BeatRoute Magazine AB print e-edition - April 2017

FILM
CALGARY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
by Jonathan Lawrence
comedy, animation, horror, E.T.s, cereal and more
Wild and weird meets fun and fantasy at this year’s CUFF.
The Calgary Underground Film Festival, now in its
fourteenth year, will be returning this April to shock,
startle and surprise local film lovers. Each year, the
team behind the festival somehow manages to round up a
few dozen of the most esoteric, thrilling, thought-provoking,
funny, and downright weird films you’ll ever see, and this year
is no different. Programming Director Brenda Lieberman was
able to tell us all about it.
“I love the lineup this year,” says Lieberman, positive as
ever. Her unwavering optimism towards her festivals, including
the Calgary International Film Festival, is the hard-earned
product of endless hours screening and narrowing down the
exponentially growing number of independent films submitted
each year. Selecting the films that make the final lineup
isn’t as simple as choosing names out of a hat, or by seeing
what other festivals are playing. Calgary’s film festivals are truly
crafted with the city’s audiences in mind.
“We’re always looking for a broad mix of films so we can
appeal to everybody,” she says. “There’s some that are very edgy
or provocative or challenging in different ways, but not for the
sake of it,” acknowledging the simplistic and inaccurate view
that these are films with all style and no substance. “We feel
really passionately about the films [and] connected with them
in different ways. There’s different styles for everybody. We
wanted to make sure we had an animation film this year (My
Entire High School is Sinking Into the Sea). They’re all accessibly
weird, they all have something uniquely amazing about them.”
One such film was a documentary called “Love and Saucers,”
which tells the story about an elderly man who believes
he’s had extraterrestrial communication throughout his entire
life, including having interspecies romance with one. You can’t
make this stuff up, folks, but damn if it isn’t fascinating.
“I love that film,” chimed in Lieberman.
Calgary’s art scene has been growing every year, though it’s
hard to explain why. Perhaps the demographics have shifted,
or social media has improved the exposure to these events,
but regardless, the Calgary Underground Film Festival is seeing
record attendances each year. Lieberman says if last year’s
success is any indication of this year, then they’re in business.
“[It was] the best year we had and that’s what people feel
about this year. If we keep the numbers up we can potentially
expand next year.”
Interestingly, although other underground film festivals
around North America draw bigger audiences, such as the
Chicago Underground Film Festival, Calgary’s version shows
more films and runs longer. “You’re programming to fit your
audience but you’re also having to program a little bit in a
bit of an ebb and flow and with an eye open what is going
on in your city.”
It seems though at this rate that Calgary’s may join the
ranks of Chicago or Boston. Lieberman states that each festival
works closely with one another, which she says “keeps [them]
on their toes.”
Although each film in the lineup looks promising, we asked
Lieberman which ones most excited her, a question which
proved to be as difficult to answer as the dreaded “What
kind of music do you listen to?” After some careful thought,
she conceded that the Israeli film, People That Are Not Me,
and the other world films were particularly worth seeing.
“[They’re] all outstanding. I love all of them.”
That said, she expressed how excited the festival programmers
were to obtain The Little Hours after seeing it at
Sundance, a comedy about a group of emotionally unstable
nuns starring Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman and
Fred Armisen, to name some of the comedic cast. “The second
I saw it, I said this is perfect for our opening,’ she says. “We’re
looking for something that’s going to be really fun to kick off
the festival.” She assures that it’s still going to be accessible,
despite being quirky and edgy. “Having a religious comedy on
Easter Monday we thought was perfect,” she joked.
Despite the growing success of film festivals in Calgary,
it’s not without its challenges. Digital streaming trends have
presented problems for all forms of media, and film festivals
are no exception. Lieberman explains the pace in which
things are moving to Netflix means that film distributors are
not necessarily planning festivals as part of their strategy.
She suggests that the festival might have to consider picking
up films faster than they come out or that they might have
to consider down the road what it means to show a film
that’s already been released. She stresses though that the experience
is far better with an audience. “The point of all this
is that it is more fun to come out to be part of a festival,” she
says. “It encourages conversation.”
