German comedy/horror film "The Sandman" screens at the Arizona Underground Film Festival.
Tucsonan David Pike is a man on a mission: to continue growing and expanding his homegrown, underground film festival to greater heights. He aims to showcase filmmakers outside of the “studio system” to have their work seen by an appreciative audience, and hopefully find a larger fan base for cult films.
If you haven’t given cult films a second thought, give them a chance this year. Pike has some great selections for the fourth annual Arizona Underground Film Festival (AZUFF), taking place Sept. 16 to 24.
While consistently drawing rave reviews from filmmakers and audiences alike, the AZUFF is unique in Arizona, and in fact, is one of the largest genre film festivals in the country. The festival draws more than 1,000 viewers to 50 feature film screenings along with several dozen short films, spaced out over nine days.
Pike, a filmmaker himself, decided that “there needed to be a cult film festival in town,” and decided he was the man to do it. Together with some assistance from friends, Pike managed to craft a festival that now draws films from around the world. Dividing films into different programming genres including experimental, narrative, exploitation, documentary and animation, the festival gives fans a chance to see what films are being made underground, or outside the system, which may otherwise not find an audience.
While the final slate of films will not be announced until Sept. 5, Pike was able to tease a few for Zocalo, which include several Arizona premieres as well as U.S. premieres. For example, Dragonslayer, a South by Southwest winner this year makes its Arizona debut at the festival. Documenting skate culture, this flip-cam flick chronicles the lives of some Fullerton, California skaters in a way previously unseen.
The German comedy/horror film The Sandman looks fantastic, as does the documentary Of Dolls and Murder, narrated by John Waters. Also on the schedule is Some Guy Who Kills People, from Executive Producer John Landis (Werewolf in London, Blues Brothers and the epic music video Michael Jackson’s Thriller).
There are two ways to experience the film fest this year, either by purchasing a festival pass (limited to 100 people), or by buying individual screening tickets. Films will be exclusively shown at The Screening Room,127 E. Congress St. Visit AZUndergroundFilmFest.com for final screening dates and times after Sept. 5.
The full schedule is at www.azundergroundfilmfest.com/festival-schedule.
