take-over of spiritual fulfillment and leisure-time.
10.30pm - 12am
session 3 : saturday
MAIN CINEMA | SEVERED CINEMA
THIS PROGRAM CAPTURES THE VICIOUS MOMENTS IN BOTH IMAGINATION AND LIFE THROUGH EYE-CUTTINGLY BRUTAL NARRATIVES AND EQUALLY GRUESOME DOCUMENTARIES.
OUTLAWED: EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION, TORTURE AND DISAPPEARANCES IN THE ‘WAR ON TERROR’ AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2006 / 26:45mins / dir. CHRISTINE UMALI, WITNESS.ORG
The film tells the stories of Khaled El-Masri and Binyam Mohamed, two men who have survived extraordinary rendition, secret detention, and torture by the U.S. government.
LITTLE SNAPS OF HORROR
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
UK / 2008 / 2:15mins
dir. GRAHAM RATHLIN
Don’t go into the booth!
MISSING LIVES:
DISAPPEARANCES AND IMPUNITY IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 14mins / dir. CHRISTINE UMALI, WITNESS.ORG
“Missing Lives” addresses the lack of accountability for the enforced disappearances of more than 3,000 people in the Russian North Caucasus.
WHEN
SALLY
MET FRANK
AUS / 2008 / 8:35mins
dir. VICTORIA WAGHORN
Sally and Frank share an obsession. Accompanied by a nurse with a bedside manner to die for, their fantasy can become true: Over and over again.
MARION AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2005 / 7mins / dir. RY RUSSO YOUNG
A contemporary de-construction of Hitchcock’s PSYCHO. This original piece reinterprets a classic film with contemporary insight. “Visually interesting and unexpected, a slasher film with a brain” -The New York Times.
10.30pm - 12am
session 3 : saturday
MAIN CINEMA | SEVERED CINEMA
THIS PROGRAM CAPTURES THE VICIOUS MOMENTS IN BOTH IMAGINATION AND LIFE THROUGH EYE-CUTTINGLY BRUTAL NARRATIVES AND EQUALLY GRUESOME DOCUMENTARIES.
EEL GIRL AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
New Zealand / 2007 / 5:20mins / dir. JENNIFER SCHEER
In a secure military laboratory, a scientist has become obsessed with the half-human half eel creature he’s studying. When she beckons him to her, it’s the call of a siren...
SQUARE PEGS AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 19:50mins / dir. BEN HICKS
A teenage girl, her childish mother and her younger sister find themselves in a strange restaurant where her faith is put to the test.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | POLYESTER
POLYESTER
USA / 1981 / 86 mins / dir. JOHN WATERS
Polyester revisits the twisted yet humorous perversity of Water’s earlier work as he explores the family of a messed up housewife including a cheating pornographer, pregnant teenager and foot fetishist. Polyester, by John Waters is a film that has been present in the film buff’s psyche since its 1981 creation.
Francine Fishpaw is a classic Baltimore housewife whose world falls apart when her sadistic pornographic husband admits he’s serially unfaithful to her with his secretary. Next, her teenage daughter who is dating the town delinquent and dancing lewdly for the boys at school falls pregnant. And finally Francine’s son winds up in jail because he stomps on women’s feet who wear nice shoes.
Divine seems completely sincere and feminine, managing a darkly funny portrayal of personal pain. With the help of her over-aged debutante gal pal Cuddles, her knight in shining armour Todd Tomorrow and her trusty chauffeur Heintz, Francine tries to stop the madness, all the while wearing the best in polyester clothes!
As a special treat, SUFF presents Polyester and provides a special opportunity to enjoy this cult classic as it was meant to be seen – and smelled! SUFF will be distributing original Polyester ‘Odorama’ cards that are scratched and sniffed at various times during the film.
FREE ODORAMA CARD!!
midnight session : saturday 12am - 1.30am
MAIN CINEMA | ON EVIL GROUNDS
ON EVIL GROUNDS
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUSTRIA / 2007 / 82mins / dir. PETER KOLLER
A pair of psychopathic young lovers purchase a decrepit loft in a rundown old factory in a desolate industrial region. Neither realising the real-estate agent and owner are simply using the property to lure unsuspecting couples to satisfy their sadistic urges. However, this couple are everything but docile victims. A dead body and a few shovels of dirt later the couple are stuck in trouble.
On Evil Grounds director, Peter Koller invites the audience on a twisted journey into the land of pain and sadistic joy, inhabited by perverted serial killers, sexist machos and a psychopathic femme fatale.
