Sydney Underground Film Festival is back for its tenth year, with the city’s leading cult film festival dropping a huge lineup of new and classic films for the 2016 event to be held at The Factory Theatre Marickville from Thursday the 15th – Sunday the 18th of September.
In a huge coup for the festival this year, opening night will see the Australian premiere of Todd Solondz‘s (Happiness, Palindromes) new cutthroat comedy Weiner-Dog, starring Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, Kieran Culkin, Julie Delpy, Tracy Letts and Zosia Mamet.
Telling a story full of dark and truthful observations about the human condition, the films is an hilarious and warped look at life and death. Still, having a cute dog to balance things out certainly helps lighten the tone. I mean how can you go wrong when the whole film is built around an adorable little pupper like this one?
Other highlights of the features program include Australian premieres of AAAAAAAAH! (a re-imagining of a contemporary Britain ruled by depraved beasts that look like humans but act like monkeys) horror-comedy Trash Fire starring Adrian Grenier from Entourage, and Antibirth, starring Orange Is The New Black‘s Natasha Lyonne playing a party girl who awakes one morning with a bizarre illness and reality altering visions. Talk about a hangover.
What’s got us here at Crave super excited though (apart from Weiner-Dog) is A Room Full Of Spoons, the documentary on the king of all b-grade films Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. Mired in legal controversy as Wiseau tries to stop the film being shown, this promises to be one of the most exciting films on the program, despite the crazed Wiseau’s attempts at stopping it.
Not that there is any lack of compelling documentaries on this program, with Hooligan Sparrow (following a human rights activist Ye Haiyan seeks justice for six abused elementary school girls) and 57 Lawson (a drama-doco hybrid about the increasingly marginalised tenants of a controversial housing estate in Redfern) also standing out.
This is however a cult and underground film festival and so it wouldn’t be complete without some choice cult cinema screenings. With that in mind they’re giving a 25th anniversary screening of David Cronenburg‘s (The Fly, Crash) body horror adaptation of William S Burroughs’ Naked Lunch as well as a 40th anniversary screening of the remastered Carrie.
Still the top spot as far as cult status on the program has to go to closing night feature Multiple Maniacs, the cult 1970 “celluloid atrocity” from the High Priest of Trash Cinema himself, John Waters. Prepare to be stunned/disgusted.
There’s also going to be a Saturday morning All You Can Eat Cereal Cartoon Party (which is exactly what it sounds like) as well as a retrospective on some of the best short films to ever be screened at the festival called SUFF Blast From The Past and much much more.
An unmissable event for any lovers of the weird and wonderful in cinema, the Festival opens on Thursday 15th September at the Factory Theatre, Marrickville with tickets are on sale now via the festival website.
In the meantime though check out the amazing Ralph Steadman illustrated poster for the festival with full festival details below.
Sydney Underground Film Festival 2016
Thursday 15th – Sunday 18th September
The Factory Theatre, Sydney
Tickets: Festival website
