
Cutting-edge films—
and films with a cutting edge
For over twenty-three years, the Boston Underground Film Festival has been bringing the finest in vanguard filmmaking from all over the world to New England cinephiles.
BUFF celebrates unconventional stories, idiosyncratic voices, fever dreams, nightmarish visions, and all manner of cinematic forms, in service of an audience ravenous for an annual sensory bacchanalia from beyond the mainstream.
History
The Boston Underground Film Festival began its life as an all-night film marathon run by founder David Kleiler and longtime festival pal Dima Ballin. This informal event quickly grew into the first annual Boston Underground Film Festival held at the Revolving Museum in South Boston. Programmer Bernard Broginart described this first annual gathering as “a wonderful hoax of a film festival.” We’d like to think that things have come a long way since then.
BUFF had a rocky adolescence. Though bolstered by a wonderful staff and enthusiastic supporters, the festival had a tough time putting down roots. But BUFF soldiered on through all the icky and strange stages of development with a strong lineup of bizarre and insane little films, eager to spring them on an unwitting public.
Scampering mischievously from venue to venue — screening films in places as diverse as the Milky Way Lounge and Lanes in Jamaica Plain to the now-defunct Allston Cinema Underground — the festival picked up momentum. After years of being buried under the toxic waste of popular culture, BUFF had mutated into a twisted underground force to be reckoned with.
Under the direction of the current staff, BUFF found its way home to the historic Brattle Theatre, where it has resided since 2012. From 2016 through 2019, BUFF’s secondary venue was the Harvard Film Archive.
During the pandemic, BUFF made the pivot to virtual, joining Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, North Bend Film Festival, and the Overlook Film Festival in a collaborative online event, NIGHTSTREAM, in 2020 and 2021. As of 2022, BUFF returned to the realm of the physical, hosting its 22nd edition back at its rightful home, the Brattle Theatre.
Viva la révolution underground!
Contact
Artistic Director
Kevin Monahan
Director of Programming
Nicole McControversy
Media Director
Bryan McKay
Director of Operations
Leandra Sharron
Technical Directors
Phil Healy
Adam Van Voorhis
Volunteer Coordinators
George MacDonald Luke
Zach Pidgeon
Merchandise Manager
Sean D. Coyle
Publicity
Kaila Sarah Hier / Exile PR
Social Media
Dede Crimmins
Hospitality
Melinda Green
Programming Team
Chris Hallock
Jozef Kluczkiewicz
Kevin Monahan
Rebekah Murphy
Shannen Ortale
George MacDonald Luke
Melinda Green
Programming Consultant
Evrim Ersoy
Bacchus Award Design
Skinwalker Studios
If you made it this far, you may want to consider volunteering to help with the festival or submitting a film of your own.