Chicago Underground Film Festival

The reigning champion of all underground film festivals is still going strong as it nears in on two decades in operation. That’s right, the Chicago Underground Film Festival is now open for submissions for their 19th annual edition that will run sometime in 2012.

There’s a reason why CUFF has been so successful for so many years: The fierce dedication of festival Artistic Director Bryan Wendorf, who’s been running things since the very beginning. However, the truly astounding thing that Wendorf has done is that he’s allowed the fest to grow over the past 19 years.

Since the fest abandoned its transgressive leanings many moons ago, CUFF has always allowed the notion of what an “underground film” is to grow and adapt. For that reason, it’s always difficult to pin down exactly what Wendorf and his crew are looking to program every year, but when they announce their annual lineup it always seems to make sense.

What they program is a little different, off-beat in varying ways, still embracing a punk aesthetic, intelligent, sometimes smart-ass, sometimes raucous, experimental in concept although not always in form and always challenging. CUFF defines what it means to be “underground” without ever settling for a concrete definition.

So, if you think your film embraces those same qualities, then submit:

Early Deadline
November 21, 2011
Features: $35
Shorts: $25

Regular Deadline
January 15, 2012
Features: $45
Shorts: $35
Student: $15

Late Deadline
March, 1 2012
Features: $55
Shorts: $45
Student: $20

To submit to the Chicago Underground Film Festival, please visit their website.

Revelation Perth International Film Festival

Another insanely long-running festival, the Revelation Perth International Film Festival, will be celebrating its 15th edition on July 5-15, 2012 down in Australia.

While the fest has been a success for 15 years, it really became a force to be reckoned with when underground film historian and writer Jack Sargeant was appointed Festival Director in 2008. Sargeant knows his underground shit backwards and frontwards and he keeps proving it with exciting, challenging and provocative programming from all over the world.

For example, last year saw a live performance of Brent Green‘s Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then; selections from the Chicago Underground Film Festival’s history; documentaries from Africa, the Czech Republic and the U.K.; and a ton more. As the fest says about itself: “We especially love works of individuality, we love politics, we love art, we love music and we love strong signatures.”

If you love or have any of that, too, then submit:

Final Deadline
March 31, 2012
$40 (Australian)

To submit, please visit the official Revelation Perth website.

Media City

Lastly, but not leastly, is the call for entries for the 18th annual Media City, a festival so big it takes two cities to contain it: Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan. The fest will run May 22-26.

However, Media City is a little more formalized than the other two rowdy fests listed above. This festival specifically programs films of an experimental nature. Also, while I believe they’ve been known program a feature or two, the fest is primarily looking for short films, e.g. last year was all shorts and installation pieces. And, what I do know, is that they always program an extremely strong lineup from great experimental media folks like Kevin Jerome Everson, Ben Russell, Michael Robinson and others.

If you think your experimental film belongs in that pantheon, then submit:

Final Deadline
Feb. 24
No Entry Fee

To submit to Media City, please visit their website.