Yes, Australia’s most innovative, original, controversial,
cheeky and fun Indy film festival is back in 2012!

It’s our Lucky 13th festival! So get those entries in
from Australia and around the world.

The deadline for entry into the 13th Melbourne Underground
Film Festival (MUFF 13) is Friday June 22, 2012.

MUFF 13 will be held in late August/early September 2012
in Melbourne, Australia.

Please send all entries to the following address:
Melbourne Underground Film Festival
PO Box 822, South Yarra VIC 3141, Australia

The entry fee for all submissions to MUFF 13 is $45 AUD.

Get those entries in! http://www.muff.com.au/

I write you respectfully in support of Father Bob Maguire.

I have never come across in my 42 years a man who better captures and lives the Christian and Catholic message better than Father Bob.

In a Church that has had it’s scandals I suggest you should be embracing, be proud of and fully support a True Priest and Man of God like Father Bob.

I have had issues with a crisis of Faith my whole life and no one has made me think more seriously about religion in praxis and as lived experience locally other than Father Bob. Outside of the actual Christian texts and tradition handed down to us by antiquity, of course.

He seems to me to be the best of what your Church is about and you should be doing everything to keep him where he is. He speaks to people, he communicates, he is compassionate and understanding. This is remarkable and Saint like in this fallen day and age.

Father Bob performed a Prayer Service for my Father at his Hospital bedside shortly before he died purely from kindness and because I asked him to due to our association through John Safran and Triple J. I shall be forever grateful for his help and guidance to my Father and I at this most difficult of times.

He has my full support and total admiration.

Do the right thing by Father Bob. Many will thank you in this world and the next.

I suspect The Lord would be most pleased to see a True Priest of his still in the oldest and most established Christian Church on Earth.

Allow Father Bob to stay with his flock and continue to do his vital work for the peoples and souls of his Community. At least until his Boss upstairs calls him somewhere else.

Sincerely

and

Best Regards

Richard Wolstencroft

Festival Director

Melbourne Underground Film Festival

In my view Free Speech is Free Speech. If you want to ‘racially vilify’ someone (whatever the hell that even means!) go right ahead. This should not even BE a crime. It’s all only just words. All this should be covered and protected as Political Free Speech apropos cultural identity.

Today Mr Bolt you are a Free Speech hero. Unpopular Speech must be protected as much as popular. Some may not agree with your views but your right to express them is paramount, whatever they are, unpopular or not.

This to me seems self evident re: Free Speech. But a lot of people miss the subtlety. You can’t just like the speech of the people you agree with!

I created this hash tag to repost on twitter: #supportandrewbolt.

By the way I found the comments you made on the Aboriginal Community an interesting take and filled, like much of your writing, with a cheeky sense of humour. You should be congratulated for daring to question a standard of the scared cow of Australian Political Correctness, the Aboriginal Community. A community that is far from perfect.

You have my full support and that of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, an event I run that supports Free Speech.

Best Regards

Richard Wolstencroft

…some updates.

First a defense of Larry Wessel who was under attack at the Headpress site:

Greetings from Down Under,

Iconoclast is an excellent documentary. Larry won Best Director and the Film won Best doco at the recent 12th Melbourne Underground Film Festival that I run in Australia.

See: www.muff.com.au.

Trolls like this Barnish chap can be mostly ignored. There are always people with an ax to grind, personal or otherwise and with Boyd Rice these types seem to crawl out of the woodwork. The net gives every idiot a voice and we have to tolerate. Until say a Future Artists Utopia can be established with some quality control, etc. Hehe.

As someone who knows both Boyd and Larry this doco is a truly unique fusion. As Jimmy The Exploder our Jury head said at MUFF 12, “Iconoclast is like a four hour afternoon hanging out with Boyd”. And having hung out many afternoons with Boyd I can attest this to be true. I have spent hours in Boyd’s company and have never been bored a minute. 4 hours is if anything, too short! But all good things have their time and I think Larry got it just right. Boyd’s mind is that of a polymath and his temperament that of a congenial Renaissance man.

Larry is equally a gent. I was lucky to be previewed this film at his house with his beautiful wife Tora. We watched two hours had a delicious PIzza and discussion and watched the other two hours. I introduced them to Mark Savage that day, an amazing Oz filmmaker, and it was a great day and great pleasure to introduce these folks.

