“It’s so dainty in its style that no one could ever be offended by it. They are harmless stories in a harmless style. Only topics which everyone can agree are taken up. Like for example Gummi Tarzan (a film about a bullied boy who finds a friend in a manual labourer). “Ah…that’s a shame for that boy” we all say in unison. That is precisely the kind of preconditioned reaction I will go against.”

Are these the words of a MUFF filmmaker? No, they are words of Lars von Trier appearing in the journal Politken from 1982, but they sum up pretty much what we want to say here at MUFF in 2005. Enough polite coming of age Australian movies, enough already with this insistent and incessant political correctness. That is precisely the kind of cinema we intend to go against. We have had enough! So... The 1st MUFF Manifesto is born and fills a portion of our largest catalogue and best festival yet. Do you dig it, Oh my Brothers and Sisters?

Welcome to the 6th Melbourne Underground Film Festival. That’s right six! From 2000 to 2005, we have created from nada, six festivals of groundbreaking cinema, cutting edge retrospectives all filled with confrontational, iconoclastic and controversial ideas that have sparked many a local debate... in the underground, in the mainstream, in the industry and in the media. So what can we expect from MUFF 6? Well, we are on message after all these years…read on.

All along at MUFF we have been championing independent, low budget and underground cinema in Australia. We have long said it holds the key to a path of palingenetic (i.e Phoenix like...hence the MUFF logo) renewal for the Australian Film Industry. And time has proven us right. With the success of many filmmakers who received their first screenings of their work anywhere in the world at MUFF like James Wan and Scott Ryan (see our Congratulations on line and in our press releases), to the continuing support we give longer established figures like Mark Savage, Bill Mousoulis, Matthew George, Jon Hewitt, Paul Moder and a host of others to the showcasing of great new comers like Shannon Young, Jason Turley, Anna Brownfield, Mark Bakaitis, Gregory Pakis…we could go on but you get the idea. MUFF is fast becoming an essential incubator and exhibitor for a new movement in Australian film.

So with everyone in the media talking about the dire state of the local industry and catching up with our yearly assertion that the current status quo in the Australian Film industry is in a bad way, (or in French “Totally fucked”). We thought what better year than this to focus on the Local film industry as our theme. That’s right…The Australian Film Industry is in Crisis.

With our eye on constructive criticism we suggest something to do about the industry crisis in our first ever Manifesto. This colonic for the local film industry is long overdue and should we hope provide much food for thought and fuel for debate in the whole film community.

I realise for many years I have been my own worst enemy at MUFF filling its pages with personal philosophical interpretations of Heidegger or rants on this and that allowing my own personality and ideas to get far too much in the way of the real purpose of this festival. The real purpose of this festival is to play the best new independent, guerrilla and underground cinema with a special focus on local Indy product (but still playing many OS highlights and retros), that are often ignored elsewhere. The reticence of larger festivals to embrace the paradigm shift in filmmaking and local production has allowed MUFF to grow as one of the true champions of authentic Indy cinema in this country. All this with little or now NO support from government funding bodies.

For all this hard work without pay from all our festival volunteers and my own blood, sweat and tears over the years we have been made outsiders in the industry. Those who wish to marginalise MUFF are amongst others; cultural gate keeper Adrian Martin whose unfair attacks on our festival every year in The Age betray some form of grudge and some members of the established funding bodies, film schools and festivals we sometimes constructively criticize. All this amounts to is a general desire of those in power (whether as critics, festival heads or in funding bodies), like those anywhere in power, for things to stay the same in the industry, despite mountainous contrary evidence from many sources that the Australian Film Industry is disintegrating all around us. The Emperor has no clothes!

