What’s brand new, big and British? Why, it’s the first annual London Underground Film Festival, which will run at the infamous Horse Hospital underground screening room on Dec. 4-10.

Seven full days and nights is an exceptionally aggressive schedule for a first time out, but it’s even more impressive once you dig into the variety of films and programs being offered, including lectures, installations and live performances mixed in with feature length films and short film programs.

To help out with such an ambitious project, the London Underground has asked a couple of festival big guns to help them out. First, underground film historian and Program Director of Australia’s Revelation Perth International Film Festival Jack Sargeant has curated a full day of films for Sunday, Dec., all of which have played at Revelation under his watch.

The films Sargeant has picked are Kevin Barker’s The Family Jams, Lars Movin and Steen Møller Rasmussen’s Words of Advice, Chusy Haney-Jardine’s Anywhere USA and Stefan Popescu‘s Nude Study.

Stefan Popescu, in addition to being a filmmaker, is also the director of the Sydney Underground Film Festival, which has a block of shorts programmed from his own fest to screen on Dec. 8. One of those films is Self Improvement by Underground Film Journal favorite Clint Enns of Winnipeg, Canada.

There will also be retrospectives of two British underground filmmakers, Arthur Lager and Lee Adams. Plus, Duncan Reekie, author of the excellent underground history book Subversion, has a short film screening on the 4th, The King of Darkness.

And all that is just the tip of the iceberg. The full lineup, including lectures and installations, is below. For more info and to buy tickets in advance, please visit the official London Underground Film Festival website. And, hopefully, this is a terrific start for many more exciting fests in the future!

Dec. 4

12:00 p.m.: “Around the Compass Rose: Human Geographies on Film” (Introduced by Dr. Sarah De Nardi.)
Wild West, dir. Hannah Beadman
Au Soleil, dir. Josh Wedlake
Faith, Hope, and Greenland, dir. Ivalo Frank

2:00 p.m.: “Wave Function Collapse; Selected Short Films”
The Crunch, dir. Luther Jones
Deep Space Love, dir. Alan Bennett
The King of Darkness, dir. Duncan Reekie
Conformists, dir. Juriaan Booij

3:30 p.m.: “The Sick and Surreal World of Arthur Lager”
A retrospective of films by the London underground filmmaker, including:
Instant Pussy
Nocturnal Emissions
Rape of the Arthurapods
I Walked With A Surrealist

Dec. 5

12:00 p.m.: Nude Study, dir. Stefan Popescu. A female filmmaker believes she’s found the perfect model for her latest project, but her involvement with her subject develops into a frantic passion.

2.30 p.m.: Anywhere USA, dir. Chusy Haney-Jardine. A trio of stories in which a man gets beaten by his wife everyday at 2:00 p.m.; an eight-year-old accidentally eats a pot brownie; and a man eating a steak realizes he doesn’t know any black people.

5:00 p.m.: Words of Advice: William Burroughs on the Road, dir. Lars Movin and Steen Møller Rasmussen. A documentary look at the later years of cult author William S. Burroughs when he toured the world doing speaking/reading engagements.

8:00 p.m.: The Family Jams, dir. Kevin Barker. Musicians Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart and Vetiver travel the U.S. and jam with different bands in different cities.

Dec. 6

6:00 p.m.: “Exiting: Selected Short Films”
Not Yet, dir. Tito Sacchi
I, dir. Luke Losey
Derealiser la Faille, dir. Jérémi Robitaille-Brassard
Running Time, dir. Sinead Curran & Ronan O’Boyle
Alice in the Clouds, dir. Catherine Taylor
Meta Vision, dir. Hsin-Wei Chen

8:00 p.m.: “The Greenaway Oration: Necrosexuality” This lecture given by Dr. Patricia MacCormack of Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge will be followed by the film Flesh for Frankenstein, dir. Paul Morrissey, Antonio Margheriti.

Dec. 7

6:00 p.m.: Bipedality, dir. Rouzbeh Rashidi. This experimental film explores how a romantic relationship can evolve over the course of a routine life.

8:00 p.m.: “Staying Independent: A Panel Discussion on Film Collectives”
Will include short films produced by the participating collectives.

10:00 p.m.: “The Putrescent Pictureshow: Selected Short Horror Films”
House Party of the Dead V, dir. Andy Edwards
Sewn, dir. James R. Kipping
Sick and Twisted, dir. Consuelo Giorgi
Direct to Your Door, dir. Eddie Deirmenjian

Dec. 8

6:00 p.m.: “The Best of the Sydney Underground Film Festival”
Heart of the Matter, dir. Tom Lenk
Porn Guide, dir. Dick Thomas
Awkward, dir. Kellie Ann Benz
For Sale, Cougar, dir. Asher Hartman
Everybody, dir. Jessie Mott
Willy Bum Bum, dir. Daniel Fowler
Girl on Fire, dir. Tony Lawrence
I’m Not, dir. Natalie Bookchin
Laid Off, dir. Natalie Bookchin
The Crimson Wave, dir. Terri Mathews
Piss Film, dir. Clare Ferra
After the Rainbow, dir. Soda_Jerk
Self Improvement, dir. Clint Enns
Cell Phuong, dir. Cesar Espada

8:30 p.m.: Dreams and Realities: An Installation by Jose Macabra. “Live sound and video mixing across multiple screens combine with live performance which allows the audience to move through his work and construct their own narrative.” (Adults only)

Dec. 9

6:00 p.m.: She’s A Punk Rocker UK, dir. Zillah Minx. This documentary chronicles the British punk scene through the women who made it happen, such as Vi Subversa, Eve Libertine, Helen of Troy, members of Hagar the Womb, Brigandage, Youth In Asia, and the Crass collective.

8:00 p.m.: Light-Signals-Cities-Sirens: In Conversation with Dario Vigorito (241-24-7). This is will be an informal discussion on music video production, plus screenings of Vigorito’s videos for Sam Amant, and Beastellabeast. Facilitated by Robert Monk.

10 p.m.: In Search of Sound: Excursions from the Global Underground, prod. Brian Parsons and Amber Halford. With contributions from over twenty filmmakers, this documentary showcases the world of electronic music and the post millenial global music underground.

Dec. 10

6:00 p.m.: “Auto Sacramental: Three Pieces of Sound for Film”
Peter and Geoffrey, Two Cautionary Tales by Oli Spleen
Blacker Than Noir: A Tribute to the Golden Age of Cinema by RMF-Noir
Live Improvisation by Roberto Crippa

8:00 p.m.: “What The Theatre Has Been (Falsehood and Illusion): Selected Short Films”
Channel Marlene, dir. Miss Annabel Sings
AM3R1C4 AM3R1C4 AM3R1C4 AMERICA IRL, dir. Mitch Patrick
The Attempt to Escape Noise, dir. Morgan Beringer
Sharp, dir. Evangelia Christakou
Verlassen Des Hauses, dir. Ethan Doyle-White
Baroque Nonsense, dir. Anoushka & Magdushka (a.k.a. Anna Bieluszko & Magdalena Jachimiak)

10:00 p.m.: “Through A Glass Darkly: The Short Films of Lee Adams”
Selected short films and performance documentation, including
Visions of Excess
Bestiary
Porca Miseria
Ordeal by Roses