New England cinephiles, rejoice! Spring festival season kicks off in less than two weeks as the 22nd annual Boston Underground Film Festival returns to Harvard Square, bringing with it five days of sublime cinervana to the Brattle Theatre from March 25th through the 29th. This year’s program boasts a pair of world premieres, a whole lot of unholy obsession, objectophilia, WTF thrillers, genre-spinning slashers, familial dysfunction, queer clairvoyance, and more!
DEERSKIN – Boston Premiere
Quentin Dupieux | France | 2019
A man’s obsession with his designer deerskin jacket causes him to blow his life savings and turn to crime.
DINNER IN AMERICA – East Coast Premiere
Adam Rehmeier | USA | 2020
An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman obsessed with his band unexpectedly fall in love and go on an epic journey together through America’s decaying Midwestern suburbs.
FILMS IN THE LIVING ROOM – Work-in-Progress
David Kleiler Jr. | USA | 2020
A documentary about New England independent film luminary, and BUFF founder, the late David Kleiler.
HOLY TRINITY – Boston Premiere
Molly Hewitt | USA | 2019
A queer dominatrix named Trinity huffs the contents of a magic aerosol can and develops the ability to talk to the dead.
IT COMES – New England Premiere
Tetsuya Nakashima | Japan | 2018
One day, a visitor leaves Hideki a memo of his unborn daughter’s name “Chisa”. Two years later, Hideki’s house is attacked by a sinister presence. To protect his family, Hideki asks for help to perform a ritual to break an unknown spell.
IT CUTS DEEP – World Premiere
Nicholas Payne Santos | USA | 2020
While on Christmas vacation, a young couple contemplates their future together. Ashley is interested in getting married and having kids which terrifies Sam. When the more attractive and paternal Nolan enters the picture, Sam’s life spirals out of control as Ashley questions their relationship. Chaos reigns as Sam desperately clings to Ashley while fending off the threatening Nolan.
JESUS SHOWS YOU THE WAY TO THE HIGHWAY – New England Premiere
Miguel Llansó | Spain/Estonia/Ethiopia/Latvia/
CIA Agents Palmer and Gagano are tasked with the mission of destroying a computer virus called “Soviet Union”. They enter the system using VR but the mission turns into a trap.
JUMBO – East Coast Premiere
Zoé Wittock | France/Belgium/Luxembourg | 2020
Jeanne, a shy young woman, works in an amusement park. Fascinated with carousels, she still lives at home with her mother. That’s when Jeanne meets Jumbo, the park’s new flagship attraction.
LUCKY – East Coast Premiere
Natasha Kermani | USA | 2020
A suburban woman fights to be believed as she finds herself stalked by a threatening figure who returns to her house night after night. When she can’t get help from those around her, she is forced to take matters into her own hands.
SAINT MAUD – Boston Premiere
Rose Glass | UK | 2019
The debut film from writer-director Rose Glass, Saint Maud is a chilling and boldly original vision of faith, madness, and salvation in a fallen world. Maud, a newly devout hospice nurse, becomes obsessed with saving her dying patient’s soul — but sinister forces, and her own sinful past, threaten to put an end to her holy calling.
SHARK WEEK – International Premiere
Bri Proke | USA | 2020
Lonely burnout Bill Berney loses his dog, and skateboards around the city trying to find him. Throughout this sweaty summer day, Bill is repeatedly confronted with his past, and those involved in it.
THE DEEPER YOU DIG – East Coast Premiere
John Adams, Toby Poser | USA | 2019
In the aftermath of a roadside accident, the line between the living and the dead collapses for a mother, a daughter and a stranger.
THE PASSION OF DARKLY NOON – World Premiere 2K Restoration
Philip Ridley | UK/Germany/Belgium | 1995
Darkly Noon (Brendan Fraser) is the sole survivor of a military-style attack on an isolated religious community. Stumbling through a forest in a daze, he is rescued by the free-spirited and enigmatic Callie (Ashley Judd). Darkly finds himself feeling strange new desires for Callie as she nurses him back to health… only to watch her jump into the arms of her returning non-speaking lover Clay (Viggo Mortensen). Lost in the woods with only his fundamentalist upbringing to make sense of his unrequited passions, Darkly soon descends into an explosive and lethal rage.
THE WITCHES – 30th Anniversary
Nicholas Roeg | UK | 1990
A young boy stumbles onto a witch convention and must stop them, even after he has been turned into a mouse.
