Still from “Un Taco” (KCUFF)
In its fifth year and its fourth at Charlotte Street, 3333 Wyoming St., the Kansas City Underground Film Festival opens this week, Sept. 13-14, and continues next week, Sept. 18-21. The festival continues to shine a spotlight on independent and experimental films, regardless of budget or genre. Included in this year’s harvest are 75 titles from roughly 15 countries, as well as from local filmmakers in Kansas City, Springfield and Lawrence.
The festival’s open-ended invitation, per festival director Willy Evans, remains committed to inclusivity. Outsider films that take chances are becoming KCUFF’s calling card, and this year’s offerings will appeal to filmgoers of all cinematic preferences.
Friday, Sept. 13
Opening Nights Shorts: Samuel Tady’s “Industrial Evolution” resembles aspects of Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner.” Rather than androids, the scapegoated are those who have had various parts of themselves augmented. Scenes shot using the Barney Allis façade give the film an elegance that contrasts with the gritty dialogue. Romain Gresillon’s “Aphyonidae,” also in the showcase, invites the filmgoer to reconsider the mermaid mythology, which never takes into consideration the ethics of owning one as a pet.
Non-Fiction Block: Also on opening night, this program features the documentary “Americans Smell Good,” one of several films in the festival in which migration for a better or different way of life juxtaposes familial ties and expectations. Emir Cakoroz explores various aspects — community, consumerism, and race and policing — of his adopted home of Milwaukee (which he humorously films himself traveling to via a flying carpet). It also features one of the best original songs with Renaato Umal’s “Americans Smell Good.” Isabel Evans’ “Renter Revolt: Housing and Human Rights in America’s Heartland,” last seen in Kansas City International Film Festival, provides topical accompaniment to the program.
Saturday, Sept. 14
Animation Showcase: Among the 12 diverse entries is Caleb Worcester’s affecting “Under the Thicket.” Yusi Lin’s piano score is a graceful lead-in to the Czech National Symphony Orchestra’s “Aase’s Death” used in the revealing end credits. Elllehcyn Jane Hollack’s “Tomte’s Tulip” folds themes of grief and caretaking with deftness.
Strangers in a Strange Land: “The Tale of a Sailor” is José David Apel’s impressionistic look at post-Castro Cuba; the enigmatic and evocative “Castanho,” is directed by Adanilo; and Cheyenne Scarborough’s “Vivian” is a tale of a woman with a haphazard life that hinges on one good shift.
Descents into Madness: Pol Diggler’s “Sincopat” techno-terror short follows the undoing of an executive whose creation rick-rolls her life; Javiar Chavanel’s “Nap” is a sleep-deprived “Squid Game” and Justin Best’s “Sheryl” details a woman obsessed with physical perfection and the serial killer boyfriend who dumped her.\
Horror Blocks 1/Shorts that Go Bump in the Night: Local director Kyle Hatley’s “Marbles,” a tale of grief and unintended results from a bereavement group; Miguel Cardoso’s short “6,” accompanied by delicate piano, underscores reliable horror tropes with themes of memory and loss.
WEEK TWO
Wed., Sept. 18
The festival’s second week pairs Asuka Lin’s exquisite “Into the Emerald Sea” – in which the protagonist makes peace with her late grandmother via the retelling of a Japanese folktale, and Ana Jakimska’s “Blue Hour,” a portrait of a woman reconnecting with her rural Macedonian mother and recognizing the shortcomings of her new life.
Thursday, Sept. 19
Zoe Dahmen’s Austin, Texas-filmed “Chicken Fingers” revolves around the memory that necessitates a return trip to a DQ. In addition to Luke Baker’s LGBTQ love story “The Space Between” and Anna Salinas’ “Me Night” is Molly Preston’s “Freedom, Wisconsin.” Featuring another one of the standout soundtracks, this film has an early ‘90s déjà vu that endears itself.
Friday, Sept. 20
Vincent D’Alessandro’s feature, “Bottom Feeders,” follows a young hustler whose reinvention conflicts with his past. The festival’s second horror block, Homegrown Horror, dives in with “Terra Bella” from Independence, Missouri filmmaker Hunter Johnson. Also on the platter are Antonio Rotunno’s “Un Taco” and “The Chain,” Tom Hipp’s suburban werewolf tale.
Saturday, Sept. 21
Antoinette Lavalle ‘s “Peck,” a turn-of-the-century tale of ennui and gendered expectation was filmed in Des Moines, Iowa. The production, shot in Iowa’s Salisbury House and Rollins Mansion, is composed of shots depicting an idealized portrait of the Midwest. Attributed to composers Annalibera and Goatfoam, the film’s ethereal music evokes Elizabeth Fraser. Its 21st-century companion is Máté Konkol’s “Reap What You Sow,” in which a first-generation college student tries to balance familial demands and the situations she finds herself in in her transplanted Budapest.In Evan Snyder’s “Lime & Vinegar,” two Latina cleaning women’s afternoon spent talking about their lives is interrupted by an unreliable ride. The pre-teen heroine of Raquel Colera’s poignant “Boy’s Things” deals with the upheaval of her circle of friends and her concept of self with the arrival of a distant neighbor.
Comedy Power Hour: Features James Thomer’s faux documentary. “Young Phil” about a young TV help guru, and Vito Trabucco’s surrealist Western, “Britney Lost Her Phone.” Modeling the film off the Westerns of John Ford and Randolph Scott, Trabucco leans into the absurdity of the anachronistic object by having the actors refer to the phone as Britney. And, when a traveler named Jesus comes looking for Britney, they must fend for their mortal souls.
Local Film Showcase: Katina Bitsicas’ powerful documentary “Aliens from the Sky” interviews sex workers on their experiences in South Africa; in Vic Dominguez’s “Hard Cut,” a film editor ruminates on the same scene’s multiple options; and Jeff Mundinger’s “Butterscotch,” is a cassette-driven narrative, even more heartfelt for the one-sidedness of the communications. Honesty Taszhé Gant’s “Jen” concludes the night with the tale of a 13-year-old trying to cope with familial loss and the requirements made of her by her single mom, a nurse, while accustoming herself to a new school.
Sunday, Sept. 22
The film festival is offering a special presentation of “Stand By for Failure: A Documentary about Negativland,” about the experimental music band whose output ranges from sound collage to other explorations of sampling and musical copywriting boundaries. The filmmaker, Ryan Worsley, will be in attendance. The screening, like all of those of KCUFF, is free, but this event, coordinated with Outer Reaches Festival and Record Bar, has a waiting list.
The festival requests attendees to reserve their free tickets in advance. For a schedule of all the titles and showtimes, visit kcuff2024.eventive.org/films
