After missing its TIFF premiere (had to choose between Friendship and chatting with Hugh Grant on the Heretic red carpet), and then missing it again at SXSW, I finally caught Friendship at the Calgary Underground Film Festival, where it opened to a packed house. And it was worth the wait.
CUFF 2025 wrapped up on April 27, 2025, at the Globe Cinema in Calgary, showcasing 41 feature films, 45 shorts, and eight special events — from live script readings and retro cartoon parties to found-footage screenings and a 007 GoldenEye tournament. The festival’s eclectic programming blended horror, documentary, indie drama, and surreal comedy into another brilliant festival.
Vulcanizadora is a brutal, blackly funny descent into male loneliness, guilt, and fractured friendship. The film follows two old friends – played by Potrykus (Derek) and long-time collaborator Joshua Burge (Marty) – as they trudge into the Michigan woods on a grim, unclear mission.
Vampire Zombies...From Space! is fully aware of what it is: a loving send-up packed with heavy tropes, shameless jokes, and more heart than you might expect.
Predators avoids the structural safety nets of traditional documentary filmmaking. There’s no narration guiding us toward a particular point of view, no dramatic underscore telling us how to feel.
Good Boy is a microbudget haunted house horror told from the perspective of a dog. Its premise is straightforward: Indy, a retriever with no supernatural abilities, must protect his human companion Todd from a presence only he can sense.
Intimacy, Estrangement, and the Crow: Chloé Robichaud on her Film, TWO WOMEN The snow drifts slowly across the screen in the opening moments of Two Women, immediately anchoring us in…
Ebony and Ivory is not a biopic. It’s not even about the song. What it is, however, is an off-the-wall, slow-burn character piece that invites discomfort, absurdity, and unexpected moments of surrealism.
