SAMPLING THE UNDERGROUND

The Calgary Underground Film Festival, an annual celebration of the cinematic weird and wonderful, kicks off April 13. Organizers announced its diverse lineup Thursday afternoon in downtown Calgary, writes Eric Volmers, offering a “something- for- everyon

UNIQUE SPECIAL GUESTS

Part of the fun of any film festival is when directors and actors are invited to screenings to answer questions and generally pontificate about their movies. But the Calgary Underground Film Festival put the invite out to some decidedly colourful characters. Thor, a. k. a. bodybuilder and would- be rock star Jon Mikl Thor, is the subject of Ryan Wise’s straightforwardly named documentary, I Am Thor. The film chronicles the Canuck’s attempts at a comeback which apparently “nearly kills him.” Near- death is likely also a theme for the dramatic documentary The Resurrection of Jake the Snake Roberts by Steve Yu. It follows the fall of the titular grappler, a professional wrestler who became addicted to booze, drugs and, eventually, Jesus. Both Jake and Thor are scheduled to appear at the festival after- screenings. Thor is also scheduled to perform a concert at the Palomino Smokehouse after the screening of his film.

“They are documentaries and we discovered both of them at Slamdance,” says Lieberman. “We had our mind set on those two right from the get- go.”

A DAVID CRONENBERG RETROSPECTIVE

Given that this is an underground film festival, it’s not surprising that this retrospective of David Cronenberg will focus more on the Canadian auteur’s early head- exploding, bloodied- fetus, creepy Jeff Goldblum days than, say, his film version of M. Butterfly. But there is another reason that the festival chose Cronenberg’s horror offerings, which will include Scanners, The Brood, Videodrome and The Fly. The festival will welcome Vancouver cinematographer Mark Irwin, who worked with Cronenberg on all those titles. He will give aQ & A after the screening of the The Fly.

“We thought we’d put a focus on the retrospective,” Lieberman said. “We also wanted to see what we could get on 35 mm. We did a poll of all our favourites. That’s how we started. We had a list and talked to Mark Irwin about his favourites.”

THE FESTIVAL’S OPENING FILM IS ABOUT ROBOTS

Currently receiving a good deal of buzz at the South by Southwest Festival, Ex Machina will open the festival on April 13. According to critics, director Alex Garland’s genre- defying film is a“spare chamber piece” and “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein redreamed as a 21st- century battle of the sexes.” It stars Alicia Vikander, Oscar Issac and Domhnall Gleeson, who may or may not still be in Alberta filming The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio.

“It’s a science- fiction robot romance film,” says Lieberman. “With the opening film we try to make it very fun and accessible to everyone. We like to showcase a lot of genre films and this seemed like a fun science- fiction to showcase.”

THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION IS A CULT FILM FOR KIDS

Family films that double as cult films are a rare breed. Family films that double as cult films and are also Canadian are almost unheard of. To broaden the audience for CUFF, programmers have included this 1985 curio about a bald boy who attempts to use a magic peanut butter- based remedy to salvage his lost hair. Kier- La Janisse, who curates the festival’s Saturday Morning Cartoon program, writes about the film in her new book Kid Power.

“We will be featuring her book at the festival and selling it,” says Lieberman. “She is who led us to the Peanut Butter Solution.”

THE DOCUMENTARY THE LOOK OF SILENCE IS DARK, DISTURBING AND REAL

While the CUFF programs a separate documentary festival for November, it always includes a few for its main roster as well. And, like its November program, the lineup tends to highlight a multitude of sub- genres within non- fiction films. The Look of Silence is both political and disturbing. It’s Texas filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer’s followup to his surreal 2012 documentary The Act of Killing, which looked at the government- sanctioned mass murders of citizens in Indonesia in the 1960s. The Look of Silence zeros in on an optometrist who confronts those who murdered his brother.

“It’s super heavy,” says Lieberman. “This is a followup told through the eyes of someone from the younger generation who discovered what happened from the documentary, The Act of Killing.”