The A.V. Club 2010 Minneapolis Underground Film Festival itinerary

For the third year in a row, the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival is holding it down for the Twin Cities indie film scene. This weekend, the Minneapolis College Of Art And Design will screen more than 60 shorts and feature-length films repping a rainbow of languages and lifestyles. To help you cut to the good stuff, we did a little Internet research and trailer-watching and came up with our own viewing schedule.

Minneapolis Project 2010 – Dec. 3, 8:30 p.m.
Woody Allen had Manhattan, Federico Fellini had Rome, and now 20 local filmmakers have made Minneapolis their cinemunicipal muse. Started last year by John Koch, filmmaker and founder of Cinema Revolution, The Minneapolis Project is a collection of narrative films, each linked to a different Minneapolis neighborhood or landmark. The project showcases the many faces of Minneapolis, with everything from character dramas like Stephen Gurewitz’s Claudia and Abdi Hassan’s Raw Honey to weird, wacky, would-be cult classics like Dan Dockery’s Free Puppies and John Akre’s Urban Agrarian Woman.

The Taint – Dec. 3, 10:40 p.m.
What’s an underground film fest without misogynist gore-porn? Such horror flicks are a dime a dozen, but The Taint seems to examine the genre with a postmodern wink. The title, for instance, refers to a tainted water supply, which fills the film’s male characters with an overwhelming desire to rape and kill. (Why, what did you think it referred to?) Did the Virginia-based team of over-educated 20-somethings make the film solely because they discovered how to crush heads in a really convincing way, or is there social commentary at play? Only the strong of stomach will find out.

Speakers’ Corner: You Have The Right To Remain Vocal – Dec. 4, 1:30 p.m.
Since 1872, the infamous “Speakers’ Corner” of London’s Hyde Park has been a platform for anyone with something to say. To make this award-winning 2009 movie, filmmaker Gavin White spent nearly 10 years and less than $50,000 documenting what happens at a place where freedom of speech is a tourist attraction.

Vixen Highway – Dec. 4, 4 p.m.
Every underground film fest needs a so-bad-it’s-good sexploitation flick, and our pick is the 10th anniversary screening of Vixen Highway. John Ervin’s low-budget homage to Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! will be followed by a free party at the studio of Venus DeMars, local glam-rocker from All The Pretty Horses, whose music is featured prominently in the film. If that doesn’t give you an idea of what kind of flick this is, maybe the official teaser will.

Victory Square – Dec. 4, 7 p.m.
Minnesota native Liza Davitch traded one tundra for another when she flew to Minsk, Belarus to film this docudrama, an examination of the strained relationship between mother and daughter as each becomes involved with a man whom the other despises. In 2002, the film won Best Documentary at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. Definitely worth another look.

Eddies: The Documentary – Dec. 5, 4:30 p.m.
A first-time doc by emerging Alberta filmmakers about emerging Alberta filmmakers might not sound like a recipe for success, but, well, maybe we just like the subject matter: A Canadian beer mogul mobilizes hundreds of amateur beer commercial directors each year by promising $20,000 and a one-time screening at a huge, drunken mock awards show called the “Eddies.” It’s worth the $9 ticket price just to see what we Minnesotans can learn from our fellow beer-guzzling northerners.