Photo: Mike Macklin (WBZ)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — If you're looking for a celebration of the glitz and glamor of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters, you've come to the wrong film festival.
The Boston Underground Film Festival returned to the Brattle Theater in Cambridge this weekend for its 23rd year, curating a collection of out-there films for the bizarro cinephile to devour.
"Basically, it's not mainstream," explained Director of Programming Nicole McControversy to WBZ NewsRadio Saturday. "So obscure, strange, weird, stuff that’s not going to be in commercials on TV, usually."
This year's festival runs until Sunday and has included a host of unapologetically weird films from not only the United States, but around the world, including Slovakia ("Nightsiren"), France ("Smoking Causes Coughing"), New Zealand ("Mister Organ"), Germany ("Piaffe"), and Norway/Sweden ("Sick of Myself").
"These films are really challenging. They’re not your usual entertainment. They’re not really created to entertain, they’re created to provoke thought," McControversy said.
It's not just feature length films that get a spotlight at the festival; short films, animated shorts, and music videos are also given a chance to show off their strangeness.
"Hollywood has a formula, and that formula usually revolves around money and just sort of the things that appeal to broad audiences," said McControversy. "Underground will never appeal to broad audiences, which is why it’s underground, but we’re kind of happy about that."
WBZ's Mike Macklin reports.
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