A bit MIFFed then go get MUFFed

As the dust settles on another MIFF you know that MUFF is just around the corner.
2013 is the year of the 14th Melbourne Underground Film Festival, born out of Richard Wolstencroft's frustration at Melbourne's showcase festival he has nurtured and grown a festival that aims to truly support the independent filmmakers of his home town and further afield too.

Surely, Poster of the year?

The program has gone live and is available on the web site and contains some pretty wild stuff including a doco by the Director himself 'The Last Days of Joe Blow' which at the very least will be worth a listen with the soundtrack coming from David Thrussell (remember SNOG?)

I want to just highlight a few films that I know and recommend.
For me the most exciting is MADE IN AUSTRALIA, Matt Pastor's latest feature. I aint going to go into it fully in this post but the chance to see it on the big screen is one not to be missed.
Teetering on the thin line of doco and drama, this is a self reflective journey of identity, love, sex, booze and abuse. Love to fuck and fuck to love, loath to love and love to loath.
Be it in Hong Kong or Melbourne Matt wears his influence on his sleeve be it a tad Sion Sono or stuck in a Hong Sang-soo loop. As the program says "a fascinating and raw film"

The bonus is that it is screening with his Hong Kong short 鬼佬 (Ghost Man)

Another cracker to catch is Maria Tran's Hit Girls which I covered in a previous post.
Some of the best girl on girl kung fu action to come out of West Sydney in a long time...or ever?
and there is another Hong Kong connection, JuJu Chan bangs it out alongside Maria.

JuJu Chan & Maria Tran star in Hit Girls

 Lastly I want to mention the twins, Chris & Rob Smellin, two of the most earnest and diligent filmmakers I've had the pleasure to know. Oh and they make pretty good films too.
The laugh is that they have two films in the festival this year....get it, they're twins!!!!!!
oh and the films are both pretty fucked up pieces. Creepy, bloody and kinda confronting.
She's Having a Baby is totally about damaged goods and
Last Night has the damaged goods looking for vengence.
These guys just get better and better with every film they make and the great thing is that they get seen all around the world too. You could call them festival favourites but it sounds a bit tossy, don't it? But their list of festival credits, for every film they have made, is the longest that I know.

These last three are all showing in what is called Mini MUFF and I'm sure they are surrounded by other great shorts but I'll let you discover that.

MUFF XIV September 6th to 14th at Revolt Cinemas 1 & 2 Check it!

The Huntresses (조선미녀삼총사)

Like your all girl, historical action flick to have a wee bit of tongue in cheek?
Look no further. The Huntress teaser

  

Set in the Joseon period of Korea (a rather large slab of time of 500 years or so?) it features 3 bounty hunters Jin-Ok (Ha Ji-Won), Hong-Dan (Kang Ye-Won) & Ga-Bi (Son Ga-In) who form a group to thwart a power play against the royal throne.
Are they Musketeers? or more probably Ninjas?, possibly three Stooges? or even Charlies Angels....Nah. Directed by Park Je-Hyun, set for release in May 2013, it is a martial arts romp that has a good dose of the comedic. However the few comedies that I have seen from Korea always seem to run deeper than the silly and stupid that we have come to expect from Hollywood so I'm expecting interesting at the very least.
Maybe this is along the lines of what Maria Tran is doing with her filmmaking in Sydney?
I shall wait and see.

Ha-Ji-Won

     

Son Ga-in

Kang Ye-won

Synopsis

As a child, Jin-ok witnessed the murder of her father and narrowly escaped death. She is taken under the wing of Mu-myeong, the man who saved her life, and trains in martial arts alongside two other girls. 10 years pass and the girls are now Joseon's best bounty hunters. One day, Jin-ok is asked to take on a case for a handsome reward. Against their master's wishes, the trio takes on the job, not knowing it will eventually lead them to the man responsible for the death of Jin-ok's father 10 years before.

 

Hit Girls: Kung Fu Sydney Way

This is the final push for HIT GIRLS - a girl on girl action kung fu film staring Hong Kong celebrity JuJu Chan and Sydney mover and shaker Maria Tran. Less than 48hrs to jump onboard and support.
After a glitch in the system (Indigogo & PayPal) the campaign has been granted an extension.
4 days to go as of the 13th Nov. Go Go Go!

  "This fast turnover project (written in late Sept, production in Oct-Nov, editing in Nov and launch in Dec) is solely supported via community donations from as little as $10 is still in need of further support to reach it’s $4,000 target mark." http://www.indiegogo.com/hitgirls?c=home

And that kinda sums up Maria Tran, she is a fast turn around, go getter, doer, with a slight tongue in check sense of humour? She first came to my attention with her Quest for Jacki Chan but that's a whole other story. There's also a mocumentary Hot Bread Shop and some fun with Super Vlogger Natalie Tran from the community channel.
Check out some more of her vids on the youtube and especially
Enter the Dojo - test shoot (below)
This is just scratching the surface but the point being
             TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO HELP  HIT GIRLS

If you like the fight then get on over to Indigogo and support this project