Static Vision

"FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: WE HAVE MANY NAMES (1976) 🐴🤦‍♀️⛓️ Acclaimed feminist Swedish actor/director Mai Zetterling's rarely shown heartbreak ballad exploring despair and hope in the wake of divorce—co-presented by @melbcinematheque Swedish multi-hyphenate Mai Zetterling directs and stars in this deeply personal study of a self-sacrificing woman reeling from her husband’s abandonment, told through flashbacks and fantasies.Zetterling blends the theatrical and cinematic to express a woman’s mind and body on the verge. Intense monologues whisper over Zetterling’s cropped hair and grieving eyes as she tries to rebuild and reconceive her life, and the movie howls for her all the while. Screens with Lotte Reiniger's THE STOLEN HEART (10 mins), a 1934 German stop motion shadow puppet also about the ways men can take all that's meaningful to someone. See them Saturday May 16, 11:00am, at BUFF 2026!

FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: NOT A PRETTY PICTURE 📸😵‍💫🧠 Co-presented by @asphaltbooks !! In this infamously provocative meditation on sexual violence and the culture that births it, director Martha Coolidge (Valley Girl) reenacts her own rape by a high-school classmate in the early 60s with recursive docudrama style. The actors—some of whom have similar experiences of sexual assault—break the fourth wall, discussing the difficult parts they play and the real events being staged as they stage them. The effect is destablising, with Coolidge’s storytelling style broadening events from her own life into a mosaic of adolescence—its discoveries, joys and dangers, all at once. “I have felt something missing for me as a woman from the male-made films on the subject,” she has said: “Missing are the experiences unique to girls. I wanted to put some of these on the screen, funny and sad.” Screening on Saturday 16 May, 9:10pm, only at BUFF 2026! Asphalt Books followers can get $2 off each of our screenings with the code BUFFXASPHALT!

BUFF is right around the corner!! 💑🎬💪 We can't wait to rock with everyone this weekend; scroll thru for some info on free events, general housekeeping etc. The festival is easiest to access via public transport (free right now!!) - the 19 tram will drop you around the corner from Balam Balam Place and right out front of Brunswick Picture House. The 410 bus will take you around the corner from Balam Balam Place, while the 408 bus will take you around the corner from Brunswick Picture House. Finally, the Upfield line will get you a short stroll from Balam Balam Place or Brunswick Picture House, just get off at Brunswick Station and walk South or East respectively. Hit our DMs with any questions you may have, and see you at the movies!!

SCREENING ANNOUNCEMENTS: LOCAL SHORTS I THOUGHT I WASN’T + WE AIM TO PLEASE 💀🏃‍♂️🚬 BUFF 2026 is beyond proud to present two sessions of bleeding-edge Australian shorts that push the movies forward with inventive style and hard questions! We adore these sessions and know they’ll inspire provocative conversations all around the fest. On Saturday 16 May at 12:45pm, the I THOUGHT IT WASN’T program explores the daily dealings with doom on this wretched Earth. From eerie, spiralling horror to tactile celluloid documentary, living, working and creating in Australia while dealing with mundane evil is explored through spellbinding images and unique, personal stories. Featuring films by Kim Miles, Noah Jordan, Camille Perry, John Hewison, Owen Lawie, and Hector Hennessey + Bianca Pritchard. On Sunday 17 May at 2:00pm, the WE AIM TO PLEASE program explodes filmmaking conventions with a boundary-pushing survey of sex, gender, violence and liberation in contemporary Australia. A ghost haunts a gay sauna, a goddess goes to a strip club, and a jaded trans girl hooks up with a cop in shorts that range provocatively across intimate drama, expressionist doomscape and DV collage. Featuring films by Margot Nash and Robin Laurie, Xoori K. Sarhadi, Angus McGrath, Benjamin Woodard, Hamish Bruce, and Sophie Bagster. Watch these spicy shorts, only at BUFF 2026! @djschneed @twomillionfreckles @local_man_milks_god @sarhadifilms @free_wificore @camille.perry.photo @owenlawie @benjaminwoodardfilms @hamish.hodges @kimmiles_film_art

FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE ('25) 📖🙏❤️ A WOMAN WRITES A TOME OF HER FANTASTICAL VISIONS—co-presented by @t.s.bookshop ! True story: In the 14th century, a woman named Julian experiences extraordinary visions—of a crucifix weeping blood, of herself strangled by the devil, of all God’s love held in a hazelnut. In response, she decides to live in ascetic seclusion and utmost passion as a nun, determined to record these visions on paper. Her writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving texts in the English language to have been written by a woman. Julian of Norwich chronicled her manifestations in the midst of a global pandemic, a national uprising, and a societal shift in gender roles and norms. This film borrows its title from her book and expands on her account with ecstatic speculation. With its handmade production design, sincere spiritual inquiry, and DIY ambition, this movie projects the medieval past onto the present dark ages and finds much in common. Only at BUFF 2026 ⛪

FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: HARD TIME LOVER (2026) 🗺️🎷🔔 A darkly funny and supremely creepy conspiracy takes a slacker through the nocturnal Rio streets—co-presented by @yosoycollective ! Rio de Janeiro, the night time: Miguel runs into his ex-girlfriend outside his apartment, and she speaks to him in riddles. Then Miguel meets a masked enigma in the hallway, who may put something inside his head. Driven by forces beyond his understanding, Miguel follows an occult pattern through the city streets that will take him to a dark underworld haunted by past and future violence, as well as harsh noise music. HARD TIME LOVER (AMANTE DIFÍCIL) is movie that will put a bad spell on you, like a country puts a curse on its citizens. From strange angles, the architecture grows menacing and the mountains enormous, so it’s only terrifying inevitability when hooded figures appear from the shadows, some with knives and one with a saxophone. A darkly funny and spooky time! Screens with FEUERWERK (2026, dir. Timothy George Kelly) A dizzying, explosive tradition unfolds across decades of New Year’s in Berlin. From booze-soaked streets to the outer reaches of cosmos, this short documentary ricochets through time with the unpredictability of a misfiring firework. A spectacle like no other! See them both on Saturday May 16, 7:10pm, only at BUFF 2026! @timothygeorgekelly @mbvideo.com.br

FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: ANYTHING THAT MOVES (2025) 🚴‍♂️🚐🍆 TAKE A BIKE RIDE THROUGH MIDNIGHT CHICAGO WITH A MIRACULOUS SEX WORKER, HIS MANY SATISFIED CLIENTS, AND A KILLER CLOSE BEHIND ... co-presented by @hightideau ! Divine sex worker Liam bikes through Chicago delivering snacks and pure satisfaction to his love-hungry clients, while a serial killer begins targeting his clients that leaves a trail of blood to his innocent lover's own bed in Alex Phillips' underground odyssey through the gutters of sex, commerce, love, hate and all that's inbetween. Shot in woozy 16mm by Hunter Zimmy (FUNNY PAGES), ANYTHING THAT MOVES is part gory giallo, part swooning romantic fantasy, all ode to sex workers and sex films—including cameos by Golden Age porn legends Ginger Lynn and Nina Hartley. Cinemas are rarely blessed with a worthy heir to Jess Franco, so take a taste while the going's good on Saturday 16 May, 10:50pm … only at BUFF 2026!!

RETRO ANNOUNCEMENT: THE FILMS OF SARAH JACOBSON: MARY JANE’S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE (1996) + I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER (1993) 🍿🔪 TRAIL-BLAZING UNDERGROUND WOMAN-LED CINEMA – co-presented by @mwff_au ! Sarah Jacobson's punk-spirited DIY films from the 1990s combine B-movie aesthetics and riot grrrl feminism, standing as a testament to the vision, determination, and raw talent of the Queen of Underground Cinema. In MARY JANE'S NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE, Jacobson's only feature film, a suburban high schooler gets in touch with her sexuality while working at a dingy movie theater in the city. A realistically messy portrait of finding yourself between shifts. In Jacobson’s 27-minute short I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER, a 19-year-old good girl decides to fight back against an endless parade of sexist pigs through the power of punk rock murder. A rough and ready cathartic scream from the cinematic rooftops! See both of these coming-of-age classics on Sunday May 17, 1:45pm, @brunswick_picturehouse at BUFF 2026!

FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: EVERYTHING GROWS IN EDEN ('26) 🖕🚙🥽 In this micro-budget road movie about dreaming, dying, and living with other people, a young woman promises to take her suicidal best friend to an alternative retreat but when their volatile mutual friend joins the trip, an unexpected detour to a local commune forces all three to confront some painful truths. Emerging auteur Jack Johnston grew up in a place like the fictional Eden, where a communal style of living can be nurturing but also oppressive. He brings a nuanced approach to this engrossing, funny and ultimately very moving story of three young people struggling to find their place in the world. A true Australian banger, only at BUFF 2026 on Friday 15 May, 5:30pm! Screens with a live Q&A! @everythinggrowsmovie

RETRO ANNOUNCEMENT: The Films of Elaine May 🍃💔🎤 Co-presented by @cinemaniacsoz (with an extra-special co-presentation of golden GOAT "ISHTAR" by @zacharyruane ), Elaine May's complete filmography will screen back-to-back-to-back-to-back at @brunswick_picturehouse this Friday(!!) as part of BUFF 2026, from all-new scans/restorations. May first rocketed to fame as one-half of a comedy duo with Mike Nichols. At the height of their success, she abruptly ended their successful travelling act, as Nichols went to direct his debut feature, The Graduate. Shortly after, May was in the directors chair with her debut, A New Leaf, becoming the third woman ever admitted to the DGA, the first to ever have final cut on a studio feature (with Mikey and Nicky), and going on to be unjustly placed in director jail with the release of Ishtar (the film's release is apparently the progenitor of the term) and becoming known as the director of the so-called 'worst film of all-time' (it's not, it rips). Regarding the film, she has famously quipped, “If all of the people who hate Ishtar had seen it, I would be a rich woman today.” May has gone uncredited on many rewrites of large studio fare (including Tootsie, Reds and Labyrinth), and her works have had a tough life, sometimes sitting in rights hell, requiring restoration... No more!! At BUFF we present a new 4K restoration of A New Leaf, a very special 16mm scan of The Heartbreak Kid (which has never made the leap to Blu-Ray/streaming from its very low-quality DVD releases), a 4K restoration of Mikey and Nicky, and a gorgeous 2K scan of Ishtar. Witness the genius of one of the most important pioneers of comedy cinema exclusively at BUFF 2026!!

FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: THE TRICK (2024) 🧛‍♂️🤡🗻 During a music video shoot, a mysterious actor kidnaps an up-and-coming rapper. The video’s aimless director and stressing producer set out to save the rapper and finish the video, a quest that takes them to a nearly empty hotel in the mountains, and then further. THE TRICK is a spooky comic noir full of menacing images and bizarre lines bouncing off the walls of a knockoff Overlook Hotel. It’s a slippery movie that tackles labour, imagination, self-delusion, and slackerdom with eyes and ears for the ultra-uncanny. It’s a full body haunt designed to leave questions lingering: What just happened? What am I doing with my life? Was that film incredible? Screens with LIKE THAT DVD SCREENSAVER (2025, dir. Aditya Raj Gureja) Kabir anxiously rushes towards a dinner with his friends. But when he arrives, a friend’s playful comment causes him to disassociate from the entire night. Style X psyche, a cri de coeur we love! See them both on Saturday May 16, 7:10pm, only at BUFF 2026! @nlwynn

FILM ANNOUNCEMENT: THE EVIL DEAD (1981) + F*** THE DEVIL (1990) 👻🪚🩸 Two films for the price of one: a classic of grubby genre thrills + its demented German fan film—co-presented by @videodaysstore ! In Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD, give friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons and jumpstart Bruce Campbell’s cult career. This one murders with a crowd, folks! In Michel Pollklesener’s F*** THE DEVIL, one boy watches EVIL DEAD 2 on VHS and goes hogwild with bloodlust. A Casio soundtrack keeps the good vibes rolling as this shot-on-video gorefest pays homage to the masters with its own panache. Hopefully you’ll leave this screening and make many Pollklesener fan films. See them both at BUFF 2026 - use the code BUFFXVIDEODAYS at checkout for a discount on this session, and BUFF's screening of THE CRAFT!