This film is full of dirt and heat; a rotten factory, filthy characters full of oddities, and a carefully handpicked dose of violence. Koller’s adventurous cinematography including creative compositions and evocative, rich colours coupled with water tight editing makes for a darn sexy, gritty and entertaining film.
Tickets only $8 ($6 conc.)
4.30pm - 6pm
session 1 : sunday
MAIN CINEMA | WELL-TANNED COMEDY
A DELIGHTFUL ASSORTMENT OF UN-PC AND DARKLY HUMOUROUS SHORT FILMS.
LUNCH WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 3:30mins / dir. ARIEL KLEIMAN
A man in a brown suit, with a brown briefcase, runs frantically up a series of wrought iron stairs.
TURD ON A STRING
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
UK / 2008 / 5:45mins / dir. HUGH GRIFFITHS
Turd on a String tells the story of the archetypal modern man: depressed, lonely, and alienated; yet with a burning ambition to succeed. One morning he is presented with an unmissable opportunity.
MY BALL WORLD PREMIERE
IRELAND / 2007 / 3:55mins / dir. KEVIN O’NEILL
The best story ever told about a man and his ball.
DJ DAZZ
NSW PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 14mins / dir. TOM JACKSON
In the town of Hobart, Tasmania, people are partying to the music and puppetry of Australia’s number one* mobile disc jockey, DJ Dazz.
HEALTH REMINDER
AUS FESTIVAL PREMIERE
UK / 2007 / 3:48 mins / dir. DAVID FIRTH
This is a health reminder. May I remind you to pay attention? This will save your life and eliminate your worries. You have no choice but to realise this. You have no choice but to understand.
HOMELESS
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 30secs
dir. CHRISTOPHER PIERAGS
Animals can’t ask for help, so we have to do it for them.
SICKLY SWEET
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 4:30mins / dir. JACLYN HEWER
Sickly Sweet tells the story of one woman’s obsession with perfection; that is...until the arrival of an unexpected gift.
A STAPLE IN TIME
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 6:20mins
dir. GEOFF ABESHOUSE
John is a simple office worker who has discovered that his stapler has disappeared.
CARL
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2008 / 6:30mins / dir. JOSHUA FISHER
Meet Carl, an abandoned mattress whose life’s journey is to find a loving home. Thrown out as hard rubbish on the footpath, Carl reminisces about Jenny, the woman of his dreams.
4.30pm - 6pm
session 1 : sunday
MAIN CINEMA | WELL-TANNED COMEDY
A DELIGHTFUL ASSORTMENT OF UN-PC AND DARKLY HUMOUROUS SHORT FILMS.
COW JUICE WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 7mins / dir. KYLE SPENCE
How many milks does it take to get to the centre of it?
THE GRAVEDIGGERS
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 2mins
dir. MICHAEL BURRELL
A comedy that mixes an age old proffesion with recent political issues.
THE RAZORHEAD
WORLD PREMIERE
UK / 2007 / 2mins / dir. ANTHONY SUTCLIFFE
A strange man decides his only way to salvation is to be found through a rather brutal haircut.
HOTEL MOTEL - DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SEAT SYDNEY PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 13:30mins
dir. MICHAEL MANNENMACHER
Two on-the-run criminals spend the night in a lonesome Hotel Motel which brings them into contact with individuals even more desperate than they are.
TRIPSWITCH WORLD PREMIERE
UK / 2007 / 2mins / dir. ANTHONY SUTCLIFFE
A master scientist has finally finished his greatest achievement. And now, history beckons.
SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2007 / 3:30mins / dir. SHAD CLARK
Reality ruptures commercial bubbles in this socially explosive short.
THE WOMAN IN RED
WORLD PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 30secs / dir. CHRIS PIERAGS Things aren’t always what they seem, especially when you’re dealing with your health.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | THE MISCREANTS
THE MISCREANTS
AUS / 2008 / 90mins / dir. GEORGE GITTOES
SPECIAL PREVIEW
George Gittoes’ eagerly anticipated new film, The Miscreants (follows Soundtrack to War, Rampage) will be given several special Preview Screenings at this year’s festival.
A mind blowing and entertaining mix of doc and drama, darkness and light, The MISCREANTS does some serious film rule bending and asks: what is real, what is unreal, what is too real?
Gittoes takes us on an extraordinary journey to a forbidden zone - gathering an astonishing cast of characters , dodging the anti- entertainment forces, they make the ‘last tele movie’ - an over the top action drama, played out in what must be one of the craziest locations in the world - just a cave or two away from where the most wanted man in the world reportedly runs ‘Terror Central’.
session 2 : sunday
MAIN CINEMA | LOVE/SICK
KINKY IS TO USE A FEATHER, PERVERTED IS TO USE THE WHOLE CHICKEN...
