We'll be putting a few mini interviews forward here so you can get to know us a little better over the coming weeks.
First off the rank is one of the festival Directors, Stefan Popescu:
When did you start SUFF, and why? 2007 - mainly because there was no forum for alternate film in Sydney. All the cool cinemas were dying out, the major festivals were busy securing future years' funding by being super safe and commercial, and frankly we couldn't get our fix of cinema culture beyond the usual McMovies that were being pushed. So we got off our butts and started the Sydney Underground Film Festival, knowing that there was a community that would respond and support us.
What got you interested in underground film? Watching horror films at the age of 7. At seven years of age I learnt that moving image = fiction, and what you see on screen is very different from reality. So, for me cinema is a safe forum to explore, celebrate difference, experience strange things and venture to the outer crevices of your psyche - and I think alternative and underground cinema does this.
What have been some pitfalls that you've learned from in running a festival like this? Don't tell your friends that you program the festival, because when you don't select their film you'll find out that they are not really your friend after all.
What have been your highlights? Aiding a culture of cinematic difference to exist and being part on an international community of wonderful filmmakers and cinephiles! Filmmakers are beautiful, generous and fun creatures! And the more disturbing their films are the nicer the filmmakers are.
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