One the best aspects of the Calgary Underground Film Festival
is the Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon
Party, which is as fun as it is wordy - so, a lot. Each year, the
festival celebrates retro cartoons and cereal for a day of pure
nostalgia and has grown in popularity immensely. “For years,
we were just in one theatre and we were selling it out and then
we expanded to two theatres,” Lieberman said. “This year’s
Saturday is Earth Day and we’re gonna be switching a lot of
our stuff to biodegradable and compostable. It’s really fun and
crazy and people can bring their kids, people wear pyjamas
and dress up.”
Equal parts fun, odd, and bold, the Calgary Underground
Film Festival has something for everyone. This year, they created
a new online system where if people choose to buy more
than five tickets at a time, they’ll get a much more efficient
price. So max out that dollar and spend some time underground
this April. See you down there.
CUFF will run from April 17-23 at the Globe Cinema.
FUBAR 15 TH ANNIVERSARY
by Mathew Silver
turning down the suck a decade and a half later
The cult-classic FUBAR will be
screened as part of The Calgary
Underground Film Festival (CUFF)
at the Globe Cinema from April 17-23,
almost 15 years after the indie flick earned
a spot at Sundance and established itself
in local film lore.
At its core, FUBAR is a tragicomedy
about two emotionally ill-equipped friends,
Terry and Dean, trying to confront the
ugly literalness of death. It’s a lo-fi portrait
of Canadiana, littered with bits of cultural
realism that continues to resonate with fans
a decade and a half later.
Director Michael Dowse said he could
have never known that the mockumentary
would have such a cultural impact: “Our
goal was to make a good film, and to make
a funny film… but we didn’t expect it to hit
the way it did.”
Dowse, who went on to direct Goon,
said that a mockumentary was the perfect
platform for the film, because the modest
production quality suits the tone of the
film. After spending about twenty thousand
dollars, he knew that he had a decent final
cut of the film and an invitation to the Sundance
Film Festival. What he didn’t know is
that FUBAR would land on the short list of
iconic Canadian films. In fact, a sequel was
released by popular demand in 2010 and a
TV run has been ordered by Rogers Media
and VICE Studios.
The impact is obvious. FUBAR made
a popular house-party beer, glamorized
the mullet, and spawned several quotes
like, “Turn up the good, turn down the
suck” and “Tron funkin blow.” The film
has stayed relevant by preserving itself
in our vernacular and by evoking the
high school experience – even if it’s told
through the lens of two adult males
clinging desperately to their youth.
For me, the appeal is familiar images:
banal white suburban houses with
bottle-strewn lawns, a Canadian flag hung
tastelessly but by necessity in the living
room, and the revelry of a party barely
Relive the nostalgia of this Canadian classic at CUFF.
visible from the sidewalk through a tiny gap
in the curtains; a Stamps’ game, floating
down the Elbow River, and a fence outside
of Western Canada High School (my Alma
Mater, go Redbirds!).
Re-watching the film is an exercise in
waxing nostalgic.
We learn from the title card that the
documentary is “fictional,” with apologies to
all the people who appeared in the movie
thinking it was real. Dowse said this was
done with complete sincerity, but despite
the warning many people still can’t discern
what was pre-ordained by the filmmakers
and what might very well be real people
who stumbled into the scene. In effect, it
blurs the line between mockumentary and
reality and creates a surreal experience for
the viewer.
There’s a scene where two guys fistfight in
High River, and it’s brutally authentic. Which
is to suggest that neither of the guys can
fight for shit but still gave it the good old
college try. It’s scenes like this than lend the
film a raw authenticity.
A decade ago, when I first watched the
movie, I couldn’t tell whether Farrel Mitchner
actually died after taking that seemingly
innocuous dive into the river. It’s only now
that I can appreciate the irony of Terry
showing up to the wake in sweatpants and
a cowboy shirt, and telling the now-cringeworthy
“bin der dun dat” joke. Or even the
fact that Terry and Deaner showed up at all.
And that’s one of the small pleasures
of reliving these things 15 years later. Even
Dowse said that he still gets gratification
from knowing that the movie had a
longstanding impact on people. “I think the
thing I’m most proud of is that people really
hold it close to their hearts. They like it as
much as I cared about it when I made it.
Even 15 years later it’s extremely satisfying.”
FUBAR will be shown on April 20th at the
Globe Cinema as part of CUFF. Director
Michael Dowse and star Dave Lawrence will
be in attendance.
30 | APRIL 2017 • BEATROUTE FILM