We accept entries and payment of entry fees via WITHOUTABOX, PAYPAL, BANK DEPOSIT and AUSTRALIA POST MONEY ORDER or AUSTRALIAN BANK ISSUED CHEQUE. We also accept well-concealed cash (in any currency) although this would be “SENT AT YOUR OWN RISK”.

To enter via WITHOUTABOX (an ec0-efficient entering system) just follow this link: https://www.withoutabox.com/login/5828

All other information about entering can be found here: http://suff.com.au/film-entry/

Interview by Erin Holohan editor of SPIT PRESS with indie filmmaker Frankie Frain

1. Do you think there’s a chance that acting in your own films perhaps
compromises your skills and visions as a director?

A chance? Definitely. But that implies there are skills and visions to
compromise. But in this film’s case, I’m not the only unlikely casting
choice. My character’s girlfriend is played by my wife, and one of the main
characters, Neil, is played by my childhood friend who’s never acted before
in his life. My goal was to naturalize sex and offbeat relationships:
whether it be awkward but never-talked-about childhood experiences,
freakishly long-term young couples, balding 24-year-old virgins, or
homophobic gay guys, I need it to feel honest and relatable. For better or
worse, the relationships and dynamics you’re seeing on the screen are real.
Nina (Jess) and I have had those very arguments before. Keith (Neil) has
really melted down on us. I didn’t cast myself because I’m a good actor
(the jury’s taking their sweet time on that), I casted myself to join my
friends in saying something unique in front of the camera. Pragmatically
speaking, I also find that in a low budget film, it’s useful to model for
your actors and crew what you’re willing to do on screen and to set a tone
in your own performance. Will I cast myself in the next film? Absolutely
not. Did it make sense for a movie with my name in the title? I think so.

2. To how much of an extent are the characters in your films reflective of
both yourself and the people around you?

It’s not as though each scene was lifted directly from life – but the
characters themselves, and the emotional through-lines were lifted directly
from life. As I mentioned, Keith and Nina (Neil and Jess) literally play
themselves (though Keith has never been arrested for being fondled by an
underage girl – at least, not yet. He’ll be at the festival, so the fest
should have at least one cop on duty). The gay couple is also lifted from
some close friends, who I interviewed and took notes with for several days
when drafting the characters. The goal, again, was to build an emotional
honesty, free of the inflated drama in narrative films, and free of
political agenda. It’s just as natural a representation of my life and
ideas about relationships as I could throw up on a screen. My character and
I diverge slightly – my character is making a lewd film for the internet,
and the effort and struggle my character goes through is based on my first
experience making a feature (a Troma acquired B-film called “I Need to Lose
Ten Pounds”). My character (Frank, as opposed to Frankie) is at more of a
crossroad in his life, a little lost and searching for meaning in bizarre
artistic areas, and his ideas are pretty well aligned with mine, but he’s
more dissatisfied by his station in life than Frankie is.

3. If you were to critique your own films, what are your weaknesses?
I’m not particularly intelligent, talented, or attractive.

Visually speaking, up to this point my films try to stay out of their own
ways. I normally believe strongly in the ideas of my films (you kind of
have to in order to dedicate years of your life to a movie that may never
make you money), so I try to put dialogue, characters, comedy, and in this
film’s case, a little bit of drama, at the forefront. I don’t have very
many quiet or purely visual moments, though there are several in Sexually
Frank I’m very proud of. I’m trying to flex that muscle, and plan to on
future films.

4.  Where did the concept for Sexually Frank come from?

Read my blog on the subject here.
The whole filthy story is available in detail.

The long and short of it is I was living in LA, taking a chance on a film
career at the end of college, and I was starting to ask myself a lot of
serious questions about my goals as a filmmaker, and I remembered that I
already was a filmmaker back in Boston, Massachusetts, making movies with
people who love me enough to make it possible. I thought it was appropriate
to create a sort of love letter to them, which turned into casting them
directly, and using sex as the framework by which we investigate the most
personal corners of these characters. I think talking about sex with
people, especially strangers, is one of the fastest and most exposing ways
to get to know someone, and that’s what you see in this film.

