At first glance, Calgary—a city situated deep within Canada’s conservative prairies—might not seem like it would be teeming with a rich, filmgoing community. But the Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) and its director/lead programmer, Brenda Lieberman have tilled Cowtown’s cultural soils to change that narrative. “When we started the festival, there really wasn’t a lot of media art culture in terms of festivals in Calgary at all,” Lieberman tells RANGE. “There is not a lot of arthouse cinema in Calgary, unlike other cities in Canada that have constant arthouse programming. It leaves a lot of room for our festival to be the main voice for many of these films.”

The process to nestle CUFF into the city’s cultural fabric wasn’t an easy one. “For the longest time, it was hard to sell. People kept asking: ‘What does underground mean? Is it just a horror festival?’” Lieberman says. “But once somebody comes, they’re hooked. We’ve built it through word of mouth.” She contends that it has since become authentically Calgarian. “Since the festival’s inception in 2004, it has been a festival for the community, built by the community,” Lieberman continues. “As it’s been building, it has held true to our vision and not exceeded beyond its means.”

The CUFF team poses with iconic filmmaker John Waters in 2024.

Much of the festival’s success is, in part, due to how the independent genre offerings tap into the spirit of the city, making it a theatrical experience that is as inviting as it is invigorating. “You go to some festivals and there is either such an overgenerous audience or one that doesn’t get the humour, but I really feel our audience is bang-on with our films, it hits the right notes, and each film is embraced by our audience,” Lieberman says. The key to such resonance is consistency. She continues, “We’ve had the same team for a very long time… and I think our consistency for recognizing the right style of comedy, absurdity and genres has allowed the audience to grow with it.”

That special line of curation is at the heart of his year’s festival, which sees weird attractions like Endless Cookie (a bizarre, heartfelt animated documentary), Else (A horror film that sees bodies merge with objects), and The Last Podcast (A film where a podcaster lands a real ghost as a guest) bespeckle the lineup like mesmerizing, misshapen diamonds. CUFF is home to a multitude of perspectives and experiences, just waiting for tightly packed audiences to witness them firsthand.

Personally, Lieberman is drawn to the “lady flicks” this year; she notes “The creative minds behind the female-directed films are mind-blowing.” From an inversion of Cinderella in The Ugly Stepsister to the “ingenuity and creativity” of The Black Hole and even rousing documentaries like Lunatic: The Luna Vachon Story, CUFF is home to a smattering of diverse and inclusive experiences.

With so much on offer, CUFF’s lineup also finds the space to champion its city. “This Too Shall Pass was produced and shot here in Calgary, as well as Shadow of God,” Lieberman notes. “When programming our selections, we always ask our submissions about a Calgary connection.”

In an ever-changing film landscape that continues to trivialize the theatrical experience with shorter and shorter screening windows, CUFF remains steadfast in championing its vision. “Theatrical windows are way tighter and moving way quicker…but our role, our vision lies in trusting our audience.” Lieberman says. “We may not have as many tentpole titles as other venues, but we know our audiences are just as supportive of films they don’t know about.” While CUFF may not be flush with the heavy hitters, this inherent trust in the curation process allows the festival to unfold as a killer playlist, chock full of singular ebbs and flows that hit at just the perfect time.

“We ultimately want to keep CUFF the same…less is more,” says Lieberman. In an arena that sees many film festivals undergoing an identity crisis—even prestigious ones like Sundance, having recently left its longtime Utah home for Boulder, Colorado—CUFF is staying true to itself and its roots, even as it introduces events, like the “Indie Game Bash,” that fall outside of the theatrical purview. In Lieberman’s eyes, “the same spheres of culture” are at play in such events, as the fest aims to tap into the cinematic experience of, well, pretty much everything. After 22 years of idiosyncratic fun, CUFF is one of the rare places where Cinema bleeds into everything, and the only way to believe it is to experience it.

Our Picks of the Fest

The Last Podcast

In an Internet Age inundated and oversaturated with podcasts, it’s hard to tap into a conversation that not only feels fresh but truly alive. In Dean Alioto’s The Last Podcast, a skeptic podcaster desperate for subscribers lands his liveliest convo yet with his most lifeless guest—a literal ghost. The dark comedy is primed to send audiences down a chilling, highly original rabbit hole.

Endless Cookie

Seth Scriver’s cartoony feature is part family portrait, part documentary that navigates the deep, complex bond between two half-brothers—one Indigenous, one white—through a series of fascinatingly heartfelt vignettes. Spanning 1980s Toronto to the present-day First Nations community of Shamattawa, it’s set to be the most deeply felt and unequivocally Canadian experience of the fest.

The Black Hole

One of lead programmer Brenda Lieberman’s personal picks of the fest, the Estonian-Finnish sci-fi feature offers alien oddities and a pertinent female touch from director Moonika Siimets. Lieberman notes it’s the film that will “give people a real good, real weird taste of modern European cinema.”

This Too Shall Pass

Shot and produced in Calgary, Rob Grant’s This Too Shall Pass finds itself at home in this year’s festival. Centering on teenaged Mormons disillusioned by their strict upbringings, Grant’s coming-of-age feature follows them on a life-changing trip to Canada, where they learn to confront their pre-conceived beliefs.

Bushido

Drawing from Japan’s cinematic golden age, Kazuya Shiraishi’s Bushido is here to give CUFF its samurai fix. Following a mourning ronin falsely accused of a crime he did not commit, Shiraishi’s film revels in its tale of revenge, as a modern-day Jidaigeki (a Japanese term meaning “period drama”) that proves the bloody annals of history are full of refreshing, deeply prescient tales.

The Calgary Underground Film Festival runs April 17-27

For tickets and more information, visit calgaryundergroundfilm.org