The theme for this year’s Melbourne Underground Film Festival is “Evolve Or Die,” so thank God that after 15 years, the fest has decided to evolve rather than kick the proverbial bucket.

What does “evolution” look like for MUFF? For starters, this year is a much more stripped down festival. It runs Sept. 12 – 19 at a single location — The Backlot Studios.

MUFF usually features a healthy retrospective section, but they decided to spin that off into a separate event that will run in a month or two. Instead, MUFF 15 is all about new cinema, with an even stronger focus on Down Under cinema.

Opening Night: Start Options Exit was originally conceived by local co-directors Chris Mitchell and Yoav Lester as a web series, but was subsequently edited together as this outrageous comedy about a pair of degenerates stumbling through the seedy underbelly of Melbourne.

Closing Night: Acclaimed Melbourne cult filmmaker Stuart Simpson returns with Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla, which follows the travails of an outcast ice cream man and the weirdos on his daily route.

Other Australian feature films screening at MUFF 15 include Dru Brown’s twisted drama The Suicide Theory, Jason Sweeney’s ghostly debut The Dead Speak Back, Mark Bakaitis’s documentary An Evening With Chopper Read, Samuel Sheffield’s sci-fi How to Time Travel and more.

One thing that happily hasn’t quite “evolved” at the fest this year is that in addition to the features there are loads of short films. There are 5 “Mini-MUFF” programs sprinkled throughout.

The full Melbourne Underground Film Festival lineup is below, but please visit the fest’s official website for more info.

September 12

7:00 p.m.: Start Options Exit, dir. Chris Mitchell & Yoav Lester. Two spoiled twenty-somethings roam the city looking for sex, drugs and debauched good times.
Screening with:
Pint, dir. Nic Barker
Human Inside, dir. Jax McMillin Condo
Unrequited, dir. Chris Mitchell

9:00 p.m.: Start Options Exit, dir. Chris Mitchell & Yoav Lester. Two spoiled twenty-somethings roam the city looking for sex, drugs and debauched good times.
Screening with:
Pint, dir. Nic Barker
Human Inside, dir. Jax McMillin Condo
Unrequited, dir. Chris Mitchell

September 13

7:00 p.m.: “Mini MUFF Session 1”
Un-Seen, dir. Kate Staples
Remnants, dir. Andrew Jankovic
Digital Scratching, dir. Harrison Burr
First Instance, dir. Matt Bissett-Johnson
Help, dir. Samantha Ferguson
Holiday, dir. Tony Lawrence
Under the Surface, dir. Gemma Rossetti
Inadvertent, dir. Kristina Kraskov
214, dir. Matthew Victor Pastor
Color, dir. Russell Wyatt Roberts
Time of Death, dir. Haili Luxa Idak
Fight Evil, dir. William Jones
Umbra, dir. Bryn Tilly

9:00 p.m.: “Mini MUFF Session 2”
Marsupials, dir. Nathan Armstrong
Message Delay, dir. Doug Turner & Chris Wells
Six Bloodstained Shadows, dir. Hussein Khoder
Meat, dir. Tim Giessauf & Hussein Khoder
Misc., dir. Jordan Whippell
Beware the Mummified Mother Fucker, dir. Peter Murfet
Dueling Darlings, dir. LM Harter
The Little Missus, dir. Adam Beal
Maisie, dir. Ray Sullivan
Mother, dir. Corey Norman
Melodious, dir. Félix Catala
Movie Night Maniac, dir. Shelly & Michael Doss
Teddy, dir. Thom Newell
Skom, dir. Christophe Deroo
The Muck, dir. Tony Wash
Maid of Horror, dir. Caitlin Koller
Deflection, dir. Brett Conyers
Delta Force Hardkill, dir. Hussein Khode

September 14

7:00 p.m.: The Dead Speak Back, dir. Jason Sweeney. The spirit of a deceased young man attempts to be heard by the living again.

9:00 p.m.: A Venue for the End of the World, dir. Aiden Prewett. This documentary investigates the link between Nazism and the modern entertainment industry.

September 15

9:00 p.m.: “Mini MUFF Session 3”
The Meat Cycle, dir. Joseph Christiana
Dark Outside, dir. Amanda Jermyn
The Big Shift, dir. Kristopher Tweedie
Trash, dir. Ryan O’Donnell
I’m a Degenerate, dir. Aleksander Tranberg
Life, dir. Jonathan Adams
Ignition, dir. Dylan Harris
No Cigar, dir. Peter De Verus
Stop Leak, dir. Dan White
Neon Spread, dir. Tony Lawrence
Fade Away, dir. Steve Trevaskis
Olivia, dir. Tony Lawrence
Sex Boss, dir. Jackson Stewart
Meter, dir. Christopher Kay
El Bostan El Saeed Street, dir. Maysoon El-Massry

September 16

7:00 p.m.: “Mini MUFF Session 4”
Little Lamb, dir. Heidi Douglas
Manny Gets Censored, dir. Graeme Robertson
Undo, dir. Thushy Sathi
In the Dark, dir. Najib Melky
Last Call, dir. Camille Delamarre
The Day She Commits Suicide, dir. Yuichi Suita
Freak, dir. Josh Cockfield
Mr. Lamb, dir. Jean Pesce
Bellerophon, dir. Tarun Hansen

9:00 p.m.: “Mini MUFF Session 5”
Vibraciones (Vibes), dir. Guis Brothers
Nuit/Beton (Concrete/Night), dir. Noe Weil
Zero, dir. Chris Smellin & Robert Smellin
Womb, dir. David Ward
I’ll Be Home Soon, dir. James Everett
The Mane Man, dir. Nic Barker
Home Invasion, dir. Trevor Smith
Cut Down the Puppet Strings, dir. Joshua Belinfante

September 17

7:00 p.m.: The Suicide Theory, dir. Dru Brown. A suicidal gay man becomes unlikely friends with a hitman who lost his wife in a car accident.

9:00 p.m.: How to Time Travel, dir. Two slackers accidentally invent a time travel device.

September 18

7:00 p.m.: Start Options Exit, dir. Chris Mitchell & Yoav Lester. Two spoiled twenty-somethings roam the city looking for sex, drugs and debauched good times.
Screening with:
Pint, dir. Nic Barker
Human Inside, dir. Jax McMillin Condo
Unrequited, dir. Chris Mitchell

9:00 p.m.: An Evening With Chopper Read, dir. Mark Bakaitis. This performance film captured the last public appearance of one of Australia’s most infamous criminals as he opened up about his troubled past to his audience.

September 19

5:00 p.m.: Another, dir. Jason Bognacki. A young woman discovers that she is part of a heritage of witchcraft and possession.

7:00 p.m.: The Naked Rose, dir. This biopic tells the story of a gay man who lost his lover in the Holocaust.

9:00 p.m.: Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla, dir. Stuart Simpson. A degenerate ice cream truck driver is tormented by his customers and is obsessed with a beautiful soap opera star.
Screening with:
Human Garbage, dir. Robert Taylor
Alisair, dir. Aaron Cartwright