There is another type of person in the Industry we call the Industry Crisis Denier. David Michod, from IF magazine initially revealed his card carrying status as an Industry Crisis Denier. Here is what Mr.Michod had to say when we asked why he would not cover MUFF pre-festival, “Beyond that, my feeling is that MUFF’s theme this year is one that we don’t have an affinity with. I don’t believe the Australian industry is in crisis - at least no more so than any other non-Hollywood industry and no more so than the fragile state it has always been in (in its own fluctuating way). The whole ‘crisis’ line is one run most vociferously by the mainstream media and doesn’t really reflect what’s actually happening on the ground and is certainly one we have endeavoured to distance ourselves from if not counter”. That might explain why MUFF has had no coverage in IF magazine, except for our paid and contra ads. Now I really like IF Magazine and didn’t get this at all...Just keep silent about the industries problems, no debate, no intelligent discussion outside of mainstream papers? Crisis talk doesn’t reflect what’s happening on the ground? We at MUFF beg to differ, our festival couldn’t be more on the ground, under it actually, and we see plenty of cause for concern, debate and action. We wrote back to Mr. Michod asking some questions we will put online later and got this, “While I wouldn’t be game to say that the industry is as healthy as it might be, you would have to agree that the ‘crisis’ discourse has become such a regular feature of the mainstream media’s entertainment sections as to be somehow forewarning of a state of emergency. It’s not that I don’t think the industry has mountains to climb - it always does - it’s just that ‘crisis’ talk in the media is getting tired (and, when read closely, is almost always ill informed). Our distance therefore is not about absolute disagreement - it’s simply about perspective.” David Michod sounds confused here… there is no crisis but he wouldn’t be game to say the industry is as healthy as it might be? So there is something wrong then. The Mainstream media is forewarning a State of Emergency? We agree with the media and actually declare a State of Emergency in the MUFF manifesto. The industry has mountains to climb, as it always does? Did it have mountains to climb in the 70’s? No, but it does now if we are to grow the Second Australian Film Renaissance. What we need is for magazines like IF to take up the debate and give it the intelligent coverage they say is lacking in the mainstream press. Perspective? It is certainly about perspective and how some perspectives need to be reconsidered…Maybe it was the Somersault Sucks T-shirt that got the IF crew a little peeved with MUFF and I, who knows?

The “Somersault Sucks” thing at the IF awards in Sydney 2004, while being a trivial prank, should be explained a little more. Now at MUFF we know Somersault is not the worst Australian film by any stretch of the imagination. Even I will say it was well shot, had an OK score and Abbie Cornish could be interesting with a different character, in fact she was good in the short film, “Everything Goes“ - Opening Night at St.Kilda Film Festival. Many Australian films have been worse of late - many, many. But the point I was trying to make is that Somersault was not that great either. It was being held up as some great work of genius but was mediocre at best. This to me smelt of something rotten in the state of Denmark or the old Emperor’s clothes deal again. Well, we say No…Both Tom White and The Man Who Read Love Stories were better films and I thought a Somersault Sucks T-shirt might shake things up a bit. As usual it did…

Well, most people in this community all know that never before has so few people watched Australian films and never before has the industry performed so poorly financially… both locally and overseas. We have been merely the messenger of the industry’s decline over the years at MUFF and we say to all concerned… what is the saying of antiquity about not shooting the messenger? Well, as mentioned, we have been shot from behind by the AFC this year removing our only government grant. But, it will take more than that to silence this festival, of that we can assure you. These folk know the basic charter of MUFF they cannot critique. Well from now we will keep our critiques and controversies industry related and hopefully be an oasis of authenticity in a sea of bullshit.

Who cares about my opinions on various other topics of philosophy, politics and whatever? The real issue here is - the Australian Film Industry is in crisis and what we can ALL do to save it. The ideas in this festival deserve to be debated and discussed at all levels of the industry in the hope we can save this once great Industry from the decline that is here now. Debate must be conducted, forums and action committees must be formed. Read the Manifesto for more MUFF ideas on this. What are yours?

We are not just messengers of doom and gloom at MUFF, we are here to tell you this industry could be turned around with half of the current government funding levels. Yes that’s right, we say to Liberal Politicians in power Federally…why do you go on funding these left wing champagne socialists who do nothing constructive to help the industry and despise your every utterance, who openly criticise the Liberal Party at every industry function in unashamed party bias? Government officials why don’t you shake things up a bit, form a crisis committee, appoint an Ombudsmen…you have the real POWER, you have the money! We suggest in our Manifesto and elsewhere, if simply the right people with creativity and passion for filmmaking had a hand in these committees of exclusion (like the one who rejected our MUFF proposal for funding in 2004/2005), and make them committees of inclusion… the industry could be transformed quick, snap. It only takes a few filmmakers with exciting new projects to break out and become bastions of the industry... to turn this famine into a feast.