I have been extremely impressed by Wessel’s previous work, especially TAUROBOLIUM. Pure Ontological Cinema. A serious new vein of Underground Cinema can be found in Wessel’s work. Larry takes the notion of underground cinema and documentary to new places. He should be funded by the Getty or other such US arts organization.

Iconoclast is an epic passion project that must not have been easy for personalities as large as Larry and Boyd. So, hats off to both of them as we cinema lovers and audience gain. Buy a DVD and see this film. Support Underground Cinema. It Matters!

Best Regards

Richard Wolstencroft

Filmmaker and MUFF Director

BEST FILM

A Serbian Film (Srdjan Spasojevic)

BEST ACTOR

Michael Dorman (Needle)

BEST ACTRESS (Tie)

Viva Bianca (Holly Rowe ‘X’)

& Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Shay Ryan ‘X’)

BEST DIRECTOR

Larry Wessel (Iconoclast)

BEST DOCO

Iconoclast (Larry Wessel)

BEST SCREENPLAY

James Harkness (Birthday)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

Needle (John V Soto)

BEST GUERILLA FILM (Tie)

Boronia Backpackers (Timothy Spanos)

& Garth Lives in a Van (Gregory Pakis)

BEST SUPORTING ACTOR (Winner)

Richard Wilson (Birthday)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Winner)

Kestie Morassi (Birthday)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Needle

SHORTS:

BEST SHORT FILM

Good Taste

RUNNER-UP BEST SHORT FILM

Gumby’s New Tit

BEST SHORT FILM DIRECTOR

Michael Adams/Charlotte Squires (Grandma’s Gift)

BEST SHORT FILM ACTOR

Paul Yardley (Don’t Ya Wanna Dance)

BEST SHORT FILM ACTRESS

Deanna Ortuso (A Tale of Obsession)

BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY

Michael Adams/Charlotte Quires (Grandma’s Gift)

BEST POSTER

Needle (Horror Version)

MUFF 12 catalogue in all its brutal and beautiful glory at: www.muff.com.au

New MUFF blog by JJ DeCeglie. http://notesfromundergroundmuff2011.tumblr.com/

Opening night a nice little piece of Eastern European Cinema, A Serbian Film.

The MUFF 12 Press Release:

SourceURL:file:///Macintosh%20HD/Users/richardwolstencroft/Desktop/MUFF%2012/MUFF%2012%20Press%20Release.doc

MUFF 12 is here! The most controversial and confronting film festival, even arts event, this fine country has to offer. Yes, all you screen zombies… we are back in 2011 to: Destroy All Movies!

“Destroy All Movies” can be taken as a query, a question and even a complaint about cinema itself. How often do we question our passion in this kind of ontological sense and depth?  At MUFF 12 we go there.

Australia’s premiere film festival for anything left (or right!) of centre, Indy or underground is back with a vengeance. In 2010 they tried to shut MUFF and renegade film festival director Richard Wolstencroft down, over LA Zombie, with a MUFF Raid and court trail over our Free Speech advocacy and action. But like the proverbial Phoenix MUFF is back in 2011 to cause more mayhem.

Festival dates are: August 19 to 27. We have two ace venues this year: the amazing re-opened art deco cinema venue St Kilda Memo at 88 Acland st St Kilda (behind the RSL) and it’s sister venue Dog’s Bar Art’s Hub just down the road from Memo at 54 Acland Street.

We have four great sections: MUFF Neu – presenting a range of low budget and Indy underground and genre cinema with highlights like Needle, Iconoclast (on Boyd Rice by Larry Wessell), 2012 and Birthday, MINI MUFF – presenting new short films from Australia and abroad, with highlights The Basher, Hooked, 6ft Hick, Payload and Garth Lives in a Van; our themed retrospective DESTROY ALL MOVIES – featuring the anti-aesthetic of Paul Morrissey, Joe Dellasandro and Andy Warhol, and the MUFF ACADEMY is back! At this year’s academy we have the Billy Marshall Stoneking intensive acting seminar and a screening of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Saló” followed by a discussion panel on the film’s merits (or lack thereof) as well as a broader discussion on the sense of censorship.