5. Where did the big toe thing come from?

My character makes a video sketch with a simple premise: he’s going to
insert his toe into a prostitute’s ass. I knew that I wanted my character
to make something absurd, indefensible, and devoid of intelligence, and yet
take the effort very seriously. This describes some of my early
film outings to a T. I knew I also wanted to examine how an actress might
go along with such a thing when it’s purely comedic (I mean, who can find a
toe in a butt sexy?), but that if people do construe it pornographically,
she’ll feel like a slut and resent the filmmaker. I knew it was going to
create a larger conversation about posting on social media, and how you
can’t control how you’re perceived when you put yourself into the ether,
regardless of your initial intention. A lot of this came to me when fellow
film students in college made a YouTube sketch called “VCR Sex” (VCR
Sex<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAu5vCqDfDQ>),
in which a woman’s vagina is a VCR in front of her pelvis, and a man
inserts VHS tape from his crotch into the VCR. The actress loved how funny
it was until it ended up on porn sites. Then there was a melt down. I
thought this was a terrific comedic, dramatic, and somewhat socio-political
argument to have among the characters, and how something so stupid can mean
so much.

6. Describe the film in 3 words…
Keith Richard Sadeck. No…
Laughing. Friendship. Honesty.

7. What’s your favourite film of all time?
American Movie.

BUY TICKETS TO SEE SEXUALLY FRANK HERE

Actor verballed into a foul tirade

Andrew Taylor, Sydney Morning Herald-

“Videos depicting Gold Logie winner Ray Meagher’s character from Home and Away as a foul-mouthed sexual predator who operates a “rape dungeon” will be screened at a Sydney film festival this week.

And there is little Meagher or the Seven Network can do to stop the screening of Summer Bay Slaughter Part 1, The Dungeon and Alf Stewart at the Logies at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville on September 8 as part of the Sydney Underground Film Festival.

Nor are they likely to succeed in forcing YouTube to remove the videos, which have had more than 5.4 million video views.”

Read the full article here.

Stuck for last minute accommodation in Sydney?

Rydges Camperdown is offering all guests attending the Sydney Underground Film Festival
10% off the best available rate.

Log onto-

www.rydges.com/camperdown 
and add CORPORATE ID: SUFFWEB 
to make your booking and take advantage of this offer!

For more information please call 02 9516 1522 or email
reservations_camperdown@rydges.com
Rydges Camperdown
9 Missenden Road
Camperdown NSW 2050

Thanks Rydges!

For more special offers, connect with us here and subscribe to the SUFF newsletter.

The Festival is only 3 days away!

Opening night on Thursday 6 September is set to be a big one- check out what’s on here. Bring your friends and celebrate all that’s underground!

Book your tickets now to avoid missing out- visit here and spread the word!

Get the free SUFF app by Aenigma here.

Here’s a taste of what’s to come with events, highlights, previews, reviews and words about SUFF 2012-

SUFF goes Jurassic!
Get geared up for a highlights reel of the best (and most bizarre) short films from the past five years of SUFF, plus sneak peeks of highlights from this year’s festival. From a kidnapping on a first date to a short film shot entirely inside someone’s mouth, it’s an eclectic cinematic degustation menu.

What is Jurassic Lounge?
Every Tuesday night this Winter & Spring, the Australian Museum will open its doors for after-hours sessions featuring bars, live music and performance, interactive games, expert talks, hands-on workshops, film screenings and live art, set against a stunning backdrop of taxidermy and quirky science specimens.
See jurassiclounge.com for more details.

When? Today! Tuesday 4 September, 5:30-9:30pm
Where? The Australian Museum, Sydney
Click here to go Jurassic with SUFF – book tickets online to avoid missing out.

Things That Make You Go “Urgh!” – Katherine Berger
by rcoh5808, Something Else- your guide to alternative arts

“The Sydney Underground Film Festival is on this week, and it’s set to be a total ripper.

On the show last Thursday we had Katherine Berger, co-director of the SUFF, to give us the low-down on this year’s line up, including the exciting news that Mr Doodleberger himself will not only be screening new material, but also making a guest appearance in person!”…

Read the full article here and listen to podcast interview with Festival Director Katherine Berger by Maren Smith.

