MUFF is completely grassroots. We do a lot of cross promotion and bartering with sponsors. Entry fees for films are only $15 and $5 for UWM people. While it is important to maintain low entry fees we would eventually like to get grants to abolish the fees altogether, says director of MUFF, Ari Hamidi.

We are committed to publicly promoting the best in provocative, innovative, bizarre, political and otherwise controversial film, video and new media work. So says the Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, or MUFF, as it is more commonly known, mission statement.

The festival has humble roots, however, and has come along way since it began in class, very do-it-yourself, as members played videos on a single screen. After dying for a few years, MUFF was brought back last year and turned into an international, student-run festival. The festival has doubled in size since its re-launch last year.

MUFF is completely grassroots. We do a lot of cross promotion and bartering with sponsors. Entry fees for films are only $15 and $5 for UWM people. While it is important to maintain low entry fees we would eventually like to get grants to abolish the fees altogether, says Ari Hamidi, director of MUFF.

This year, the festival features seven programs, with additional galleries for local artists to display their work. Hamidi says the films range from avant garde, to experimental, to quirky animation and political.

Also, this year the festival opened to films with a narrative, those which more closely resemble movies the general public sees. MUFF, while maintaining its underground roots, aims to be more accessible to the general public.

Misconceptions of underground films is that they are inaccessible, with only one point of view. In reality, the work is accessible from different sides; there is more than one way to see a film. If you are confused, bored or excited, you should embrace how you feel while watching the film, explains Hamidi.

She also says that the term independent is slippery, and MUFF is much different from festivals like the Sundance, Park City and Telluride. It more closely resembles the Ann Arbor Film Festival. This year, the festival promises to be low-key, as MUFF is less interested in fanfare, but rather quality.

Despite the stereotypes that underground films are difficult to understand and way out there, MUFF hopes viewers will be challenged with what they see and that they are open to new kinds of work, says Hamidi.

Films on May 4 and 5 will be held at the Walkers Point Center for the Arts, and May 6 at the Times Cinema. The cost to attend is $4 for a single film, $7 per night, and $20 for a weekend pass. More information can be found at www.milwaukeeunderground.org.

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