For their 5th annual edition, the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival is heating up by returning to the summer after being a winter event for the past three years. The fest will run on Aug. 17-19 with a killer lineup of films from all over the world — most of which probably will not be able to be seen in Minnesota except at this 3-day event.

Plus, there are two programming blocks of short films all made by local filmmakers, including Pam Colby’s Fertile Ashes, Ryan Becken’s Buffalo Shampoo, Janelle Sorenson & Melany Joy Beck’s Bring It 2 Peter, JL Sosa’s Some of Angela and more.

The feature films screening this year cover an extremely diverse swath of subject matter, from every day people’s murder fantasies fulfilled — cinematically, at least — in Michal Kosakowski’s German documentary Zero Killed; a tattoo comes to live to torment its wearer in Derek Franson’s Canadian thriller Comforting Skin; American filmmakers JJ Kelly & Josh Thomas attempt to document the entire length of one of the world’s largest rivers in Go Ganges!; ’70s mystery TV cartoons get spoofed in Spencer Parsons‘ Saturday Morning Massacre. And a whole hell of a lot more!

There are also several non-local filmmaker short film blocks, which includes work by underground faves Luke Black (Beef Barley Brothers); Carey Burtt (Helping: With Travis); Greg Hanson (Sink Hole) and Paul von Stoetzel (Viscosity); as well as many other top-notch independent filmmakers.

It’s really an exciting lineup, which you can view in full below. For more info, please visit the official Minneapolis Underground Film Festival website.

August 17

4:30 p.m.: “Festival Highlights & Short Films”
Beef Barley Brothers, dir. Luke Black (Watch online)
Dark Corner, dir. Bob Pusateri
Helping: With Travis, dir. Carey Burtt
The Train, dir. Pardis Parker

5:45 p.m.: This Ain’t California, dir. Marten Persiel. This documentary chronicles the lives of three skateboarders who grew up in the German Democratic Republic in the ’70s and ’80s.

7:30 p.m.: Go Ganges!, dir. JJ Kelly & Josh Thomas. In this documentary, two filmmakers attempt to document the entire length of the Ganges River.
Screening with:
The Voice of God, dir. Bernd Lützelter

9:30 p.m.: Zero Killed, dir. Michal Kosakowski. This film combines a series of short filmed “murder fantasies” along with a questioning of the people who devised the fantasies on their feelings about killing. (Read the review)
Screening with:
Elko, dir. Alexander Yan

August 18

1:00 p.m.: Graupel Poetry, dir. Bruce Saxway. An aspiring actor in Hong Kong lands his first big role, except his life goes to hell in a handbasket when his co-star is murdered.
Screening with:
Blood and Fire, dir. Carey Burtt

2:30 p.m.: Heavy Girls, dir. Axel Ranisch. A put-upon bank teller spends his nights caring for his mother who is suffering from dementia and who escapes from his care one night.
Screening with:
I Need a Hero, dir. W.H. Bourne

4:15 p.m.: “MN Made: Short Films”
Fertile Ashes, dir. Pam Colby
Buffalo Shampoo, dir. Ryan Becken
Retirement of Joe Corduroy, dir. Mike Nelson

6:00 p.m.: Red Flag, dir. Alex Karpovsky. Director Karpovsky stars as an indie filmmaker who goes on a reluctant road trip with a friend after he’s dumped by his longtime girlfriend.
Screening with:
Good Taste, dir. Greg Hanson

7:45 p.m.: “Freaky Times: Short Films”
Life and Freaky Time of Uncle Luke, dir. Jillian Mayer & Lucas Leyva
Other, dir. Daniel DelPurgatorio
Ella, dir. Dan Gitsman
Curtain, dir. Dennis Widmyer
Sink Hole, dir. Greg Hanson
Cheap Extermination, dir. Minka Farthing-Kohl
Naked Love: EA’s Garden, dir. Sara Koppel
The Green Carnation, dir. Angel Rose
Ducksauce: Big Bad Wolf, dir. Keith Schofield
Diesel, dir. Keith Schofield
Meaning of Robots, dir. Matt Lenski
Endless, dir. Matt Bloom
Viscosity, dir. Paul Von Stoetzel
ANR: Big Problem, dir. Jillian Mayer & Lucas
I Am Your Grandma, dir. Jillian Mayer & Lucas Leyva
Jacuzzi G@ls, dir. Jillian Mayer & Lucas Leyva

9:30 p.m.: Saturday Morning Massacre, dir. Spencer Parsons. In this parody of old ’70s mystery cartoon shows — you know which ones — a group of meddling kids investigate a series of brutal murders that have taken place at an abandoned schoolhouse. (Watch online)

August 19

1:00 p.m.: Heaven + Earth + Joe Davis, dir. Peter Sasowsky. This documentary profiles the quirky artist and scientist who has done such things as recording the sounds of micro-organisms and encoding Greek philosophy into fly DNA.
Screening with:
Untitled (Green), dir. Michael Vale

3:00 p.m.: “Relationships: Short Films”
Written in Ink, dir. Martin Wrath
Hellion, dir. Kat Candler
I Am John Wayne, dir. Christina Choe
Record/Play, dir. Jesse Atlas
Busted on Brigham Lane, dir. Talibah Lateefah Newman
Madly Unto Eternity, dir. Pikey Holdredge

4:30 p.m.: “MN Made II: Short Films”
Inquest, dir. Todd Wardrope & Trevor Adams
When at a Certain Party in NYC, dir. Amy Schmitt
Thoreau and the Lightning, dir. Adam Tow
Bring It 2 Peter, dir. Janelle Sorenson & Melany Joy Beck
Slum Lord, dir. Todd Pitman & Noah Milligan
Some of Angela, dir. JL Sosa
The Interview
Case #377, dir. John Gigrich

6:15 p.m.: “Awards Ceremony”
Produced by Channel Z

7:30 p.m.: The Comedy, dir. Rick Alverson. A man wanders aimlessly through life until he hooks up with a group of hipsters who perform degrading acts of cruelty for fun.

9:15 p.m.: Comforting Skin, dir. Derek Franson. A woman is dragged into a dangerous world when her tattoo mysteriously comes to life.
Screening with:
Tattoo Underground, dir. Barry Kimm