Unnamed Footage Festival 8 (2025) Full Line-Up announced

Posted on by Jim Cox

Follow by Email
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

THE UNNAMED FOOTAGE FESTIVAL REVEALS FULL LINEUP OF FILMS AND EVENTS INCLUDING Encore Screening of IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS, Theatrical Premiere of REALITY KILLERS, and US Premiere of THE UNSOLVED LOVE HOTEL MURDER CASE INCIDENT

As the 8th annual Unnamed Footage Festival approaches, the UFF team is thrilled to announce everything that’s planned for March 25th through 30th! We’ve crafted nearly a full week of screenings, special events, and mixers, all intended to get attendees thinking about the in-world-camera format and its endless possibilities. To make this the strongest season possible, we have partnered with Canadian found footage devotees FoundTV, whose streaming service has blown up since its launch in October 2024 and continues to grow every day. 

The festivities kick off on Tuesday, March 25th at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission Theatre for a 20th anniversary screening of Noroi: The Curse, tickets for which are on sale now. The following two evenings, Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th, UFF moves to the Artists’ Television Access, also in San Francisco’s Mission District, for two very different mixer nights. 

Keeping up the tradition started last year, we’ll be hosting a mixer on Wednesday the 26th. Drop in, have some drinks, enjoy the ambiance, and catch a flick. This year, the theme is It Doesn’t Blair Any Better Than Witch, and we’ll be celebrating the old, the new, and the weird by serving up a pair of Blair Witch re-edits that cast the Black Hills of Maryland in a whole new light.

The next night, Thursday, March 27th, we’re bringing back the annual UFF Recalibration Party. The infamous Found Footage Power Hour will be returning: 60 clips, 60 sips, and 60 minutes of found footage mayhem featuring a wild array of clips all pulled from the best Found Footage 2024 has to offer. We’ll be following up with something special from our friends at FoundTV. As UFF’s main sponsor, they’ll be joining us in a simultaneously released HorrorDadz world premiere double feature of Dustin Tamplen’s Souvenir and Mike Rock’s The Ruck March. 

The full schedule and official poster for the 8th edition of the festival are live!

Keeping with another inescapable tradition, Friday through Sunday are absolutely packed with theatrical premieres, retro screenings, and encore screenings as It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This and its directors/stars return to the Bay Area to show their exclusively theatrical film. Festival attendees will also be the first to experience the film’s equally unobtainable sequel Bride of Hellmouth, exclusively on ViewMaster. 

he UFF8 lineup is nothing short of a work or art, kicking off each full day with a themed shorts block before plunging into a snowy Canadian cabin for Dream Eater, to the home of a canceled influencer couple for The Rebrand, to the woods of Ireland for Distort, and back to the Canadian wilderness for Hunting Matthew Nichols. Retro screenings include Jorge Torres-Torres’s Fat Tuesday and banned Italian serial killer film Reality Killers, which will have its theatrical premiere in the dark of midnight at UFF8. 

Shorts include the World Premieres of They Come Home to Die, The Hanover House, The Hedge, and anniversary_6. We’re also proud to present the Bay Area’s Matthew Abaya’s Augmented, Tony Hipwell’s POV short Body Worn Video, and Stephen Escudero’s aggressively enthusiastic Toy Vlog Hunter. The full slate of shorts, along with our entire schedule, can be found at here.

In addition to partnering with FoundTV, UFF8 will also be backed by indie found footage distribution label Only Found Footage Fans, who will be in attendance with a limited number of the first US release of SORGOI PRAKOV (aka Descent into Darkness My European Nightmare) and an array of rare in-world-camera physical releases for sale. 

Individual tickets will go on sale via FilmFreeway on March 5th at 12PM PT – badges are available right now! You can check out ticket information here.

THEATER SCHEDULE

Tuesday, March 25th: Pre-Festival Event at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission
(Separate ticket required, purchase directly from Alamo here)
Wednesday, March 26th: It Doesn’t Blair Any Better Than Witch Pre-Fest event at Artists’ Television Access

Thursday, March 27th: Opening night party at Artists’ Television Access

Friday & Saturday, March 28th – 29th: Balboa Theater

Sunday, March 30th: 4 Star Theater

FINAL WAVE SELECTIONS

It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This (2023, USA, dir. Rachel Kempf, Nick Toti)

When a married couple (filmmakers Rachel Kempf, Nick Toti as themselves) purchase a rundown duplex in rural Missouri to be the set of their next horror film, they are delighted by the layers of graffiti and debris. Nick’s production of a documentary about their project and the entertaining dynamic between himself, Rachel, and her longtime bestie Christian gets sidetracked when strangers begin standing completely still outside their new home, silently staring at the house.

Hunting Matthew Nichols (2024, Canada, dir. Markian Tarasiuk)

Two decades after her brother’s disappearance, documentarian Tara Nichols (Miranda MacDougall) sets out to find answers. When she uncovers a disturbing piece of evidence: a horrific tape that the police covered up, she learns that there’s more to his disappearance than she’s been told, and that her brother could still be alive.  

Dream Eater (2024, Canada, dir. Alex Lee Williams, Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm)

During a holiday at a remote cabin in the mountains, filmmaker Mallory Drumm decides to capture her boyfriend’s (Alex Lee Williams) strange parasomnia on camera. Despite their efforts, his episodes worsen, becoming violent and dangerous. As the couple seek a cure, they begin to expect that something more sinister is at play and begin to wonder if Alex’s malady is supernatural in origin. 

