UNNAMED FOOTAGE FEST is Back and Bigger than Ever!
Last night was the official kick off of this year’s annual Unnamed Footage Festival, a film fest led by the mind of our friend and my personal hero, Madeleine Koestner.
Without mashing words and fumbling over introductions, we’ll cut to the chase. There is no other festival like this found footage genre fest, so folks in the San Francisco area need to get out and support this incredible event right away.
Check out just a few of the titles that we here at The Farsighted are most excited for!
MASKING THRESHOLD
I was able to screen this unique and singular vision due to my connection with other film festivals. While my fellow judges were turned off by its abrasive and grating nature, I was drawn all the closer. Whether we loved or hated it, we all agreed it was gripping, hard to watch, and extremely creative in its scope and nature. While disappointed I personally was unable to program it, it is extremely fitting into UFF’s weird little niche and I’m stoked to see it getting support.
An oddity of hybrid mockumentary, Masking Threshold tracks the descent-into-madness of an isolated would-be scientist, who sets out to understand a peculiar form of tinnitus he’s developed. Ostensibly a found vlog composed entirely of macro and extreme closeup footage, Masking Threshold is a deeply unsettling film with stomach-churning sequences of violence, depravity, and grossness.
CURSE OF AURORE
A title I’d never heard of personally, I read the description and saw some images and was immediately hooked. The trailer only solidifed that. With a set up that harkens to modern YouTube shows and true crime podcasts, the connection to other areas of interest makes this one feel all the more real. This is definitely one of the titles I’m most excited for. And the screening is followed by a Q&A!
While researching the historic murder of Aurore Gagnon for a script inspired by her story, three filmmakers cross a line. By the time they realize they’ve tampered with something they shouldn’t have, their footage is already on its way to being sold in a mystery box on the dark web.
THE OUTWATERS
As I’ve become friends with this festival’s curator, I am lucky enough to keep in contact with her throughout the year. Every now and again she’ll mention a movie I should seek out for festival consideration of my own or just tell me that she’s obsessed. I was previously made aware of the great Murder Death Koreatown in this way and this go around, she told me she was obsessed with a film called The Outwaters. And, lucky enough for me and for all of you, this film is playing UFF this weekend. Like Aurore, it’s followed by a Q&A… so, it really seems like a can’t miss showing!
Four travellers encounter a menacing phenomena while shooting a music video in a remote stretch of the Mojave Desert. Filled with indescribable creatures squirming their way out of darkness, THE OUTWATERS is a dizzying slow burn of other-wordly terror caked in dried blood.
MALIBU HORROR STORY
Here’s one I’ve heard mentioned to me, but I’m not sure by who or what they mentioned. The description and trailer, however, make it seem like a real blast. The combination of the festival’s description of the film (below) and the short teaser trailer (above) has me ready to dive in.
A team of paranormal investigators search a sacred Native American cave for clues in the unsolved disappearance of four local teens. While celebrating the completion of their project in the cave and reviewing the documentary edited from the teens footage they discovered, the team begins to notice anomalies they missed on earlier watches, and begin to fear for their lives. A hybrid found footage/horror film narrative, Malibu Horror Story is the bombastic crowd-pleaser of UFF5 that will have the audience shrieking and leaping out of their seats in terror.
In addition to these and several other great new features, some premiering for the first time, the festival boasts several awesome repertory screenings, from big hitters like Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon to lesser known gems like The Collingswood Story and FTW. Suffice it to say, this lineup is the biggest and best yet for the 5 year old genre festival.
Find more info at unnamedfootagefestival.com!
