Welcome to the "Slamdance of the South!"

The 2023 South Carolina Underground Film Festival celebrates all genres of independent film in one festival.  This is truly an international film festival as we are featuring films from all over the globe.  

The SCUFF will be three packed days of indie films where fans and filmmakers can meet and mingle and celebrate obscure and independent film.

Presented in part by The Nickelodeon Theater in Columbia, South Carolina, SCUFF will take place on November 4th and 5th, 2023 at the at Spotlight Cinemas Capital 8 at 201 Columbia Mall Blvd Ste 211, Columbia, SC 29223. Tickets and passes now available!

2023 Schedule

Saturday, November 4, 2023

10:00 AM – Animation Shorts Block

The Dark Odyssey 2 - Ice Nexus (12 mins) - A skeptical astronaut discovers a lost spaceship and gets tangled up in a dangerous journey to a mythical space-time portal, the Ice Nexus, in search of the Inventory of the Mind, essential knowledge for ending the Eternal War. Directed by Michael Lavine

Trash Cats: Paranormal Investigations (13 mins) - A group of twenty-something-year-old friends get fired from a local pizza joint for their “unspeakable acts.” Disappointed and pointing fingers at one another, the group makes their way towards their apartment, only to stop briefly at an interesting

site. A distraught old and wise-looking man is throwing a cardboard box out to the curb with the rest of his garbage. Not wanting to risk an opportunity to make a little cash, the group approaches the man, telling him they are happy to take the junk off his hands. Though the man discourages the group, the four

runs off before his speech can be completed. After searching online forums for jobs, as well as the mystery behind the contents of the box, both investigations end with the four deciding to take on a new career path as paranormal investigators. The four non-believers quickly change their thoughts about the ghost world once a seemingly easy way to make 40,000 dollars becomes proof that everything isn’t actually how it seems. Directed by Matt Gaines

Rite (8 mins) - Spearheading the search for sentient life on other worlds is the job of Odyssey 1, solo space pilot and explorer. His boots-on-the-ground mission takes him to a barren land inhabited by the ruins of an ancient civilization. He soon discovers that he’s been selected to be part of something greater. Directed by Forest Rain

KnightTime Story (3 mins) - A tiny toy knight yearns to be like the stallion-riding hero of his favorite storybook. Directed by Julie Huang, Kayla Rose, Christine Wendell

Chupacorn (5 mins) - Chick is a young elf that has been trusted with shepherding his father’s flock of unicorns for the day. However, when a foal sneaks off, Chick pursues it into the forest. There, he encounters a mysterious creature that threatens his return home. Directed by Jasper Nylund

Brutus (15 mins) - Brutus Clancy, a super-shy, seven-foot-tall Gorilla as he’s dragged to a party against his best interests by his best friend Nicky G (a drug dealer with a chicken nugget for a head) and mutual friend Violet Fernanda (an alien that believes she’s the mean girl in a teen drama). Directed by JoJo Scanlon

11:30 AM - Feature Film

Weeknights (1 hr 8 mins) - Julian works the overnight shift as a security guard on a college campus. Huston picks up driving gigs after leading A.A. meetings. It's Marat turn to mind the store, but he just wants to doomscroll. Lonely dudes in liminal spaces. Three guys trying to get through another night on the job. Directed by Alfred Giancarli

1:15 PM - Drama Shorts Block

Forbidden Fruit (12 mins) - A black eleven-year-old navigates a day in his life of rural poverty while his mother is stuck at work. Directed by  Isaiah Alexander Forte-Rose

Biters and Bleeders (23 mins) - Beneath the thin veneer of their marriage lies a rotting core of regret, frustration, and contempt. Tad and Penelope have fallen on hard times. When Tad’s mother unexpectedly dies and Tad comes into possession of his stately family home, he believes it will be the key to solving everything. But what awaits them in that house is not salvation. Directed by Charlie Carson Monroe, Raven Angeline Whisnant

Runaways (11 mins) - It has been years since Uma became a runaway. Taking shelter in a garage on a rural property in Montana, she finally relinquishes to her idiosyncratic travel-companion, Vince, that she has led him back to her childhood home. Directed by Stephen Alan Seder

Price Realized (15 mins) - Bored with traditional paintings and sculptures, the rich buy and sell preserved bodies for their art collections. When a striking body goes up for auction, his widow must navigate the characters of high society to reclaim her husband’s remains. Directed by Sadie Maddock

