Boston Underground Film Festival

Boston, MA, United States, North America

Boston Underground Film Festival logo
Boston Underground Film Festival

Boston, MA, United States, North America

Is this your festival?

Is this your festival?

General Information

edition

22nd

organizers

Kevin Monahan

Artistic Director

Nicole McControversy

Director of Programming

Bryan McKay

Media Director

Contact details

6 Liberty Square Unit 287 Boston, MA 02109 United States

02109

info@bostonunderground.org

857-600-2833

Web & social

About the festival

BUFF seeks films that celebrate alternative visions and sounds, offering a platform that connects filmmakers with one another and our intelligent, engaged, and incredibly passionate audience, and encourages new ideas in celebration of work that pushes the envelope in style and content.

We are looking for challenging & exceptional independent features and shorts in the categories of: Dark comedy, genre, bleak sci-fi, cerebral and/or psychedelic horror, strange documentary, fantastic music video, mature animation, and/or films that defy description (preferably with a WTF) from all over the world.

Since 2012, BUFF's primary screening venue has been the historic Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. In addition to film screenings, BUFF hosts receptions and parties all over Cambridge and Somerville for attending filmmakers, industry guests, audience members, and media.

We pride ourselves on the caliber of the content we exhibit, the hospitality of our dedicated and 100% volunteer staff, and the passionate community we've fostered here in New England; we hope you'll check us out!

Rather than giving cash or trade value prizes for awards, BUFF doles out a trophy in the shape of a demonic black bunny (after the festival's evil rabbit mascot, Bacchus).

The annual award categories are:
Audience Choice Award: Best of Fest Short, Best of Fest Feature
Best First Feature
Director's Choice (BUFF organizers): Best Short, Best Feature
Best New England Film

Occasionally, special awards (e.g. Lifetime Achievement) are selected as well.

About

BUFF seeks films that celebrate alternative visions and sounds, offering a platform that connects filmmakers with one another and our intelligent, engaged, and incredibly passionate audience, and encourages new ideas in celebration of work that pushes the envelope in style and content.

We are looking for challenging & exceptional independent features and shorts in the categories of: Dark comedy, genre, bleak sci-fi, cerebral and/or psychedelic horror, strange documentary, fantastic music video, mature animation, and/or films that defy description (preferably with a WTF) from all over the world.

Since 2012, BUFF's primary screening venue has been the historic Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. In addition to film screenings, BUFF hosts receptions and parties all over Cambridge and Somerville for attending filmmakers, industry guests, audience members, and media.

We pride ourselves on the caliber of the content we exhibit, the hospitality of our dedicated and 100% volunteer staff, and the passionate community we've fostered here in New England; we hope you'll check us out!

Rather than giving cash or trade value prizes for awards, BUFF doles out a trophy in the shape of a demonic black bunny (after the festival's evil rabbit mascot, Bacchus).

The annual award categories are:
Audience Choice Award: Best of Fest Short, Best of Fest Feature
Best First Feature
Director's Choice (BUFF organizers): Best Short, Best Feature
Best New England Film

Occasionally, special awards (e.g. Lifetime Achievement) are selected as well.

Awards & Winners

There are no winners yet for this festival

Terms and rules

SUBMISSION, EXHIBITION FORMATS
Films 60 minutes and above are considered feature length. Films under 60 minutes but above 20 minutes are considered medium length. Films under 20 minutes are considered short length.

Short, medium length, and feature length submissions must be online screeners; no physical copies accepted. All submissions in a foreign language must be subtitled or dubbed in English. If submitting more than one film, a separate completed entry is required for each title. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, submitted items cannot be returned.

Accepted Feature films must be available on DCP or 35mm (required for exhibition). All accepted short and medium length films must be available on DCP and authored by a professional post-house. "Homebrewed" DCPs will not be accepted under any circumstances. If a filmmaker cannot produce proof of professional DCP authorship, the filmmaker agrees to either allow BudgetDCP (BUFF's official DCP partner) to author a DCP at a discounted rate or to get a DCP authored by a professional post-house (and provide proof thereof). BUFF will not accept digital files as exhibition copies for ANY films accepted into the festival. While other festivals are able to screen a variety of digital formats, BUFF's venue can only screen professionally authored DCPs, no exceptions.

NOTIFICATION AND SCHEDULING
Selected films are scheduled at the discretion of BUFF. BUFF retains the right to make changes to the published schedule at any time and for any reason. BUFF will notify all filmmakers of acceptance/rejection status via email by no later than March 1, 2020.

OUT-OF-FESTIVAL CONSIDERATION
All rejected films will be considered for our monthly programming series, Dispatches from the Underground. Throughout the year we screen shorts blocks and feature films that were not selected for the festival; our programming staff will reach out directly to filmmakers if we are interested in screening your work as part of our Dispatches series.

RELEASE
Boston Underground Film Festival (henceforth referred to as BUFF) is hereby granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival for promotional purposes. The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations. The undersigned shall indemnify and hold harmless BUFF from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.

Ratings & Reviews

Matchmaking

What is the title of your film?

Type in your film's title

Choose a film to find matches for

Choose one of your film that you're already created, or create a new one to find matches for.

How long is your film?

Tell us your film’s duration

min.

What type of category does your film fall into?

Select one from the following list

What is the genre of your film?

You can select multiple genres

What should be the main focus of your festival strategy?

Please select one option

Monetary award

Select one from the following list

Festival qualifications that you're interested in

You can select multiple options

How much money would you spend on festival submissions?

Define us your submission budget

EUR

Start date of submission

Please enter a date when you plan to start submitting your film to festivals