IMPALED NSW FESTIVAL PREMIERE
USA / 2005 / 37mins / dir. LARRY CLARK
Impaled is a documentary about the accessibility of pornography and how it has influenced the sexual development of young people. Clark interviews men between the ages of 19 and 23 and questions how seeing pornography at such a young age shaped their views on sex and how their sexual fantasies are directly influenced by growing up with pornography. Clarke searches for a volunteer to star in a porn film and documents the way the experience impacts the young man’s life. The honesty of the subjects and their responses to pornography makes for a truly accessible, intimate docu-experiment. Clark’s uncensored opinions can be refreshingly startling, shedding light on a more obscure corner of the cinematic world.
SEEYA RACH
AUST / 2006 / 6:30 mins / dir. PEARL TAN
Mel’s girlfriend Rach is headed overseas... This is Mel’s goodbye video.
VIDEO DATING TAPE
AUS FESTIVAL PREMIERE
UK / 2004 / 2:20mins / dir. DAVID FIRTH
A short cartoon about video dating.
ALEX AND HER ARSE TRUCK
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 17mins / dir. SEAN CONWAY
The psychology of sexual jealousy is explored in this film about a scooter-riding zelophile (a person who gets their kicks from jealousy, apparently) called Baby Shoes, his nymphomaniac girlfriend Alex, her other lover Nylon, a mentalist named Pubelles, and a pair of drug dealing lesbians.
DIE BEFORE ME
AUST / 2007 / 7 mins / dir. ROBIN ROYCE
QUEREE and MIKE KANE
Klint has looked after his handicapped son for over 20 years. Since his wife left him, the responsibility and pain of seeing his son like this begins to take its toll on him.
session 2 : sunday 6.30pm
MAIN CINEMA | LOVE/SICK
KINKY IS TO USE A FEATHER, PERVERTED IS TO USE THE WHOLE CHICKEN...
BEING BARRY AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AUS / 2007 / 8:50 mins
dir. KAYLA DAVISON
Being Barry is a dark, skewed comedic tale of Australian suburbia. The suburbs you don’t see on Australian soap operas or in glossy real estate development brochures.
TREEHUGGER
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
USA / 2008 / 4 mins / dir. DAVID BURNS
The film depicts a young man’s erotic relationship to nature. The man’s clothes are cast off, in parallel to the stripping away of the politics of American culture.
HEARTBREAK MOTEL
NSW PREMIERE
AUST / 2008 / 7 mins
dir. AARON MCLOUGHLIN
It wasn’t what he was expecting at Heartbreak Motel.
FUSEBOX CINEMA | LOST HOLIDAY
LOST HOLIDAY
NSW PREMIERE Czech Republic / 2007 / 84 mins / dir. LUCIE KRALOVA
While on holiday in Sweden Czech tourist Lada finds a suitcase in which there are 22 rolls of film.
Developing the films Lada discovers 756 photographs of six Chinese tourists; these are exhibited in a gallery in Prague and become a cult success. Lost Holiday examines the interest in these images in Prague before director Lucie Kralova and her crew start to retrace the tourists’ travels in the hope they can locate the six men amongst a billion Chinese nationals. By turns bizarre, funny, and fascinating, Lost Holiday becomes a gripping detective documentary and an absorbing study into the nature of travel, holidays, memory, and images, as the director asks “is our world really connected?”
CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
Buy a closing night ticket for just $25 (Conc $20) and it gets you into all 3 sunday sessions + after party!
The closing night of the festival starts with the early sessions, WELL-TANNED COMEDY, LOVE/SICK and the features LOST HOLIDAY and THE MISCREANTS. Following on after a quick awards presentation will be the closing night feature from 8:30pm, SONG SUNG BLUE. The night finishes with an after-party with sets by OLLO and Groovescooter DJs. There will also be free drinks thanks to TITAN Premium Lager, SQ3 wine thanks to Beelgara Winery, and chocolates thanks to Anvers Confectionary.
AWARDS
Awards include the Boundary-breaking feature award, Boundary-breaking short film award, Digital Effects award, Recycled Cinema award, Material Affects award, Provocative Film award, Experimentation in Film award, Unique Aesthetic Film award, and the Innovative Narrative award.
