2012 appears to be the year for younger, i.e. under 10 years old, underground fests to blow it wide open and go for broke. This time it’s the 4th annual Oakland Underground Film Festival that is expanding its horizons into a blowout four-day, much more densely packed affair, running on Sept. 27-30 at several different locations.

Expanding on the types of films they screen, this year OAKUFF is jammed pack with a wide variety of documentaries, thrillers, a bevy of short films and a special tribute to blaxploitation films hosted by BadAzz MoFo’s David Walker.

The fest opens on the 27th with skateboarding filmmaker Stacy Peralta’s latest, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which documents his own involvement with California board culture along with peers like Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. Following that will be Ya’Ke Smith’s complex drama about the effects of child molestation.

Other documentaries in the fest include Frédérick Maheux‘s Art/Crime, a profile of persecuted Canadian horror makeup effects guru Rémy Couture; Brian Knappenberger’s Anonymous doc We Are Legion; Roger Horn’s The Sisterhood about transgendered women in South Africa; Mary Liz Thomson’s Earth First! doc Who Bombed Judi Bari.

On the non-fiction front is Mischa Webley’s post-Iraq War thriller The Kill Hole; the pot-fueled black comedy Smoked by Jamie Dewolf & Joshua Staley and the suburban wasteland drama Only the Young by Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mim.

There’s also a ton of great short films by the likes of Jim Haverkamp (When Walt Whitman Was a Little Girl), Jared Varava (Tumbleweed!), Greg Hanson (Good Taste), Brian Lonano (The Transmission), as well as the ultra-amazing 641 Slates by Don Swaynos; and a program of shorts by all local filmmakers.

The afternoon of the 30th will feature a blockbuster program of blaxploitation greatness by one of the genre’s top experts, David Walker, who will be screening his documentary Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered and Shafted, which covers the production of the Oakland-produced 1972 cult hit The Mack. Walker will then give a presentation on the overall history of blaxploitation and screen two of his short films, Black Santa’s Revenge and The Day They Ran Out of Bullets.

The full film lineup is below, but please visit the official Oakland Underground Film Festival website for more info.

September 27

7:00 p.m.: Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, dir. Stacy Peralta. Peralta, who has made a career documenting the surf and skateboard cultures of Los Angeles tackles his own involvement with the Brigade skateboarding team in the ’80s, which also included members Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero and others.

9:30 p.m.: Wolf, dir. Ya’Ke Smith. A family tries to cope with the devastating news that their son has been molested, but the victim feels like he is in “love” with his attacker.

September 28

7:00 p.m.: Machete Language (El lenguaje de los machetes), dir. Kyzza Terrazas. A young male activist in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico plots a dangerous political action while his girlfriend wants nothing more than to settle down and start a family.

7:30 p.m.: The Kill Hole, dir. Mischa Webley. A shell-shocked Iraq War veteran is recruited by government agents to assassinate a rogue Marine Corps sniper.

9:00 p.m.: Art/Crime, dir. Frédérick Maheux. This documentary covers the tragic tale of Rémy Couture, a Canadian special effects makeup artist who was arrested on charges of obscenity and corruption of morality.

9:30 p.m.: We Are Legion: Story of the Hacktivists, dir. Brian Knappenberger. This documentary takes a look at Anonymous, the online organization devoted to civil disobedience.

September 29

12:00 p.m.: The Sisterhood, dir. Roger Horn. Three transgendered individuals work by day at a winery while dreaming of fame and fortune to come their way, but are confronted by social prejudices.
Screening with:
Not One More, dir. Angela Aguayo

1:30 p.m.: “Brilliant! Shorts Program 1”
When Walt Whitman Was a Little Girl, dir. Jim Haverkamp
Sex on Wheels, dir. Amanda Feder
Coney Island, Last Stop, dir. Samara Halperin
The Magical Theater, dir. Jovanna Tosello
Abstract, dir. Alexie Dmitriev
Kahlil the Great, dir. Jacqueline Passmore
641 Slates, dir. , dir. Don Swaynos (Watch online)
Irma, dir. Charles Fairbanks
Dubus, dir. Alexie Dmitriev
Tumbleweed!, dir. Jared Varava

2:00 p.m.: Who Bombed Judi Bari, dir. Mary Liz Thomson. This documentary follows the case of two Earth First! activists who were charged with a terrorist car bomb attack in Oakland, CA in 1990.

3:30 p.m.: “Brutal! Shorts Program 2”
Coffee Break, dir. Marko Kattilakoski
Good Taste, dir. Greg Hanson
And the Winner Is…, dir. Stefano Schirru
Awake, dir. Igor Camber + Peter Hatch
Corpus Delicti, Tale of Joe Ball, dir. Teppei Ando
Peto, dir. Joonas Makkonen
The Chair, dir. Joonas Makkonen
Sacked, dir. Bob Ray
The Transmission, dir. Brian Lonano (Watch online)

4:00 p.m.: “Women’s Shorts Program”
Coney Island, Last Stop, dir. Samara Halperin
Nothing, dir. Tracey Snelling
Installation, dir. Laura Green
Leonora, dir. Eliane Lima
Goodbye Pig, dir. Anna Geyer
Disaster, dir. Laura Green
Fin De Siecle, dir. Kathleen Quillian
Imum Coeli, dir. Mirka Morales
13th St (Division), dir. Mirka Morales
Hella Occupy Oakland, dir. Natalie K. Wede

5:30 p.m.: Only the Young, dir. Jason Tippet & Elizabeth Mim. Three teenagers living in a depressed suburb of Santa Clarita, CA find adventure among the ruins.
Screening with:
Elko, dir. Alexander Yan

6:00 p.m.: I Want My Name Back, dir. Roger Paradiso. Even though The Sugarhill Gang brought rap and hip hop to the masses in the late ’70s, they’ve mostly been unfairly relegated to the dustbin of history. This documentary follows their efforts to create new music and to reclaim their rightful identity that was unjustly stripped from them.

8:00 p.m.: Smoked, dir. Jamie Dewolf & Joshua Staley. Three stoners rob the Oakland Cannabis Club and run afoul of a dangerous drug kingpin.

September 30

12:00 p.m.: “Local Shorts Program”
Buster Jones, dir. Dylan Hobor
Turf Dancing, dir. Zach Land-Miller
I Am, dir. Joseph Rivers
Sinking State, dir. Frazer Bradshaw
Song for Dwight, dir. Michael T. Toole
Madison Park, dir. Roy Chan
Technicality, dir. Owen Thomas
Candy From a Baby, dir. Alexander James
Irony of a Negro Police Officer: AKA Roll Call, dir. Shy Pacheco Hamilton
Jazzy Birds, dir. Jeremy Rourke
Scraps of Paper, dir. Jeremy Rourke
The Can-Canibals, dir. Matthew Ragsdale

2:00 p.m.: “Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered and Shafted: A Conversation With David Walker”
First, there will be a screening of David Walker’s documentary Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered and Shafted that traces the making of 1972’s The Mack, the classic blaxploitation movie that was made in Oakland, CA. Following the film, there will be a Q&A session with Walker along with screenings of two of his fictional narrative short films, the classic Black Santa’s Revenge starring Ken Foree and the World Premiere of Walker’s latest The Day They Ran Out of Bullets.

7:00 p.m.: Tchoupitoulas, dir. Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross. Three young brothers sneak away from home to visit an island where all kinds of scandalous behavior goes on.

7:00 p.m.: Smoked, dir. Jamie Dewolf & Joshua Staley. Three stoners rob the Oakland Cannabis Club and run afoul of a dangerous drug kingpin.