We may be Outsiders, but what the dull ineffective establishment Industry and those giving us our Outsider status don’t realize is… really we Outsiders are the new Insiders. We are the cutting edge exponents of cinematic innovation, who create new shorts and features from the very passion of our souls with generally little or no government funding. From this grass roots revolution, a new industry is forming and building that will one day be the mainstream Australian Film Industry. And while people in power knock us now, they are… as we say… in a temporal sense, History. Those filmmakers who we help to exhibit, who are the industry of tomorrow, will know and remember MUFF fondly for its support and welcome us into the mainstream industry of the future.

This year’s festival with our program and Manifesto is our contribution to making active and constructive change occur in the industry and for once we would like to see it acknowledged and perhaps shown the respect its thankless task and over arching goal deserves in the here and now… as well as in future times.

Speaking of Outsiders, my decision to make Frank Howson President of the Jury may raise some eyebrows but it was a simple decision to make. Frank Howson and Peter Boyle’s Boulevard films ran into financial trouble about ten years ago. I have heard different stories from different people about this. Frank has assured me of his own at the time naive but overall good intentions in the whole collapse of Boulevard films. Howson has said that “...even though I was not involved in the financial side of Boulevard I have paid more than enough for those who were.” But frankly the details don’t interest me. I’ll tell you why I choose Frank Howson as El Presidente. I am simply returning a favour, the favour of belief in someone. In1991 Frank Howson took an unheard of chance on a 22 year old director to make a slasher film he wrote called “The Intruder” (the rough cut screens this year in our Oz retro). We met strangely enough at the MIFF Opening Night 1991(!) and he called me into his office the following week. We spoke for an hour and he seemed to like me. Then out of nowhere he said “You’re hired” and gave me my first paying job as director. I was 22 and about to direct and helm a 35mm feature with full crew and professional cast. That experience was worth more than ten years of film school and was an amazing experience. Now with Frank returning to Oz from OS recently it was a pleasure to offer him the top Jury seat this year.

He believed in a young naïve 22 year old and I now believe in him. Say what you want about Boulevard films implosion but Frank was an ambitious visionary of the industry who nearly pulled off a local Miramax or Alliance Pictures. He may have some controversy in his past, but if there is ever a festival not to worry about controversy it is MUFF. Frank Howson helped launch the careers of many in the Australian film industry, myself included, and most especially that of Guy Pearce (though…who I think considering his meteoric rise owes Frank Howson an appearance in a new film or some assistance at the very least). There is an old concept out of fashion these days called Honour and helping out a wounded digger in the trenches of the culture wars is all part of this concept. MUFF is a festival of Redemption with a capital R and we happily welcome Mr. Howson back to Australia as our Jury Head and wish him all the best for the future.

Enjoy MUFF 6 in 2005 and remember the film industry belongs to you the passionate filmmakers of tomorrow and don’t let anyone else ever tell you different. You may be outsiders now, but in the coming years you will be the Australian Film Industry and then we can laugh about these dark and dull local times of cinematic oblivion and how we all struggled and helped to change them.

Best Regards
Richard Wolstencroft

PS. Festival highlights in this year’s program from my own point of view are: Jim VanBebber (sorry we mucked spelling of his name on poster folks, doh!) retro with the bad man himself in person, Femme Dentata our chick flick focus, Mini-MUFF, Ivan’s XTC, Tarnation preview, Free Cinema especially Lindsay Anderson’s If…, Famous Directors early shorts, our go-nude nudist movie event in SEXY MUFF, our MUFF Symposium: prelude free forums, Ed Wood retro, three brilliant new features Wait Means Never, Spring Rhapsody and Welcome to Greensborough in MUFF Neu, The Money Shot on Closing Night and more I have forgotten on deadline.

P.P.S Please could someone, anyone else, at The Age besides Adrian Martin please review MUFF in 2005. Phillipa Hawker, Jim Schembri where are you when we need you? Pretty please anyone but Adrian. We don’t want to silence him, he can publish his opinions online at Senses of Cinema or his own site or we will happily publish them online at MUFF. But Adrian’s cultural gate keeping ways in The Age must be brought to an end (a view many industry professionals both mainstream, underground and in the distribution and exhibition business share!).We will send a letter to the Editor of Metro in The Age requesting a little diversity in reviewer of our festival is long overdue.