The New York Underground Film Festival was an annual event that occurred each March at Anthology Film Archives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from 1994 through 2008 founded by filmmakers

Todd Phillips Todd Phillips (né Bunzl, born December 20, 1970) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip (film), Road Trip'', ''Old School (film), Old School'', ...

('' Road Trip'', '' Old School'') and Andrew Gurland. After Phillips and Gurland turned the festival over to programmer Ed Halter, it became noted for documentary and

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

programming, and occasionally courted controversy, particularly in its early years. Some of these have included: premiering the

North American Man/Boy Love Association The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is a pedophilia and pederasty advocacy organization in the United States. It works to abolish age-of-consent laws criminalizing adult sexual involvement with minors and campaigns for the rel ...

(NAMBLA) documentary, '' Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys'', in 1994; premiering a film in 1995 that accused

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

of plagiarism; being protested by Reverend

Fred Phelps Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. (November 13, 1929 – March 19, 2014) was an American minister who served as the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, worked as a civil rights attorney, and ran for statewide election in Kansas. He gained nation ...

in 2002 (apparently for not choosing to show a film about Phelps); and premiering a theatrical version of Brad Neely's Harry Potter parody ''

Wizard People, Dear Reader ''Wizard People, Dear Reader'', released in 2004, is an unauthorized alternative soundtrack to ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'', written by Brad Neely, a comic book artist from Fort Smith, Arkansas. ''Wizard People, Dear Reader'' is a n ...

'', which eventually led to action by

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

to suppress future theatrical performances of the work. Nevertheless, though the festival has remained a small affair, and has little value as a market, its programming has attained a certain prestige, especially among younger or more experimental filmmakers. The first year showcased the work of Independent Animator Bill Plympton. The New York Times described the event " as a collection of love and independence". In February 2008 the festival organizers announced that, instead of passing on the torch to a younger generation - as has been the tradition, the 15th festival would be the last. Instead two of the former organizers intend to create a new festival under the name Migrating Forms (taking the name from a film by

James Fotopoulos James Fotopoulos (born 1976, Norridge, Illinois) is an independent filmmaker whose work is low-budget and rigorous, and consists of experimental narrative features, non-narrative shorts, and video installations. He began creating his film projects ...

List of films shown

* 15th festival, April 2–8, 2008 * 14th festival, March 28 - April 3, 2007 * 13th festival, March 8–14, 2006 * 12th festival, March 9–15, 2005 * 11th festival, March 10–16, 2004 * 10th festival, March 5–11, 2003 * 9th festival, March 6–12, 2002 * 8th festival, March 7–13, 2001 * 7th festival, March 8–14, 2000 * 6th festival, March 10–14, 1999 * 5th festival, March 18–22, 1998 * 4th festival, March 19–23, 1997 * 3rd festival, March 20–24, 1996

References and links

{{Reflist
Official website for the New York Underground Film Festival

Official website for Migrating Forms

Festival Review: Mining Gold at the New York Underground

Official site
for Mike White
Illegal Art site for Wizard People, Dear Readers (with further links)
Experimental film festivals

Underground Film An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing. Notable examples include: John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'', David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'', Andy Warhol's '' Blue Movie'', Rosa von Praunheim's '' ...

Underground film festivals