It is the 5th anniversary of our rebel film festival and we thought a little celebratory retrospective was in order. MUFF began as a reaction against the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in 2000 when the esteemed committee at the festival rejected my own film “Pearls Before Swine”. My film had played at The Stockholm International Film Festival, The Puchon International Fantasy Film Festival and went on to play at Sitges, Ajijic and other OS festivals. But this new Australian feature was deemed not up to the standards of MIFF, so rejected my film was. At the time I was pissed off. MUFF is the result. I have cooled down somewhat since then and like the hipper directions James Hewison has taken MIFF.

But indeed I thank MIFF in a way for rejecting my film as it got me off my ass to create a much needed exhibition space for work that may otherwise ‘fall between the cracks’ of the local scene. This would be a travesty when indeed this very work is the lifeblood of any future renaissance of the Australian Film industry. So we are limited by space here and are only presenting the best of the Australian feature films, most of whom won MUFF awards, in this little retro. So if you missed any of these first time round, now is your chance to play catch up. My own film is included, as it was the film that started it all, not because it is the “Best of MUFF”… though I suggest it is a little better than our old pals at MIFF gave it credit for.Take a look at this selection. - RW