The Melbourne Underground Film Festival (M.U.F.F.) is a cutting edge premiere showcase for Independent cinema from around the world. It is known for its radical, adventurous and iconoclastic programming decisions, in addition to its support of different voices from independent, alternative, underground and student filmmakers worldwide. The festival focuses on both Australian and International cinema. MUFF plays many shorts every year and a lot of features, plus an exciting array of documentaries and curated retrospectives. MUFF is an essential forum for new cinema that will look beyond production values, and find the hidden talent within. MUFF has been the launching board and incubator for many talented and famous filmmakers including James Wan, Scott Ryan, Jenna Fisher, Jim VanBebber, Bruce LaBruce, Peter Christopherson, Stuart Simpson, Shannon Young, Kel Dolen, Steven Kastrissios, Ivan Kavanagh, Mark Savage, Anna Brownfield, Patrick Hughes, Jeremey DeCeglie, Gregory Pakis, Travis Bain, Zak Hilditch, Addison Heath, Michael Parle, Cameron Miller, Paul Moder, Tom Vogel and many, many others.

Awards & Prizes

The MUFF awards rewards many local and international films every year with its annual "M.U.F.F. AWARDS". Winners are selected from both the SHORT FILM and FEATURE FILM sections!

Rules & Terms

Please do not send original material or masters for preview or screening. The Melbourne Underground Film Festival will not return preview or screening discs.

The Melbourne Underground Film Festival will screen films off DVD, Blu Ray, USB Drives and high resolution .mov / .mp4 digital files only (in any format from around the world). No other formats are accepted.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

We confirm that you have granted The Melbourne Underground Film Festival the right to publicly exhibit your film and that The Melbourne Underground Film Festival will take all care but no responsibility for your film whilst in the possession of the Festival. We also confirm that if accepted into the festival you grant The Melbourne Underground Film Festival the right to publicly promote your film in all festival promotional materials, as appropriate. You also confirm that all necessary permissions have been obtained to enter this film in the Festival and that the film does not infringe the rights including copyright of any third party.
17 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Zach Sengstock

    The premier long-standing festival in Melbourne for free-thinking film-makers. Richard's boldness and cinematic knowledge drive the ethos of the fest and his team were easy to deal with. Keen to get in again and attend there in person this time as I was well out of town this year.

    December 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Cheers Zach, we hope to see more of your work in the future and to have you join us in person!

  • Diana Galimzyanova

    I was super excited that my feature "Plan 9 from AliExpress" had its international premiere at Melbourne Underground Film Festival. It seems like a really nice festival that values underground artists. I wish I could attend.

    December 2023
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    Response from festival:

    We missed you, and were very proud to award you Best Director for a Feature at the festival in 2023. More power to you!... and greetings and best wishes to Russia and You from Down Under and MUFF!

  • Johan Schyberg

    Amazing festival with, in my opinion, the most interesting content/submissions out there. Very accommodating and great communication.

    The perfect option for anyone who ticked the wrong answers to "directors gender, directors race and directors sexual preferences" when applying for Melbourne International Film Festival. :)

    May 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Johan for your participation and the wonderful review - yes, at MUFF we don't do quotas, we do merit. We don't care about identity politics around here, we care only whether the film is good! ;-)

  • Patrick Harris

    Wonderful experience being accepted by MUFF, alas I couldn't make it to the event but communication was first rate

    December 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Cheers Patrick, we appreciate filmmakers like you!

  • Yau Ming

    Thank you very much for selecting our short doco on the last typewriter shop in Melbourne. It was my first public project and it means a lot to me.

    June 2022
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Yau, we love to showcase local stories and talent like yours!