Dirt on the Underground: The Stefan Popescu Interview
Simon Foster , Screen-Space- fearless opinion about all things cinema

“I met Sydney Underground Film Festival co-founder and director Stefan Popescu several years ago when assigned to interview him; it went well and led to my stint as a jury member on early SUFF incarnations. Expectedly, Popescu’s off-centre film tastes run the gamut from avant-garde to abrasively obtuse to downright bizarre.”…

Read the full article here.

The Bizarre World of the Sydney Underground Film Festival
Delshanti, Everguide- Sydney

“What do you get when you take two totally off-the-wall comedians, give them a billion dollars and tell me them to make a movie? We’re not quite sure but the trailer tells us we can expect an epic ‘shocking film’ with romance, sex, horror, special effects, a man-eating wolf and Jeff Goldblum. Presented by VICE, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie will welcome fans of the surreal sketch comedians (and build excitement for their live tour later in the month) on opening night. Featuring cameos from Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell and SNL alumni Bob Odenkirk.”…

Read the full article here.

A counterculture weekend of weird, wack, and unearthed cinephilia.
Lauren Carroll Harris, Concrete Playground

“Forget the deluge of shmick festivals and late-night events with their familiar PR sheen. The Sydney Underground Film Festival is an honest-to-God fringe festivity — an intelligently curated counterculture weekend of weird, wack and unearthed cinephilia. The SUFF team pitches itself as “the purveyors of provocation, dissent, and civil disobedience”. And rightly so. They’ve pulled off some crazy-as-hell nights in the past, and this year’s program looks just as great.”…

Read the full article here.

Sydney Underground Film Festival stays true to its roots – Less funds won’t stop the cult event from doing its thing.
SBS Films / Movie News & Features

“The event opens with the Australian premiere of Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (pictured), the big screen debut of American television comedians, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. The surreal, almost non-linear narrative and eccentric cameos from the likes of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly suggests that all boxes are ticked in terms of the festival keeping its cult credibility.”…

Read the full article here.

2012 Sydney Underground Film Festival Preview
Andy Buckle, The Film Emporium

Read reviews of:

“Berberian Sound Studio – Friday 6.30pm (Main Cinema)

Despite the Gods – Saturday 12pm (Main Cinema)

Francophrenia (Or Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where The Baby Is) – Saturday 4pm (Main Cinema) and Sunday 1pm (Fusebox Cinema).”…

Read the full article here.

SUFF 2012 Preview: Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, Sexually Frank, God Bless America
Sam McCosh, An Online Universe

Read the full article here.

Movies break the mould at Sydney’s strangest annual film fest

Time Out Sydney’s Top 10 SUFF feature recommendations

“When every mainstream movie is about either a rogue CIA agent or a clumsy girl looking for love, events like the Sydney Underground Film Festival are as essential as they’ve ever been.”…

Read the full article here.

Sydney Underground Film Festival 2012 – Our Coolest Indie-Fest
Urban Society

“Get ready to wet your pants laughing, hang in suspense and gasp in horror, with next months Sydney Underground Film Festival promising to deliver every kind of emotion.”…

Read the full article here.

Shock and Awe at Underground Flick Fest
James Gorman, Sydney Central

“Festival co-creator Stefan Popescu said he looked for films that pushed boundaries when it came to making the final selections for the roster.

“What we do is look for movies that are doing something different, left of centre – our prerequisite, if there is one, is something that pushes the boundaries,” Mr Popescu said.

“It can be any rating the government allows. Even though there are films I would like to screen that can’t be rated, I would not sacrifice mine or anyone else’s freedoms by going to jail for doing so. We are lucky we haven’t had a single film banned yet.”…

Read the full article here.

Sydney Underground Film Festival Hits The Factory Next Weekend
Jacinta Mulders, The Vine

This year, the festival will run from the 6th-9th in Marrickville’s Factory Theatre, and features a program that teeters periodically between more mainstream feature films, local shorts and intriguing docos to films displaying more culturally divisive content (thing super trashy horror, absurdist humour and/or porn…The Disco Exorcist, anyone?!).

Read the full article here.

Connect with us!

Keep in touch for special offers in the lead-up!

Have you seen a SUFF poster around? Snap it and share it with us.

Thanks to Aenigma for creating the SUFF app!

Download the SUFF app to:

• see the film program
• read about each film
• link to book tickets
• view trailers
• see events
• keep up to date with SUFF news
• contact SUFF community
• see your face SUFF’d with the suffcam

Visit the app support page here.