Plus our notorious gala Opening Night film “A Serbian Film”, one of the most fiendish movies we have ever played at MUFF. And, keeping with our Tribute to Serbia theme for Opening/Closing our Closing Night film is “The Life and Death of a Porno Gang,” followed by the esteemed MUFF 12 awards.

Check out the program online or at any good store or shop in yo’ hood. 24 sessions, over 9 days, all at two venues with a bonus Mystery Screening. What more can you ask? Streamlining is the name of the game.  Check it out and join the local cinema screen revolution.

Best Regards

Richard Wolstencroft

Melbourne Underground Film Festival Director

Full program online now: http://www.muff.com.au/

Best Film

- The Tunnel (Carlo Ledesma)

Best Director

- Chris Sun (Come and Get Me)

- Josh Reed (Primal)

Best Actor

- Damian Walshe-Howling (The Reef)

Best Actress

- Kelsie McDonald (Come and Get Me)

Best Supporting Actor

- Michael Rooker (Penance)

- Steve Davis (The Tunnel)

Best Supporting Actress

- Kerry Ann Reid (Family Demons)

Best Screenplay

- Ursula Dabrowsky (Family Demons)

Best Editor

- Michael Gilbert (Come and Get Me)

Best Cinematography

- Shing Fung Cheung, Steve Davis (The Tunnel)

Best Special Effects and Make-Up

- Chris Sun (Come and Get Me)

Best Cult Film

- Starship Invasions

Best Short Film

- Meth to Madness (Chris Mitchell)

Best Short Film Director

- Chris Mitchell (Meth to Madness)

Best Short Film Actor

- Jeremy Kewley (Shepherd’s Hill)

Best Short Film Actress

- Jamie McDowell (Home)

Bloodfest Genre Innovation Award

- Someone’s Knocking at the Door (Chad Ferrin)

Special Short Film Jury Prize

- Flow (Scott Dale)

Special Jury Prize

- The Reef (Andrew Traucki)

Best Documentary

- Video Nasties (Jake West)

The list of Nominees (and some winners already announced is here):

Best Film

- Come and Get Me (Chris Sun)

- The Tunnel (Carlo Ledesma)

- Primal (Josh Reed)

- The Reef (Andrew Traucki)

Best Director

- Chris Sun (Come and Get Me)

- Josh Reed (Primal)

- Chad Ferrin (Someone’s Knocking at the Door)

- Ursula Dabrowsky (Family Demons)

Best Actor

- Lindsay Farris (Primal)

- Alastair Kirton (Colin)

- Damian Walshe-Howling (The Reef)

- Christian Radford (Come and Get Me)

Best Actress

- Kelsie McDonald (Come and Get Me)

- Cassandra Kane (Family Demons)

- Marieh Delfino (Penance)

- Krew Boylan (Primal)

Best Supporting Actor

- Michael Rooker (Penance)

- Christopher Price (Come and Get Me)

- Gyton Grantley (The Reef)

- Steve Davis (The Tunnel)

Best Supporting Actress

- Jess Taylor (Come and Get Me)

- Kerry Ann Reid (Family Demons)

- Rikki Gagne (Dead Hooker in a Trunk)

- Katherine Randolph (Penance)

Best Screenplay

- Chris Sun (Come and Get Me)

- Josh Reed (Primal)

- Chad Ferrin, Roham Ghodsi, Rosie Roberts (Someone’s Knocking at the Door)

- Ursula Dabrowsky (Family Demons)

Best Editor

- Michael Gilbert (Come and Get Me)

Best Cinematography

- Shing Fung Cheung, Steve Davis (The Tunnel)

Best Special Effects and Make-Up

- Chris Sun (Come and Get Me)

Best Cult Film

- Starship Invasions

Best Short Film

- Meth to Madness (Chris Mitchell)

- Gorelesque Sequence II (Vesper White)

- Flow (Scott Dale)

- Shepherd’s Hill (Cadyn Binns, Tim Maslen)

Best Short Film Director

- Scott Dale (Flow)

- Cadyn Binns, Tim Maslen (Shepherd’s Hill)

- Vesper White (Gorelesque Sequence II)

- Chris Mitchell (Meth to Madness)

Best Short Film Actor

- Jeremy Kewley (Shepherd’s Hill)

Best Short Film Actress

- Jamie McDowell (Home)