The Lost Episode (2024, Canada, dir. Nick Wernham)

The Lost Episode follows police officers Paul Massaro and Terrence Williams (Anthony Grant and Benjamin Sutherland) as they patrol the town of Franklin on Halloween night. As the night progresses, the officers respond to a series of increasingly disturbing calls and begin to suspect a diabolical conspiracy lurking in the heart of their small town.

Nightfall: A Paranormal Investigation (2024, Australia, dir. Myles McEwen, Ripley Stevens)

Two young paranormal detectives investigate a haunting. One wields a video camera and can record the spirits of the dead while the other brandishes headphones and a microphone that can capture their voices. Together they delve into a haunting that pushes their skills to the limit. This simple setup serves as a springboard for some of the best cinematography and sound design found footage horror has to offer.

The Rebrand (2024, Canada, dir. Kaye Adelaide)

Nicole, a pregnant videographer takes a gig helping a pair of lesbian lifestyle influencers who’ve seen their brand and their reputation destroyed after being cancelled for an unknown transgression. As she films their lives, she finds that the pair have far more quirks in person than their online personas reveal.

McCurdy Point (2025, USA, dir. Jeremy Brothers, Nick Paonessa)

McCurdy Point follows five friends who travel to an old cabin in the woods to celebrate, but instead find themselves targeted by a malicious force that defies explanation. Starring an ensemble cast of improv comedians, instead of scoring laughs, they build intense tension and massive scares as the force picks them off one-by-one.

DOOBA DOOBA (2024, USA, dir. Ehrland Hollingsworth)

When aspiring singer Amna (Amna Vegha) is hired to babysit, she’s surprised to learn her ward is the 16-year-old Monroe (Betsy Sligh), a troubled shut-in who hasn’t left her home since watching her brother murdered. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game with the tension of Creep and an absurdist sensibility of Too Many Cooks.

The Unsolved Love Hotel Murder Case Incident (2024, Japan, dir. Dave Jackson, Guy)

Dave Jackson and Guy, a pair of horror filmmakers and Australian expats living in Japan, decide to investigate their friend’s story of a murder and haunting at an abandoned love hotel. What starts off as a fun weekend trip becomes a nightmare when their friend vanishes and the love hotel turns out to actually be haunted.

Japandemonium (日本-悪魔) (2024, Japan, dir Sean Kurosawa / Kyosuke Koizumi, Nozomi Tomaki)

A double feature of Sean Kurosawa’s Girls Just Wanna Have Kill and Kyosuke Koizumi & Nozomi Tomaki’s Killmageddon, this midnight block is like seppuku for your senses. With minimal plot and maximal violence, Killmageddon is a blood-drenched fever dream. Girls Just Wanna Have Kill keeps up the insanity from its opening dedication to Cyndi Lauper to its splatter-pop idol heroine Momoko (Tenma Aida) and her gooey time-traveling hijinks.

What I Remember (2025, USA, dir. Alex Hera)

Based on Hera’s short film of the same title, What I Remember follows Ryan and Sam, a pair bound together by loneliness and by their deep desire to escape the bigotry and isolation of their rural hometown. Jumping between past and present, we watch Ryan and Sam’s relationship tenderly grow, all-the-while knowing that in the present Ryan has gone missing, may be dead, and that Sam is dead-set on finding the truth.

Distort (2025, Ireland, dir. Richard Waters)

A musician recording an album in the woods finds mysterious cassette tapes being left for him. On them, a woman researching an urban legend is being terrorised by a man and his vicious dog. A mix between Justin Benson / Aaron Moorhead’s Resolution and Turner Clay’s The Blackwell Ghost, Distort is a beautiful and welcomed return to the woods.

Baleful (2024, Canada, dir. Denman Hatch)

Eddie has a serious problem. He doesn’t know what’s real. He doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t know why he wakes up covered in blood. Baleful is a hybrid anthology film that brings the Unnamed Footage Festival 8 theme—“Video Never Lies”—to chilling fruition. As reality unravels for a small community, its members turn to their cameras for the truth… only to discover that some images can’t be unseen. From the creator of Canada’s #1 horror YouTube channel, Deformed Lunchbox, Baleful also marks the long-awaited return of Kenny vs Spenny’s Spencer Rice to the big screen.

RETRO SCREENINGS

Fat Tuesday (2018, USA, dir. Jorge Torres-Torres)

Cinema-in-Public is a term we’ve come up with to refer to narrative films shot guerilla-style in public places. The actors know they’re making a movie, but the public is none-the wiser. Examples are rare, and include oddities like Randy Moore’s Disney World-filmed Escaped from Tomorrow and Jason Banker’s Toad Road.

UFF is proud to present its first Cinema-In-Public screening, Fat Tuesday. Filmed in New Orleans on-location during Mardi Gras, a group of friends is preyed upon by a mysterious killer (Hannah Gross). Shot and edited by the criminally overlooked Jorge Torres-Torres (Toad Road, Sisters of the Plague) Fat Tuesday transcends traditional slashers by adding an element of verisimilitude previously unknown to the subgenre. 

Reality Killers (2005, Italy, dir. Alessandro Capone, Pablo Dammicco, Volfango De Biasi, Francesco Maria Dominedò)

Reality Killers is a horror film in which a man obsessed with violent ‘snuff’ videos, featuring people being abused, tortured and killed, goes on to commit his own similar crimes. – Banned in the UK and lost for 20 years, Reality Killers is a surprisingly cinematic 90s style In-World-Camera film, which will find its theatrical debut as our Saturday, midnight screening.

More Film Reviews