MUFF 25 – Director’s Statement – 25 Years of MUFF!

You get less for manslaughter, I know!

25 years I have been running this festival. That’s a quarter of a lifetime, maybe a third. I normally take the opportunity to scold the local film industry establishment for not getting behind enough local indie and underground films and projects, and for injecting an insipid wokeness and PC-ness into projects that is proscriptive and artificial. No one goes to see a film to get a political lecture. All that still stands.

But this year I’m going to focus on MUFF’s achievements. Over 25 years we have fostered many great voices here at MUFF. On the About page of our website you can see a few of who they are – many very big names now. We have played many films on controversial topics and will continue to do so. We come from a 90s mindset of being provocative, in your face, and starting conversations – good or bad. We have never shied away from controversy or from defending free speech. We even risked legal trouble to screen work by LGBT filmmakers (the Bruce LaBruce LA Zombie controversy), and were in the same breath accused of homophobia. That’s the duality, and that’s fine.

Even some of my critics have admired my staying power with this festival and said the overall gist of my critique of the local industry is correct.

25 years is a long time. I have outlasted, and even outlived, many of my critics. One notable critic of mine was a confirmed super-pro-vaccine advocate who just happened to “die suddenly” a few years back. Well, what can you say? At MUFF, through screening films that challenge mainstream narratives, you can’t say we didn’t try to broaden the conversation.

MUFF has had a cultural impact. The mainstream funding bodies now regularly back horror and genre material. Films like Talk to Me and Bring Her Back by Danny and Michael Philippou, and Late Night with the Devil – produced by MUFF alumni – are just two breakthrough examples that local Aussie genre films are kicking ass locally and overseas.

This is what MUFF has always been about – that, and causing a little trouble in these dull cancel-culture times. Let me just say this: if you believe in cancel culture and screwing over other creatives for thinking differently, you aren’t an artist or filmmaker. Go find something else to do.

After 25 years I’ve more than once threatened to quit or resign from MUFF. One day soon I might. 25 years is a long time, and I want to focus anew on my own filmmaking, which is at a good stage, with two new projects on the boil. I stayed on as a “fuck you” to my critics, but most have faded now. If I do step down, I’ll work out a succession plan for MUFF to continue. I’d like it to go on and for someone else to have a go, going forward.

So there it is. Check out Efisia Fele’s programmer statement for MUFF 25’s film recommendations. She has been the festival’s rock the last few years, and I thank her, along with our new Graphic Designer Robert Chawner, and longtime webmaster Michael Tierney.

25 years is the end of an era and also the start of something new. Come and join us and be part of it at The Black Sheep Hawthorn, back for our second year at this appropriately named venue!

Long live MUFF, and thanks to all friends, foes and punters over the last 25 years – it’s been a ride.

Best regards,
Richard Wolstencroft
Festival Director

“Dick from MUFF,” as Sam Newman calls me, whose podcast You Can’t Be Serious I’ve been a regular on these last two years. Take a listen.