MUFF 16 DIARY (19) - Night # 8

The second to last night of the festival proved to showcase one of this year's most confronting and challenging films. Jarret and I met up early for a bite to eat before making our way to the Backlot Studios, where we caught up with a few festival regulars. Drinks were served freely and our Friday night was looking good.

We sat in the cinema with absolutely no preconceptions of what to expect. The film was called NINA FOREVER and such a title leads to all sorts of connotations. The lights dimmed and from the first frame it was clear that we were in good hands. The film immediately boasted a high standard of production and sound design. The story began fairly conventionally with an unlikely relationship forming between an outsider girl and a grieving man, who recently lost his girlfriend in an horrific accident. The film has this effective way of lulling you into a false sense of familiarity before it makes an abrupt about-turn and descends into a macabre and perverted tale of resurrection, necrophilia and sexual exploits. It's as equally confronting as it is beautiful and almost 24 hours later it is still plaguing my mind. Definitely worth your time. Once the final credits rolled the audience left the cinema in a sort of uneasy silence. The film had infected everyone and time was needed to process what had just been seen.

Next up was Daniel Armstrong's debut feature film FROM PARTS UNKNOWN: FIGHT LIKE A GIRL. By now most locals in-the-know are aware that this film had a lengthy and arduous production and was actually released AFTER his second feature film, MURDERDROME. We had Daniel on our podcast late last year to discuss both films in detail. Click right here to have a listen and get yourself up-to-speed on his work. Unfortunately Jarret and I have other commitments, which meant that we were unable to hang around for this screening. However, having seen the film I have no doubt that the audience lapped it up. It's a local independent gore-fest that deserves support and compliments the Melbourne Underground Film Festival perfectly.

And so there's only one day left... closing night of MUFF16 has a lot on offer and we will be back to report on all of the unruly shenanigans.