The controversial battleground for truly independent film: The Minneapolis Underground Film Festival.

3 days, 45 films, 9 countries, 14 local filmmakers, one voice.

Exploring topics from Seduction to adventure, the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival or MUFF reveals a vibrant underground culture seldom seen on the upper surface of everyday life.

Minneapolis, MN, USA, December 4th-6th 2009 — In the dead of the Minneapolis winter when the days are darkest, an underground culture of filmmakers exhibit their work. They come from all corners of the globe but also represent a vibrant underground film culture buried in the snow bound basements of Minnesota. Here as the blizzards rage outside they sit for hours hunched over their editing systems preparing the final touches to their masterpieces that will premier to local packed audiences hungry for “Difficult Cinema”.

Movies like the opening night premiere: John Koch’s “The Seducer” The film is an adaptation and present-day re-imagination of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1848 short story "White Nights". A wandering, lonely dreamer and a sheltered young woman haunted by a lover’s promise meet by chance on a river bridge and tell each other their stories over four consecutive nights. Their tentative attraction quickly entangles them in a web of longing and self-delusion, with devastating results.

“PADDLE TO SEATTLE: Journey through the Inside Passage”. In homemade wooden boats, J.J. Kelley and Josh Thomas traveled the 1,300-mile Inside Passage. For three months Kelley and Thomas Paddled to Seattle facing the hardships that accompany an adventure film. “Paddle to Seattle”, is a stunning display of the awe-inspiring landscape that is the Pacific Northwest. They have since branded a unique style of adventure media: Producing film memoirs that take audiences along on cross-continent adventures. Their freshman film “Pedal to the Midnight Sun” aired in August 2008, nationwide on PBS via National Geographic’s Wild Chronicles.

“Porndogs: The Adventures of Sadie” is an outrageous comedy that pretends to be a hardcore porn film by featuring live dogs as the actors. Over thirty of our canine friends, a chicken and a man in a dog suit star in this 82 minute motion picture with the following celebrities doing some of the voices: Marilyn Chambers,
Ron Jeremy,
Too $hort,
Dustin Diamond,
Heidi Fleiss, Paul Rodriguez,Tera Patrick, Evan Seinfeld, Paul Ogata. Sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild.
Over three days 45 films will be shown, 15 local filmmakers will be showcased and a worldwide range of Underground Films will be discussed by the filmmakers themselves. Sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minneapolis, MN, MUFF will warm your spirits with its eclectic blend of movie art.

Full festival Program online at:www.minneapolisundergroundfilmfestival.com

The Minneapolis Underground Film Festival gives voice to hidden filmmakers and their buried gems. Our mission is to exhibit artists, entertain our audiences and inspire filmmakers to create exiting original work.
Hosted in Minneapolis at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design the film festival utilizes state of the art screening facilities and multiple auditoriums to showcase cinema’s most provocative and original work. Films are followed by audience questions and answers as well as an informal filmmaker lounge where audience members can interact with filmmakers from around the world.
Awards are voted on and include Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Short, Underground Spirit Award, Best Cinematography and Audience Choice Award.