Melbourne Underground Film Festival Awards
or M.U.F.F.
Subcategory of Awards Australian Awards
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

History

'The Melbourne Underground Film Festival (M.U.F.F.) is a cutting edge premiere showcase for Independent cinema in the Southern Hemisphere. It is known for its radical, adventurous and iconoclastic programming decisions and for its support for different voices in the Independent and Underground film and video practitioners worldwide. The festival focuses on both Australian and International cinema and is a vocal critic of the staid and failing Australian Film Industry.

'M.U.F.F. plays many shorts (about 35) in Mini M.U.F.F. every year and a lot of features in its MUFF Neu section. Overall we play about 50 new works each year, plus an exciting array of documentaries and curated retrospectives.

'M.U.F.F. is an essential cutting edge forum for new cinema that will look beyond production values, and find the hidden talent within. M.U.F.F. has been the launching board and incubator for many talented filmmakers including the likes of James Wan, Scott Ryan, Jenna Fisher, Jim VanBebber, Bruce LaBruce, Peter Christopherson, Stuart Simpson, Shannon Young, Kel Dolen, Steven Kastrissios, Ivan Kavanagh, Mark Savage, Anna Brownfield, Patrick Hughes, Jeremey DeCeglie, Gregory Pakis and many, many others.'

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2012

winner (Best Screenplay) form y separately published work icon Johnny Ghost Donna McRae , ( dir. Donna McRae ) Melbourne : mcraeandvale , 2011 Z1870477 2011 single work film/TV horror fantasy

'Millicent, a professional musician, lectures in music at a Melbourne university. Popular with the students, she loves her job and the opportunities it brings her. Millicent lives alone in her flat. She is also a recovering alcoholic who has a commemorative tattoo - 'Johnny Ghost' - that stretches across her shoulder. It signifies a past that she has long since buried - the time of post punk Melbourne in the early '80's, when she was a different person. In fact she has suppressed the past so effectively it is concealed like a crypt inside her. So she lives her life in almost solitary confinement - paying for an old sin. When she decides to take a risk and remove the tattoo she encounters ghosts who won't let her move on so easily. They want her to pay for what she has done.'

Source: Official website (http://www.johnnyghostfilm.com/synopsis.html). Sighted: 27/6/2012)

One reviewer, quoted on the film's official website, notes that:

'In fact perhaps the scariest thing about 'Johnny Ghost' isn't the recent spirits themselves but Millicent's own breakdown in their assumed presence. As a result it is almost inconsequential whether these ghosts are real; nowhere in the film is there anything to suggest these ghosts are able to be seen by others, and they act for the most part impassively. While the film does occasionally hold to its genre conventions with a couple of real jolts, it mostly, and I will use the word again, 'unsettles'. Millicent (a great non-modern name by the way), is unsettled not just emotionally, but in the real world too, not fitting in or 'settled' anywhere, not even in her own home. This feeling pervades the film with a proper sense of eeriness and dread, rather than the scarifying thrills typical to ghost films.'

winner (Special Jury Award) form y separately published work icon Johnny Ghost Donna McRae , ( dir. Donna McRae ) Melbourne : mcraeandvale , 2011 Z1870477 2011 single work film/TV horror fantasy

'Millicent, a professional musician, lectures in music at a Melbourne university. Popular with the students, she loves her job and the opportunities it brings her. Millicent lives alone in her flat. She is also a recovering alcoholic who has a commemorative tattoo - 'Johnny Ghost' - that stretches across her shoulder. It signifies a past that she has long since buried - the time of post punk Melbourne in the early '80's, when she was a different person. In fact she has suppressed the past so effectively it is concealed like a crypt inside her. So she lives her life in almost solitary confinement - paying for an old sin. When she decides to take a risk and remove the tattoo she encounters ghosts who won't let her move on so easily. They want her to pay for what she has done.'

Source: Official website (http://www.johnnyghostfilm.com/synopsis.html). Sighted: 27/6/2012)

One reviewer, quoted on the film's official website, notes that:

'In fact perhaps the scariest thing about 'Johnny Ghost' isn't the recent spirits themselves but Millicent's own breakdown in their assumed presence. As a result it is almost inconsequential whether these ghosts are real; nowhere in the film is there anything to suggest these ghosts are able to be seen by others, and they act for the most part impassively. While the film does occasionally hold to its genre conventions with a couple of real jolts, it mostly, and I will use the word again, 'unsettles'. Millicent (a great non-modern name by the way), is unsettled not just emotionally, but in the real world too, not fitting in or 'settled' anywhere, not even in her own home. This feeling pervades the film with a proper sense of eeriness and dread, rather than the scarifying thrills typical to ghost films.'

Year: 2008

winner (Best Film) form y separately published work icon The Horseman Steven Kastrissios , ( dir. Steven Kastrissios ) Australia : Kastle Films , 2008 Z1707573 2008 single work film/TV thriller

'Experience this new Australian thriller featuring a range of powerhouse performances in an introspective study of grief and vengeance. As Christian travels through rural Australia to investigate the suspicious death of his daughter, he picks up Alice, a young runaway. An awkward friendship unfolds, but as the solitude of their journey seems to ease, a dark threat lingers nearby. From the gruesome opening to the explosive climax, THE HORSEMAN is a distinctive blend of grisly action and tender drama.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 19/10/2012)

winner (Best Director) form y separately published work icon The Horseman Steven Kastrissios , ( dir. Steven Kastrissios ) Australia : Kastle Films , 2008 Z1707573 2008 single work film/TV thriller

'Experience this new Australian thriller featuring a range of powerhouse performances in an introspective study of grief and vengeance. As Christian travels through rural Australia to investigate the suspicious death of his daughter, he picks up Alice, a young runaway. An awkward friendship unfolds, but as the solitude of their journey seems to ease, a dark threat lingers nearby. From the gruesome opening to the explosive climax, THE HORSEMAN is a distinctive blend of grisly action and tender drama.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 19/10/2012)

X