Award-winning filmmakers will receive a SUFF hand-made trophy and bottle of spirits from Tasmania’s Lark Distillery (Whisky, Gin, Vodka, or Bush Liquor). Australian filmmakers also receive a SUFF custom Crumpler bag and flowers by Ruby Slipper.
The trophies for the festival are created by Mark Wotherspoon, local Sydney glass artist. These trophies have been cast from recycled television screens sourced from discarded TV’s on the side of the road.
More information can be found at www.myspace.com/spoonglass
JURY
• Gary Shead (ex-UBU Films / artist)
• Jaimie Leonarder (Mu Meson Archivist / Filmmaker / FBi )
• Aspasia Leonarder (Mu Meson Archivist / FBi radio presenter)
• Tom Zubrycki (Filmmaker)
• Plus other guest jurors to be announced
session 3 : sunday
MAIN CINEMA | SONG SUNG BLUE
The story of a couple once on the precipice of fame... Sort of.
NSW PREMIERE USA / 2008 / 87:30mins / director GREG KOHS
Song Sung Blue is a documentary feature film that tells the alternately inspiring and tragic love story of Lightning & Thunder. Trading as the Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder, husband and wife Michael and Claire Sardina once more or less shared a stage with Pearl Jam, and almost became world-class rock-stars in their Milwaukee hometown. But true fame eluded them in their 20-year career.
Rather than a standard white-bread-to-celeb rockumentary, Song Sung Blue takes a tragi-comic look at the delusion of celebrity, and the blinding appeal of the American Dream. Winner of both the Best Documentary and the Audience Award at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival. “Dysfunction and delusion run rife through a stranger-than-fiction saga that starts out kitschily amusing, then finds drama and pathos in its subjects’ rather hapless progress.” – Variety.
post festival events
Join us for a week of lectures and interesting artist / filmmaker talks at Sydney College of the Arts from Tuesday 16th – Friday 19th September. We will be hosting a series of lunchtime lectures from 1 – 2pm except for Friday where it will be from 2 – 3:30pm, with a free BBQ and drinks.
Some artist / filmmakers giving talks include; Jaimie and Aspasia Leonarder (Mu Meson Archives) regarding about contemporary independent and underground filmmaking, John Conomos (lecturer and recent author of ‘Mutant Media: Essays on Cinema, Video Art and New Media’, Richard Wolstencroft about his own film practice (including his recent feature ‘The Beautiful and Damned’), and George Gittoes will give a captivating and insightful talk on his recent 6 months of working out of locations in Pakistan and his far reaching and unique film and artistic practice. Keep your eye on the website www.suff.com.au for full details about the SUFF SYMPOSIA.
post festival events
GALLERY OPENING MONDAY 15TH SEPT 6-9PM AND RUNS THROUGH TILL 25TH SEPTEMBER
EXHIBITION AT SYDNEY COLLEGE OF THE ARTS |
HISTORY OF DISAPPEARANCE
Curated by Jenny Brown
In 1976 in New York, Franklin Furnace Archive Inc. began as an archive of artist books, and soon after a gallery for exhibitions and installations, a performance space, and a publisher. Artists who showed and/or performed at Franklin Furnace in the early years of their careers who later achieved widespread recognition are notable as well as the established artists with their roots in the 1960s, Fluxus and the Judson Church Dance Theatre. The exhibition displays the graphic documents and videos of performance art from the Franklin Furnace / Museum of Modern Art collection.
Video works include those by Patty Chang, Coco Fusco, Annie Sprinkle, Yvette Helin, William Pope L, Matt Mullican, Nigel Rolfe and William Wegman.
HISTORY OF DISAPPEARANCE, Franklin Furnace’s 30th anniversary exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK, circulated by Franklin Furnace and lent by Museum MAN, Director Adam Nankervis.
THE FACTORY THEATRE
ACCESS & TRANSPORT
This year, thanks to OTTO BOAS AUDITING, Ralf Otto will be operating a special courtesy bus to and from Newtown Station. This is to mainly ensure guests to the festival will get back to Newtown Train Station quickly and easily after the festival each night. Please check the website closer to the festival for all details on this courtesy bus.
The Factory Theatre is a 15 min walk or a 5 min bus ride from Newtown Station. Bus services 423 and 426 operate from Circular Quay, Central Station and Newtown Station directly to the Factory Theatre. Bicycle parking is also available onsite within the Factory Theatres car park.
TRANSPORT CONTACT DETAILS
Sydney Buses ............www.sydneybuses.info
Transport Infoline .......www.131500.info or call 131 500 Taxis Combined .........133 300 Legion Cabs ...............131 451
