exhibition founded 1998 founder david kleiler headquarters boston united states of america website bostonunderground.org the boston underground film festival buff is an annual event held in the boston area that specializes in alternative film and video . buff is the largest underground film festival in new england spotlighting short films and feature length films that would not otherwise find an audience . it is the only film festival in the world to give an award for most effectively offensive . despite the festival s title buff has not taken place in boston proper since 2003 . the 2004 festival was held mainly in arlington massachusetts . in 2005 buff was held entirely in somerville massachusetts . from 2006 on buff has taken place entirely in cambridge massachusetts . although buff as an organization has hosted year round programming at various boston venues such as space 242 in the south end the savant project now defunct in mission hill and the milky way lounge in jamaica plain there seem to be no current plans to hold the festival in the city of boston . buff is one of the longest continuously running underground film festivals in the world ; second only to chicago underground film festival . contents 1 history 2 the bacchus award 3 notable films featured 4 notable guests 5 references 6 external links history edit started in 1998 by film professor curator david kleiler buff was an extension of an all night film marathon produced by kleiler and dima ballin . the first annual boston underground film festival took place in february 1999 at the now defunct revolving museum in south boston . described by programmer bernard broginart as a wonderful hoax of a film festival 1 the first buff was an extremely informal event . patrons were encouraged to wander from room to room for a single ticket price in the art gallery converted to a cinema . this format was continued for the 2000 festival . in the years following buff has adopted a more traditional festival format with set screening start times and using actual cinemas and screening rooms . between 2001 and 2004 buff had expanded and contracted with no central location or venue and no set duration . the festival took place during the month of february from 1999 to 2002 . in 2003 it was moved to october ; then to may in 2004 . during this period numerous venues housed buff screenings including the milky way lounge in jamaica plain the allston cinema underground now defunct the arlington regent theatre and the brattle theatre . by 2005 buff was under new management with anna feder and kevin monahan taking over as co managing directors and bringing on bryan mckay as graphic designer . david kleiler retained executive director duties this year . one of feder and monahan s first actions was to feature the bacchus bunny front and center by using mckay s striking designs . they also centralized operations during this year with all screenings taking place at the somerville theatre in davis square . in 2006 they made harvard square buff s new home using the brattle theatre as the primary venue . the brattle also hosted the festival in 2007 and 2008 . kleiler stepped down as executive director after the 2006 festival . according to buff s website the 2009 festival was held at the kendall square cinema and the brattle theatre both in cambridge . the 2010 and 2011 festivals were held exclusively at the kendall square cinema . anna feder stepped down as director after the 2011 festival . buff s core staff is currently artistic director kevin monahan director of programming nicole mccontroversy media director bryan mckay . in 2012 buff moved back to the brattle theatre where it has remained the festival s exclusive screening venue . the bacchus award edit rather than giving cash or trade value prizes for awards buff doles out a trophy that vibrates when held in the shape of a demonic black bunny with red eyes . the bacchus award was incorporated into buff in its second year and has since become the official mascot of the festival a focal point in poster logo design and the rationale behind the festival s red black color scheme . and the bunny goes to ... is the much anticipated phrase at the award ceremony that closes the festival . a new version of bacchus clad in white briefs and clutching a liquor bottle was unveiled for the 2008 festival . the 2008 bacchus was designed by casey a. riley . notable films featured edit i stand alone gaspar no 2001 shucking the curve todd verow 2001 we sold our souls for rock n roll penelope spheeris 2001 don t ask don t tell doug miles 2002 zero day ben coccio 2003 best of fest winner horns and halos galinsky hawley 2003 dear pillow bryan poyser 2004 best of fest winner family portraits a trilogy of america douglas buck 2005 graveyard alive a zombie nurse in love elza kephart 2005 best of fest winner thundercrack curt mcdowell 2005 stryker noam gonick 2005 a forked world carey burtt & james digiovanna 2005 neighborhood watch aka deadly end graeme whifler 2006 the french guy ann marie fleming 2006 best of fest winner psychopathia sexualis bret wood 2006 american stag benjamin meade 2007 dante s inferno sean meredith 2007 viva anna biller 2007 best of fest winner the hamster cage larry kent 2007 roman angela bettis 2007 la belle b te karim hussain 2008 best of fest winner the wizard of gore jeremy kasten 2008 pop skull adam wingard 2008 who is kk downey darren curtis & pat kiley 2008 otis tony krantz 2008 the last american freak show richard butchins 2009 bad biology frank henenlotter 2009 deadgirl marcel sarmiento & gadi harel 2009 modern love is automatic zach clark 2009 best of fest winner mock up on mu craig baldwin 2009 morris county matthew garrett 2009 love exposure sion sono 2010 red white & blue simon rumley 2010 best of fest winner stuck steve balderson 2010 the life and death of a porno gang mladen djordjevic 2010 amer h l ne cattet & bruno forzani 2010 hobo with a shotgun jason eisener 2011 the woman lucky mckee 2011 profane usama alshaibi 2011 best of fest winner frankie in blunderland caleb emerson 2011 chop trent haaga 2011 a horrible way to die adam wingard 2011 helldriver yoshihiro nishimura 2011 john dies at the end don coscarelli 2012 excision richard bates jr. 2012 smuggler katsuhito ishii 2012 inside lara roxx mia donovan 2012 manborg steven kostanski 2012 best of fest winner see you next tuesday drew tobia 2013 white reindeer zach clark 2013 best of fest winner crimes against humanity jerzy rose 2014 best of fest winner starry eyes dennis widmyer & kevin k lsch 2014 blue ruin jeremy saulnier 2014 the editor adam brooks & matthew kennedy 2015 we are still here ted geoheghan 2015 i am a knife with legs bennett jones 2015 best of fest winner remedy cheyenne picardo 2015 notable guests edit bill plympton 2003 george a. romero 2004 douglas buck 2005 ann marie fleming 2006 lloyd kaufman 2006 angela bettis 2007 lucky mckee 2007 & 2011 anna biller 2007 todd verow 2007 larry kent 2007 karim hussain 2008 jeremy kasten 2008 adam wingard 2008 steve balderson 2008 2010 tony krantz 2008 frank henenlotter 2009 george kuchar 2010 mink stole 2010 simon rumley 2010 jason eisener 2011 trent haaga 2011 don coscarelli 2012 john fasano 2012 jeremy saulnier 2014 references edit the harvard crimson cine manic march 5 1999 external links edit boston underground film festival website boston underground film festival at myspace retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title boston underground film festival & oldid 743297940 categories annual events in bostonfilm festivals in massachusettsfestivals in bostonunderground film festivalsexperimental film festivals navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent 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