Despite the restrictions in place on account of the health crisis, the Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival (LUFF) is refusing to throw in the towel and is, instead, adapting itself to the situation, offering up a different though no less explosive or alternative 2020 edition. Screenings, performances and concerts will punctuate the five-day festival (running 14 - 18 October), treating the audience to a fascinating overview of the very best of the underground scene. In all, this year’s LUFF will offer 5 international competitions for short and full-length films (involving a total of 97 works), as well as 6 world premieres, 2 international premieres, 5 European premieres and 33 Swiss premieres, not to mention the marathon of 24 musical performances.

The festival will kick things off with the world premiere screening of Wonderful Paradise by Japanese director Yamashi Yamamoto, who will also form the focus of a retrospective exploring four works which best represent his artistic journey. The closing film, meanwhile, will be #ShakespearShitstorm, a decidedly bold and surprising Shakespeare adaptation, created by US director Lloyd Kaufmann, the founder and CEO of Troma Entertainment.

The international competition will be a feast for the eyes, offering 5 emotional and electrifying feature films: an international premiere of Autumnal Sleeps by Ireland’s Michael Higgins, Playdurizm (Czech Republic, world premiere) by young Turkish director Gem Deger, who examines the darker side of celebrity by way of a highly sophisticated, tabloid-style form of photography, Hunted [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (France/Belgium) by French filmmaker Vincent Paronnaud, a survival movie immersed in an unmistakably unwelcoming forest which tears down clichés relating to the clinical man/woman and nature/civilisation binaries, Fried Barry (South Africa) by Brit Ryan Kruger and Butt Boy by US director Tyler Cormack. Running parallel to this, the documentary feature films line-up will consist of 3 works, including My Lover the Killer by the French musician, director and screenwriter Marc Hurtado, which paints an intimate and powerful portrait of US artist Lydia Lunch and is set to be presented in an international premiere attended by the director.

Meanwhile, this year’s “carte blanche”, dedicated to oneiric films (Dream-Films), is curated by the French writer and journalist Maxime Lachaud. As for the festival’s musical programme, the event will welcome underground heavyweights such as Käthe Kruse of legendary Berlin group Die Tödliche Doris, piper Erwan Keravec, multidisciplinary artist SOUHARCE, Belgium’s NAH, the Dutch king of noise music Vestas and the captivating Italian artist Alessandra Zerbinati.