still from “Our Lost Thing” (KCUFF)
“When people hear ‘underground,’” says Willy Evans, “they assume there’s something inherently wrong with these films, that there’s a reason they’re not in the mainstream.” Evans is the director of the Kansas City Underground Film Festival (KCUFF), which marks its sixth year of presenting local, national and international films. KCUFF runs September 12-13 and September 17-20 at Charlotte Street, 3333 Wyoming St., its fifth year in the arts space.
“In our experience, Evans says, “it has much more to do with marketability than quality. We’re fighting against the idea that profit should be the primary driving force behind what gets seen.”
This year’s program features a total of 89 titles culled from 787 submissions from 48 countries. Around 20 percent of those are from “a new generation of local filmmakers,” says Evans. Additionally, Evans and his co-founder/Screening Committee head Kari Bingham-Gutierrez, are seeing more international submissions from the relationships they’ve established.
Be it budgets or time, Evans says, “These filmmakers aren’t trying to hide their constraints; they’re using them as creative fuel. That’s the kind of work that thrives in an underground context.”
Friday, Sept. 12
Opening Night: Heads or Fails: Belgian filmmakers Lenny and Harpo Guit’s “Heads or Fails” is a chaotic glimpse into the life of Armande, a young woman outrunning her own bad choices, even if it means losing her shoes. Of note is the actress’ wild-haired semblance to Sandrine Bonnaire in Agnes Varda’s “Vagabond.” Also on the block is Daniel Maggio’s “Beethoven’s Great Great Great Great Great Grandchild, a tale of a would-be composer passing herself off as GX5.
Jit – Don’t Buy the Liverwurst & Lupe Q: “We’re not homeless. We’re just weighing our options,” says Alex in Ethan Gatham and Jorge Rodriguez’ “Jit.” When he and fellow parolee, Dillon, score a questionable job/living situation in a Floridian constellation of drug pads, bodegas and a supernatural trailer park, it’s fight or flight. Or, as one town elder, between swigs from his brown bagged bottle, says, “Uh, you dig deep enough here in Florida, and you’ll reach hell.”
Saturday, Sept. 13
Dirtbag American Cinema (Affectionate): With its 90s/aughts references, the block’s “My Friend, Chevy,” directed by Jesse Fine, is a “found footage” curiosity. The film is a love letter to the era of pre-cellphone conversation. For all his loser touchstones – beer can-littered trailer, his father’s admonishments to get a job, an undefined relationship with his female friend, Amber – Chevy flexes a sly self-awareness about his predicament. The film operates as a sideways satire that wears its heart on its sleeve.
Méchant! & All Beauty Queens Have Broken Bones: There’s something in the air in this environmental drama by Julien Philips and Adrien Blandamour. Filmed in the French rural village, Indre-et-Loure, the filmmakers’ foreboding take on corporate malfeasance evokes shades of M. Night Shyamalan. Following is director Max C Tullio and screenwriter Madeline Cash’s meditation on the aesthetics of mercy in “All Beauty Queens Have Broken Bones.”
KCUFF Animation Showcase: This year’s block contains two local filmmakers, Riley Flynn for the evocative “Windows” and Flynn von Fintel’s “Corporate Combat,” in which the job applicant undergoes an endurance test straight out of “The Hunger Games.” Among the 14 titles are two Kansas City premiers – Dimitri Martin Genaudeau’s “Crac! and Oona Taper’s “The Rabbit Always Dies.” There is one Midwest premiere, Alexandre Athané’s “Jus d’orange” and one World premiere, John Akre’s “Universe Heart.”
KCUFF Horror Shorts: The first of KCUFF’s two blocks features some stellar options. In Federico Antonio Morlio’s “A Fright” two couples are on their way to the women’s older sister’s wedding when urban horror, dreams and thwarted plans all collide. For body horror fans, a man will exact hell on the person who gave him the “Jesus vaccine” in Gordon Phillips’ “The Itch.” Derek Smith’s humorous take on possession by the devil, “Anybody But You,” and Sea-Hoon Jeon’s “Perfect Wall,” a stark and symmetrical nightmare, complete the block.
KCUFF’s Late Night Magical Emporium for the Weird and Depraved: The last block of the night is an ode to weirdness. Vincent Maslowski’s “Infernal Flesh” is an homage to comedy splatter flicks. In Zach DeSutter’s “Fisher of Men,” a fisherman incurs the wrath of an underwater entity. Katie Madonna Lee’s “Poop Bucket Remembers: A Satanic Panic Story” unleashes a scat-talking bucket and a lying preacher as an unlikely spoof on celebrity. Rounding out the weirdness are Corbin Paul Gilfillan’s “Mayonnaise” and Alex Thayer’s “Triple Trouble.”
