A quarter-century of MUFF is nothing short of a defiant miracle, and I want to congratulate my friend — enfant terrible and MUFF Festival Director — Richard Wolstencroft — on this hard-won achievement.

Born from sheer will and legendary determination, this grassroots festival has survived the kind of cultural gatekeeping that would’ve buried lesser events. While big corporate festivals tick boxes for grants, MUFF stands a band apart — uncompromising, unapologetic and fiercely human.

In an era where “progress” increasingly means beige algorithmic conformity, MUFF rages against the erosion of imagination. Our films provoke and entertain. They celebrate the messy, offensive, sublime traits that make us human — traits now labelled “controversial” or “radical”. MUFF isn’t about nostalgia or blind contrarianism, but it is a kind of necessary resistance: an underdog spirit. In 2025, we double down on the weird, the beautiful and the raw.

Our selection embodies MUFF’s usual, unforced global diversity, spotlighting distinctive voices from Australia and beyond.

Australian highlights include:

• TRACY — feature by Kostadinos Hatzivalsamis, about the 1974 cyclone that devastated Darwin.
• TAPE ’96 — B-movie inspired horror short by Lulu Forti.
• VERMIN — black-and-white horror short by Jonah Howell.
• SPACE MAN — surreal dark comedy / thriller short by Elijah Cassidy.

International highlights include:

• VIDEO DREAMS: A VHS MASSACRE STORY — feature documentary by Thomas Seymour, a collective portrait chronicling three decades of American low-budget film movement.
• PRAYER OF THE SEA — beautiful short from Germany by Martin Gerigk.
• REDDENING — surreal Finnish short by Sinem Kayacan.
• ILLUMINATUS! — US short by Chris Kalis, a point of interest for fans of the Robert Anton Wilson trilogy of the same name.
• THE PUDDLE — UK experimental short by John Woodman.

Join us in celebrating 25 years of filmmakers, dreamers, misfits, underdogs and provocateurs standing outside the gates, making cinema that refuses to kneel.

Attend! Resist!

Efisia Fele
Festival Programmer