FIND WHAT’S ON & WHEN
4 Days. 37 sessions. Over 100 films!

- Download the pocket timetable for an overview of the entire four day festival.

- Get the iPhone App to view trailers, read about films, see events and link you to tickets.

- View the program in more detail with our online flipbook.

- See individual film pages for:

Special Events

Features

Documentaries

Short Films

HOW TO BUY TICKETS

- We have a range of ticket options for you to choose from. Let us map it out for you.

Have you had a look at the program, decided on a few sessions, a day, a party or two or are going all-out on a four-day SUFF bender?

Here’s how it works:

All film screenings are shown at the Factory Theatre – 105 Victoria Road Marrickville. In this awesome venue are three cinemas- the main cinema, the fusebox and the boiler room (we’ve colour coded them in the pocket timetable to help you find them).

Tickets are sold through the Factory Theatre but we want to send you to the right place.

To buy a single session ticket, visit here and browse the listings or you can click on the ‘buy tickets for this session’ button on each film page.
FULL $14 + bf / CONCESSION $12 + bf

The 4-film pass gives you the flexibility to choose one film from each time slot each day over the four day festival. The best way to see different time slots is to download the pocket timetable and have a read of the film listings here and then choose which 4 are your favourite.

Day Passes give you a whole day’s worth of SUFF- great value and the entire day to take in the provocation and perversity. Choose from Friday 7, Saturday 8 or Sunday 9 September- get them here.

For a complete list of ticket choices, go here.

Time to wash off the work day slime and party!

Join us in launching SUFF on opening night with the Australian premiere of TIM AND ERIC’S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE where cult comedy heroes Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are given a billion dollars to create a movie but squandering every cent, featuring cameos from some of the biggest names in comedy. Kick on afterwards with an expanded cinema performance, Werner Herzog presenting Eddie Sharp and delicious DJ’s.  Enjoy complimentary food and beverages thanks to our opening night partners Rosnay Organic Winery, Burragumbilli Organic Beer, and canapés Huon Aqualculture salmon straight from Tasmania and a range of delicious cheeses thanks to Paesanella Cheese Factory in Marrickville.

A night full of laughs– celebrate and farewell the festival with us on Sunday 9th September!

Drum Media is presenting this year’s Closing Party & Film – God Bless America, a hilarious, dark comedy by indie film genius Bobcat Goldthwait. More drinks, more music and more performances afterwards including door prizes and free yummy Serendipity ice-cream to suck for all. To join us, you can buy a ticket or spread the love and spend a day with a Sunday Pass here.

See you at the festival!

The Sydney Underground Film Festival is dedicated to nurturing an alternative film culture through the promotion of independent and experimental films. The festival seeks to support filmmakers who operate outside established film industry infrastructures, by providing a platform for exhibition, exposure and critical discussion.

Stay tuned for the latest updates by connecting with us here:

We’re excited to announce the line up for the 2012 Festival, on from
6-9 September at Marrickville’s Factory Theatre.

Bringing you an eclectic line up of over 100 local and international films,

SUFF will showcase the year’s most subversive, underground, cult and
off-the-wall content.

Launching with a comedic bang, you don’t want to miss opening night of the Festival featuring the Australian premiere of TIM AND ERIC’S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE and a party afterwards to leave you wanting more. The latest offering from cult comedy heroes Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, the film shows the pair given a billion dollars to create a movie but squandering every cent, and features cameos from some of the biggest names in comedy as well as regulars from Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show.

The 2012 program includes the feature film FRANCOPHRENIA, a collaboration between James Franco and filmmaker Ian Olds and fresh from its film festival run. The film documents Franco’s guest appearances on TV’s General Hospital and footage from his brief foray into the world of a mainstream TV Soap Opera, as it delves into the world of celebrity where the lines of reality are blurred.

In a special SUFF presentation, You Tube sensation Mr Doodleburger will present his no holds barred piss-take of Summer Bay’s Alf Stewart, MR DOODLEBURGER PRESENTS NEW SUMMER BAY SLAUGHTER. For the first time ever on the big screen, this film is guaranteed to ruffle more than a few of your feathers and will be accompanied by an exclusive live Q&A session with Mr Doodleburger himself so get your questions ready!