Wednesday, Sept. 17
Contemporary Chinese Cinema: Xinhao Li’s “The Locker” suggests Louis Malle’s “Elevator to the Gallows” as the characters – a husband and wife – each roam, separately, the isolated Shanghai streets. A struggling writer unable to pay the rent, decides to alter Stephen Hawking’s Time Experiment in Zhenghui Chen’s Godard-eqsue “Hawling’s Time Experiment.” Completing this ruminative block are Haowen Geng’s “The Tide,” Junsong Ling’s “Seeding, Blossoming Fruiting,” and Lilan Yang’s “Untitled Disinfection Project 1.”
Thursday, Sept. 18
Autobiographical Documentary – A Distorted Individual: Though his film is being described as a mockumentary, Adythia Utama Budiman, who goes by the moniker Individual Distortion, has a noisecore 20-year career in Indonesia. Whether or not his parents listen to his music, his willingness to challenge industry expectations is paying off in fanship. Also on the block are Franz Eichelmann Kaiser’s “The Helmet” and Vida Behar’s “Give Me the Money.”
Friday, Sept. 19
Romanian Experiences – The Song of Aida: In the block title, filmmaker Giovanni Princigalli revisits Aida after 20 years to find the carefree young girl who dreamed of being a model now a mother in a loveless marriage and desperate to leave her family’s encampment in Bari, Italy for Romania as a free woman. Roxana Stroe’s “Appalachia” tells the story of Leo and Raisa, whose love struggles against her parents’ communitarianism.
KCUFF Horror Showcase 2 – Sofia, the Possession: Guillermo Barreira Pérez’s dark tale of demonic possession and murder in a boarding school is followed by Arshad Adil Bhoja’s “Death at the House of Purple” in which ancient grieving traditions condemn a widow’s personhood. Closing the block is Arturo León Llerena’s “Santo,” the story of a santero (someone who makes religious objects) who receives an offer he can’t refuse.
Saturday, Sept. 20
Relationships and Transitions: Lada Kopytova delivers the autopsy of a break-up in “Blueprint.” The protagonist of Sebastian Zufelt’s “Third” gets home from college to find himself jilted when his two best high school friends have coupled. Texas Smith’s “So and So” offers a bittersweet what-if in this Chicago-set story, and in Carmen Calvarro de Antonio’s “To Be Found,” a girl alone in a new town finds belonging with a new friend.
An Eclectic Program of Good Movies: Stephen Crompton’s “Fake’’ follows a man on his mission to prove the 1969 moon landing was a hoax. Two best friends have a falling-out and one travels to Japan to reconnect in M.A. Cardona’s “Omodetō.” Sebastian Kwidziński delves into the consequences of domestic abuse with the moving “Matke.”
Places & Homes – May the Soil Be Everywhere: Yehui Zhao explores her grandmother’s life and relationship to her family’s ancestral home and the land in this mind-opening film that’s part travelogue and part poetic document of China’s history. Alejandra Sánchez Casañ Sánchez Casañ’s “Vertigo” and Harper Stone’s “I Think He Told Me a Story” share the block.
Our Lost Thing, Diverse House, A Short Trip: Martina Cruz explores her father’s ambitions and history of abuse in “Our Lost Thing.” Carmen Vidal, in “Diverse House,” celebrates a refuge from violence and discrimination for transgender people in Paraguay. Erenik Beqiri’s “A Short Trip” gives filmgoers a glimpse into a couple’s decision that will impact them in very dramatic ways.
The KCUFF Grand Finale – A Leather-Bound Local Showcase: Blake Elder’s “Leather-Bound” and Rey Dean’s “Bound in the Heartland,” respectively explore the history of the leather scene and Kansas City’s queer leather culture. Both speak to the culture, artistry of the leathersmiths and sense of family that their community instills. Stefan L Sirls-Hayter’s “Loom: A Theatric Symphony” is part obscure eulogy and part “AdBusters” manifesto, augmented by meaningfulness we can only guess at.
As far as future festivals, KCUFF’s goal is satellite locations that will accommodate more films and additional screenings of screen favorites.
“We’re always looking for ways to get more people involved and expand our capacity without compromising the vision and ethos of the festival,” Evans says. “It’s a balancing act, growing while staying true to what makes us underground.”
Admission to the festival is free, but reserving seats is recommended. For schedule and times, visit kcuff2025.eventive.org/schedule.
