The Calgary Underground Film Festival delivers the idiosyncratic, the outlandish, the quirky, the unconventional, and the undiscovered cool. But it can be overwhelming! This year’s fest has lots to highlight, but here are some screenings to circle in your flyer, selected by The Scene.
Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie
This documentary traces the meteoric rise of the original stoner-comedy duo, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. An often proudly cited fact by locals who know, Chong was born in Edmonton and spent most of his upbringing here in Calgary before eventually meeting Marin inside a Vancouver club. Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie documents how the pair forged a joint career that spanned 50 years and ran the gamut of comedy, music, and film.
The Gesuidouz
From international festival favourite director Kenichi Ugana, The Gesuidouz is a Japanese film that follows a failing horror-themed rock band as they’re forced to write a hit song to save their careers while displaced in the countryside by their manager. The band’s lead, Hanako, believes she’s racing the clock as she approaches 27, the age at which many of her rock heroes died. A winner of the Audience Award at the Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinema and the Best Feature Film Award at the London International Fantastic Film Festival, this punk rock-fantasy film is a force to be reckoned with.
Something Better Change
Another film with music at the forefront, Something Better Change, documents the political activism of Joey Keithley — better known by the moniker “Joey Shithead,” under which he has served as the frontman for the Vancouver punk band D.O.A. since the late ‘70s. In 2018 and 2022, Keithley was elected as a councillor in his hometown of Burnaby, B.C., under the municipal Green Party banner. In the film, Keithley reflects upon how his time as one of Canada’s most notorious rockers has informed his activism and what he brings to the table as a politician. This is a perfect film interested in the quirky outlandishness of modern Canuck politics.
Crime Wave: 40th Anniversary Screening
A Canadian cult film, Crime Wave was met with a lukewarm reception when it was released in 1985. In subsequent years, it developed anunderground “If you know, you know” reputation, where it’s heralded as one of Canada’s unsung great comedies. A surrealist visual ride, Crime Wave follows a young filmmaker trying desperately to make the next great in-colour crime movie. To celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary, CUFF is hosting a retrospective screening just before the kickoff of the entire festival, with the film’s director, John Paiz, in attendance.
The Ugly Stepsister
One of Lieberman’s most anticipated films of this year’s CUFF, The Ugly Step Sister was nominated for the Audience Award for “Best Feature Film” at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film is a grotesque retelling of the Cinderella story, which focuses on the perspective of Elvira, the titular ugly step-sister of the fairytale. The body horror-comedy, which marks the directorial debut for Emilie Blichfeldt, has been met with whisperings of greatness and will surely be precisely the kind of movie devoted CUFF-goers want to see. If you loved The Substance last year, this is the flick for you.
Clown in a Cornfield
Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel Clown in a Cornfield is a YA novel that also happens to be an excellent slasher horror story … and yes, there’s a spooky clown. For those of us who grew up with Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, it’s heartwarming to see the tradition of “young horror” alive and well. The film adaptation debuted at SXSW earlier this year to promising reviews, so it’s pretty rad that CUFF is bringing to the prairies. Director Eli Craig’s filmography includes the excellent slasher-subverting romp Tucker and Dale vs Evil and the supernatural comedy Little Evil. Based on all that, consider this a Scene “can’t miss.”
Found Footage Festival: 20th Anniversary
Considered a CUFF staple by many, the Found Footage Festival is returning after its absence in 2023. Hosted by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, the Found Footage Festival is an event wherein the two showcase the best, funniest, and strangest clips from their collection of over 13,000 miscellaneous VHS tapes. Infomercials, recordings of forgotten gatherings, instructional videos, workout tapes, and creations of mad hobbyists who happened to access a camera; The Found Footage Festival is a celebration of the otherwise discarded. This time around, it’s their 20th anniversary tour, and they’re determined to make the most of it.
