The Lausanne Underground Film Festival (LUFF) has wrapped up its 23rd edition. Nearly 60 artists showcased their works. Overlooking the great Lake Geneva, LUFF truly embodies the punk ethos, with a community-driven atmosphere. With no frills and no red carpet award ceremony, the festival honored the winners.
The Best Feature Film in LUFF's international competition went to the Filipino provocateur par excellence, Khavn de la Cruz, whose latest film Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge, took the prize. The jury, comprised of Flavia Zanon, Ali Catterall, and Lelo Jimmy Battista, praised the film’s ingenuity, technical mastery, and visionary scope, calling it a standout work that defied expectations.
The film, an anti-colonial visual poem hand-colored over two years, brings to life José Rizal’s unfinished 1890 novel with visual and narrative inventiveness. According to the jury, every frame "could be framed in a museum," and its creator’s wild presentation added a layer of visceral intensity to its screening.
In addition to Makamisa, the festival also celebrated other works from across the globe. Swiss experimental filmmakers Milan Camille Friedlos, Luis Kunfermann, and Yura Chaim took home the award for Best Experimental Short Film for “the pyrotechnics of feelings” La Cordà, while Swiss director Thilda Bourqui was recognized for her surreal, party-fueled fiction short F33 (PARTY-DROP-CURE). Blurring the lines between installation and narrative fiction, Bourqui´s short is a trippy dystopian headtrip utilizing internet aesthetics and storytelling on transformation, transgression, identity and society.
In the animation category, Austrian-German duo Eva Pedroza and Fanny Sorgo won for their hauntingly emotive Tako Tsubo (which means broken heart syndrome). The surrealist short sees the protagonist getting his heart removed to be relieved of his complicated feelings, which is done in a literal way.
The Best Documentary Short went to UK filmmaker Charlie Shakleton for Camera Test (King Cadbury), which uses the remaining stock to tell a family tale of maybe non-existing commercial for Cadbury´s chocolate shot in a parking lot.
Special mention was also awarded to Swiss filmmaker Paul Fritz for his fiction short The Crust That Came Back to Life, a scare jump satire that veers unexpectedly into Oscar ceremony with a bizarre revelation. Iraqi filmmaker Saif Alsaegh also received the special mention for his documentary The Motherfucker’s Birthday, that zooms in on the birthday party of Saddam Hussein´s son Uday and juxtaposed to the footage of tortures he ordered with archival footage of George W. Bush´s invasion of Iraq. Whilst the audio track features Bush explaining the launch of “military operation”, the video shows him with his wife as well as Dick Cheney with his wife dancing together.
LUFF Awards 2024
Best Feature Film
Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge - Khavn de la Cruz
Best Experimetnal Short
La Cordà - Milan Camille Friedlos, Luis Kunfermann & Yura Chaim
Best Fiction Short
F33 (PARTY-DROP-CURE:REPEAT) - Thilda Bourqui
Best Animation Short
Tako Tsubo - Eva Pedroza & Fanny Sorgo
Best Documentary Short
Camera Test (King Cadbury) - Charlie Shakleton
Special Mention Fiction Short
The Crust That Came Back to Life - Paul Fritz
Special Mention Documentary Short
The Motherfucker’s Birthday - Saif Alsaegh