Calgary Underground Film Festival has revealed the 16 features and nine shorts selected for the 12th CUFF.Docs Documentary Film Festival taking place from November 20-24, 2024 at Globe Cinema.
CUFF.Docs opens with The Donn of Tiki, the story of Donn Beach, creator of the Tiki Bar and perhaps the most important influencer of modern-day cocktails and bar aesthetics.
CUFF puts a special focus on Alberta content and will host the Canadian Premiere of Flashback, a look at Edmonton’s iconic queer disco bar that became a sensation on the international club circuit despite police raids, threats of violence, and the scourge of AIDS. Calgary-based Director Peter Hays will be in attendance.
CUFF will also screen four episodes of the Alberta-created Horse Warriors, a new series on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). From Alberta filmmakers Dominique Keller and Neil Grahn, the doc series looks at Alberta-based Indigenous Relay Racers, including a team from Siksika Nation just outside of Calgary.
There’s also a doc about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s impact on global cinema and pop culture (Chain Reactions), music documentaries about Devo (DEVO) and Pavement (Pavements), the Canadian premiere of Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts, a collection of stories observed within the walls of former Pizza Hut buildings across the US, and Every Little Thing, a must-see film for birders, about a woman who rescues and nurtures wounded hummingbirds.
“I really love our lineup, and the wild mix of documentaries our team has selected for Calgary audiences to take in this year! We always look for a wide variety, and this year is no different, with everything from music to true crime, horror, quirky character stories, biographies, hummingbird rescue, all the way to cute cat videos,” said CUFF Festival Director, Brenda Lieberman.
CUFF.Docs 2024 Lineup
16 Features
CATVIDEOFEST: A compilation of the newest and best cat videos selected from innumerable hours of unique performances and animations, music videos and internet classics, with 10% of proceeds being donated to Meow Foundation.
CHAIN REACTIONS (Director Alexandre O. Philippe): Fifty years after Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE shocked the world and forever changed the face of global cinema and popular culture, CHAIN REACTIONS charts the film’s profound impact and lasting influence.
DEVO (Director Chris Smith): An exploration of the gloriously radical spirit that is Devo – a rare band founded by a philosophy; a Dada experiment of high art meets low, hellbent on infiltrating American popular culture.
DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS (Director Stacy Peralta): 2001 documentary about the pioneering 1970s Zephyr skating team.
EVERY LITTLE THING (Director Sally Aitken): Amid the glamour of Hollywood, Los Angeles, a woman finds herself on a transformative journey as she nurtures wounded hummingbirds.
FLASHBACK (Director Peter Hays): It was a glittering oasis in Edmonton, the most conservative place in Canada, a club that owner John Reid vowed would be a safe place for ‘gay people and their friends.’
HORSE WARRIORS: EPISODIC SERIES (Show Creators Neil Grahn and Dominique Keller): Discover the world of Indigenous Relay Racing with HORSE WARRIORS, a new series on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). CUFF.Docs will be showing Episodes 1, 7, 8, and 13 – the series finale, ahead of its broadcast on APTN.
KUNG FU ELLIOT – 10TH ANNIVERSARY (Directors Matthew Bauckman and Jaret Belliveau): The bizarre story of Elliot ‘White Lightning’ Scott, who plans on becoming Canada’s first kung fu action hero with his low-budget karate epic, BLOOD FIGHT.
MICHEL GONDRY, DO IT YOURSELF (Director François Nemeta): A rare and intimate exploration of Michel Gondry, the visionary artist who redefined music videos and Hollywood with his offbeat, DIY style, from directing icons like Björk and The Rolling Stones to winning an Oscar for ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
MISTRESS DISPELLER (Director Elizabeth Lo): Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband’s affair.
PAVEMENTS (Director Alex Ross Perry): An examination of the iconic 90s indie band Pavement, PAVEMENTS appears to be just another music documentary, until it doesn’t.
SLICE OF LIFE: THE AMERICAN DREAM. IN FORMER PIZZA HUTS. (Director Matthew Salleh): A contemporary portrait of America, told through a collection of stories observed within the walls of former Pizza Hut buildings across the country.
SPACE COWBOY (Directors Bryce Leavitt and Marah Strauch): Joe Jennings, a pioneer of skydiving cinematography, looks back on creating iconic moments in film and television, while he tries to turn a dreamlike vision into reality.
THE DONN OF TIKI (Directors Alex Lamb and Max Well): The incredulous story of Donn Beach, creator of the Tiki Bar, and perhaps the most important influence on modern-day cocktails and bar aesthetics.
THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE (Director Jon Spira): For eight decades and across almost 300 films, one man defined what it was to be a screen villain for generations of cinema-goers. This is the unbelievable true story of the man behind the macabre, Dracula.
WHATEVER IT TAKES (Director Jenny Carchman): The extraordinary true-crime story of a middle-aged couple subjected to cyberstalking threats by the Fortune 500 company eBay.
9 Shorts
ALL THINGS METAL (Director Motoki Otsuka)
DELTA DAWN (Director Asia Youngman)
FIRST SNOW (Director Kirsten Kosloski)
GEORGIE (Director Jennie Butler)
GRIZZLY BEAR COUNTRY (Director Mave Ky) *Calgary Director
HAMLOUL (Director Hajar Abdeaziz)
TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE (Director Evan Luchkow)
VULTURE CULTURE: CREATING AFTERLIVES (Director Teya Nicolaou)
WRECKED A BUNCH OF CARS, HAD A GOOD TIME (Directors Matt Ferrin and James P. Gannon)