We’ll also be featuring films from festival favourite, Harmony Korine (GUMMO, TRASH HUMPERS), as well as director Guy Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD, MY WINNIPEG), and the divisive documentary on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Highlights of the Festival also include the much-loved LSD FACTORY, the short film session designed to take you on a crazy cinematic trip, and we’re excited to announce the new SIN CITY SYDNEY session supporting Sydney filmmaker creatives. Not to mention our favourite short film sessions are ready to blow your mind – LOVE/SICK, ANIMATION FORNICATION and REALITY BITES.

There’s plenty more to check out, so have a browse through the 2012 program flipbook, download our new iPhone App (created by Aenigma) or have a look at the new pocket timetable.

Tickets are now on sale - look out for these buttons:

Be sure to book early!

A big shout out to artist Stefan Fahler for creating the SUFF 2012 Poster : Share it with friends, colleagues, families, everyone!  

The Sydney Underground Film Festival is dedicated to nurturing an alternative film culture through the promotion of independent and experimental films. The festival seeks to support filmmakers who operate outside established film industry infrastructures, by providing a platform for exhibition, exposure and critical discussion.

DATE: September 6-9th, 2012

LOCATION: The Factory Theatre, 105 Victoria Rd, Marrickville

Want some more info? Have a browse through these:

Program Flipbook

Buy Tickets

Special Events

Feature Films

Documentaries

Short Films

        

June 24, 2010. James Franco (the actor) prepares to film the climactic episode of his stint on the daytime dramaGeneral Hospital. “Franco” (his serial-killer character on the show) readies a murderous art installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The day begins like any other for James – hair and makeup, interviews, hugs and autographs for the fans. But as night falls and the shoot begins, James becomes increasingly unhinged as “Franco’s” nefarious work becomes indistinguishable from his own. An experimental narrative comprised of repurposed documentary footage shot behind the scenes at the museum, Francophrenia (or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is) tells the often comic, frequently horrifying story of the labor behind the television spectacle and the glorification – not to mention the destruction – of the celebrity at its center.

“…a true marvel of the doc/fiction hybrid, a slender and seductive treatise on the edges of madness that may one day compare favorably with other works of American filmic experimentation as masculine meltdown, such as Jim McBride’s “David Holzman’s Diary” or Moses Milton Ginsburg’s “Coming Apart.“

- BRANDON HARRIS, IndieWire

“Deliberately oddball doc takes the form of experimental cinema while amusing fans who’d watch James Franco do anything”

- John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

Presented by The Thousands

Session one:

Time: 4:00pm
Location: Main Cinema
Date: Saturday 8 September
Venue: The Factory Theatre

Session two:

Time: 1:00pm
Location: Fusebox Cinema
Date: Sunday 9 September
Venue: The Factory Theatre

When Nirvana burst onto the national scene in 1991, the music they played spoke directly to a generation that had emerged from the Reagan-Bush years angry and disenfranchised. As grunge took off, the music industry was completely transformed in a way nobody expected… especially the young musicians who went from tiny shared Seattle apartments to international superstardom, sometimes overnight. Some handled it well… and some did not.

Just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several prominent musicians, capped by the suicide of Kurt Cobain, closed the books on an all too brief era.

As the acclaimed drummer of Courtney Love’s seminal rock band Hole, Patty Schemel was right in the middle of all of it. The openly gay woman who always felt “different” never dreamed she would be part of a multi-platinum selling band, touring with legends, or on the cover of Rolling Stone. Or that, thanks to drug addiction, she could lose it all. HIT SO HARD tells the story of Patty’s rise to fame (and nearly fatal fall from it), with no punches pulled… and it’s one hell of a story.

Told with insider interviews and stunningly intimate, never-before-seen footage shot by Patty and her friends (Patty was given a Hi-8 camera just before Hole’s infamous Live Through This world tour), HIT SO HARD is not only an all-access backstage pass to the music that shaped a generation, but a harrowing tale of overnight success, the cost of addiction, and ultimately, recovery and redemption.

Session one:
Time: 10:30pm
Location: Main Cinema
Date: Friday 7 September
Venue: The Factory Theatre

Session two:

Time: 8:00pm
Location: Boiler Room Cinema
Date: Saturday 8 September
Venue: The Factory Theatre

Presented by Drum Media