The Milwaukee Underground Film Festival may be student-run at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but every year they put on a world-class fest of fantastic avant-garde and experimental film and video work from around the globe. This year’s fest will take place May 8-10. The opening night program will be held at the UW-M Union Theatre, while the rest of the fest will screen at the Walker’s Point Center for the Arts.

There’s one film I absolutely recommend checking out: Neil Ira Needleman‘s haunting personal film Visions of Wasted Time, which I reviewed for the 2008 ATA Film & Video Festival. This is a not-to-be-missed film that’s screening during MUFF’s final program. Other films I would personally be excited to check out if I were heading out to the fest are: First, Clint Enns‘ Botched Eyeball Operation. I’m a recent raving fan of Enns’ work, so since I haven’t seen this particular film yet, I’d be first in line to see it. I’d also love to see Michael Robinson‘s Hold Me Now. Robinson directed the fantastic trailer for the inaugural Migravting Forms festival and this new piece was created for PDX’s Karaoke Throwdown.

The full lineup is below and, in addition to the films listed above, there looks to be a lot of amazing and interesting films and videos to see. I always love seeing what MUFF has programmed every year:

May 8
7:00 p.m.: “Program #1”
Ghost Coversations, dir. Jeremy Bessoff
I Began to Wish, dir. Julie Murray
The Acrobat, dir. Chris Kennedy (Read the review)
Keep the Home Fires Burning, dir. Ryan O’Toole
Ceibas: H(x) = -? p(xi) logp(xi)| Shannon’s Entropy, dir. Evan Meaney
Passage…s, dir. Telemach Wiesinger
I Remember That They Existed, But Not What They Were, dir. Kathleen Rugh

May 9
6:00 p.m.: “Program #2”
If You Stand With Your Back to the Slowing of the Speed of Light in Water, dir. Julie Murray
All That Remains, dir. Ryan Marino
Yard Work Is Hard Work, dir. Jodie Mack (Watch online)
No One Wants to Eat the Parsley, dir. Sharon A. Mooney
Ichthyopolis, dir. Andre Silva
Paris Times Three, dir. Carina Johnson
Botched Eyeball Operation, dir. Clint Enns

8:00 p.m.: “Program #3”
Someone to Ride the River With, dir. Derek Taylor
Hungry Ghosts see…: Dark Luminosity, directed and performed by Ross Nugent
Vancouver, dir. Bryan Konefsky
Wwoofing, dir. Robin Whenary
Speechless, dir. Scott Stark
1 to 8, dir. Amy Schwartz
Hold Me Now, dir. Michael Robinson

May 10
4:00 p.m.: “Program #4”
O.W. Houts & Sons, Inc., dir. Richie Sherman and Aaron Matthews
Right, dir. Scott Stark
Cleopatra’s Teeth, dir. Mika Kiburz
Night Side, dir. Rebecca Meyers
28.IV.81 (Bedouin Spark), dir. Christopher Harris
The Indomitable Human Spirit, directed and performed by Brent Coughenour

6:00 p.m.: “Program #5”
To Be Regained, dir. Zach Iannazzi (Read the review)
Visions of Wasted Time, dir. Neil Ira Needleman (Watch online)
? Mystery Film !
Somewhere Between Here and There, dir. Liss Platt
Spillway Study/ Carpe Diez, directed and performed by Ross Nugent
Tape Film, dir. Chris Kennedy
Into the Mass, dir. Tomonari Nishikawa

For more info, please visit the official Milwaukee Underground Film Festival site.