The 19th Calgary Underground Film Festival announced the first wave of films playing the upcoming hybrid festival, taking place from April 21 – May 1, 2022.
Today’s announcement includes two local documentaries, more celebrated docs, some hidden gems, and the return of two of the festival’s most celebrated in-person events – National Canadian Film Day and the Saturday Morning All- You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party!
“We have truly missed the communal experience of watching films together with the audience, and bringing guest filmmakers to the festival to engage with everyone again. We’ve been looking forward to this day for the last two years, and really feel the excitement from the audience too, who seem ready to be back in the cinema and partaking in events,” said CUFF Festival Director & Lead Programmer Brenda Lieberman.
The 19th CUFF will feature 40 films, playing the expanded 11-day festival. For the first eight days (April 21-28), films will show in-person at Globe Cinema, followed by three days of online viewing (April 29 – May 1), with a selection of films from the festival available to stream on-demand across Alberta.
The First Wave of Films
A WICKED EDEN (Calgary Director Naddine Madell): A peek into the real and virtual dungeons of women in the niche community of online fetish porn creators.
FRIENDLY LOCAL GAME STORE (Calgary Director Garry Snow): The unlikely story of the world’s largest game store – The Sentry Box – located in Calgary.
A LIFE ON THE FARM (Director Oscar Harding): An eccentric story from rural England about an art-inclined farmer and the inspiring, death-positive legacy of his long-lost home movies. Executive Produced by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher from The Found Footage Festival.
FREAKSCENE: THE STORY OF DINOSAUR JR (Director Philipp Reichenheim): An homage of one of the most influential bands on the American East Coast, which inspired the alternative rock scene of the ’90s.
DOWN WITH THE KING (Director Diego Ongaro): A famous rapper (played by Grammy- nominated rapper Freddie Gibbs) disillusioned with the music industry and the pressures of being a celebrity, leaves the city and his career behind to find himself in a small-town farming community. Official Selection, ACID Cannes Film Festival 2021.
PIGGY (Director Carlota Pereda): An adolescent girl is stuck in her family’s butcher shop, dreaming of being someone else. Sick of being constantly bullied by a bunch of girls from school, one day, she has an unexpected chance to take revenge. Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2022.
The Return of Annual In-Person Events
National Canadian Film Day Free Screening: RHYMES FOR YOUNG GHOULS – In- Cinema at Canyon Meadows Cinemas on Wednesday, April 20 at 7pm: This year’s free National Canadian Film Day screening is the 2013 indie breakout RHYMES FOR YOUNG GHOULS (2013), the Indigenous focused debut of writer-director Jeff Barnaby. The day before the festival officially starts, we’ll be showing the film for free as part of the national coast-to-coast-to-coast celebration of Canadian cinema.
SATURDAY MORNING ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT-CEREAL CARTOON PARTY! – In-Cinema on Saturday, April 22 at 9am: For the first time in three years, our SATURDAY MORNING ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT-CEREAL CARTOON PARTY! is taking place in-person. In this all-new program, you’ll see both faves and obscurities spanning the ’50s through the ’90s, all punctuated with vintage commercials, PSAs and station IDs! Jammies Encouraged! ALL- YOU-CAN-EAT CEREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!