3:00 PM - Feature Film

Appearing In Person (1 hr 46 mins) - Forty years past his peak as a teenage banjo prodigy, an aging musical journeyman returns to his family home in Tennessee to reckon with the death of loved ones and his own failing health, with only months to go before the bank lays claim on this last place that knows him well. Directed by Bradley A. Hanson

5:30 PM - South Carolina Shorts Block 1

Reaper (7 mins) - An aging recluse suffers in exile. Directed by Brittany Brock

Living A Wife of Crime (10 mins) - Jerry will do anything to help his wife Terry get her mojo back. Anything. Directed by C Michael Whaley

A Real Life (13 mins) - After a family dinner, Bert receives a call from his past that threatens his way of life. Directed by Quincy Moorer, 19 Pictures

A.B. (12 mins) - An interview-style capturing of the life of Ab, a young struggling artist trying to find her way, all while dealing with the unwanted company of her sentient mirror reflection. Directed by Eugene Rocco Utley

Grandma's Hats (15 mins) - A granddaughter sorts through a hat collection left behind by her recently deceased grandmother. Upon trying them on, she discovers that the hats give her the ability to peer into her grandmother's memories. Directed by Anil Dhokai

7:15 PM - Feature Film

The Butterfly Queen (1 hr 17 mins) - Casey (a sheep farmer/cartoonist) and Robin (basically a vagabond) are lost in a magical forest, struggling to find Casey’s sketchbook so they can get the hell back home. Unfortunately, The Butterfly Queen wants the sketchbook too, and A) she’s clever, B) she’s desperate and C) she makes the rules. Directed by Liam O'Connor-Genereaux

9:00 PM - Comedy Shorts Block

Amigos Tontos (4 mins) - In 1872 New Mexico Territory, two cowboys entertain themselves with a nightly routine. Directed by Josh Kirk

Cart Return (4 mins) - Melanie is just too busy and self-absorbed and refuses to return her shopping cart, leading to an unfortunate turn of events when she's transported directly into a 1960's Hitchcock-like thriller. Directed by Matt Webb

The 44th Chamber of Shaolin (15 mins) - A mischievous, prank loving kung fu master creates fake training for a gullible teenager who believes in fantastical myths about martial arts. The 44th Chamber of Shaolin is a screwball martial arts comedy inspired by the Hong Kong martial arts genre, the films of Stephen Chow, shounen anime, and MTV’s *******. Directed by Jon Truei

Holding (10 mins) - Being a child actor has some pitfalls... Directed by Gary Memi

Blood Sugar Sex Yowie (22 mins) - A desperate cryptozoologist is tricked by onlyfans pornographers into giving them a tour of spooky bush locations to film in. Directed by Henry Stone

Sunday, November 5, 2023

10:00 AM - World Shorts Block

Septichexen (Norway/14 mins) - In the sewers beneath the city of Bergen, a microbiologist tries to uncover the source of a contamination of the drinking water. Directed by Anders Elsrud Hultgreen

The Welcome Party: How to Find a Job Quickly (Japan/23 mins) - To find a job quickly, Yajima randomly selects a high-rise building and goes through interviews from top to bottom. He is a real trash who uses his connections with powerful people to get a lot of money quickly. Yajima is lured by a high-income leaflet in a back alley and goes down to the basement. However, an unpredictable interview with a creepy group awaited him. Directed by Natsuki Umeda

Good Girl (France/11 mins) - At night, in the suburbs of Paris, a young lady find herself caught psychologically between her boyfriend and a police officer. Directed by Antoine Blanche

Untitled.mov (Canada/4 mins) - Shot on a single roll of super 8mm. A band of clout chasing criminals document their escapades in hopes of becoming an internet sensation. When an armed robbery ends with a death of a companion the gang heads back to their abandoned ferry hideout to say farewell and celebrate the footage they captured. Directed by Dustin Shea

11:30 AM - Feature Film

How To Break A World Record (1 hr 24 mins) - A rock band with a propensity to create their own adventures attempts to bring a mandolin Guinness World Record from India to their hometown in Greenville, South Carolina.Along the way, they discover it's far more challenging than they had ever imagined, and there's suddenly a lot riding on their ability to succeed in this one-of-a-kind documentary film. Directed by Benjamin Andrew P Oliver, Dan Johnson

1:30 -South Carolina Shorts Block 2

The Designer (15 mins) - In a time with record crime, drug use, and war, the government enlists a well know drug maker to manufacture a drug that will eradicate their problems. Directed by Frank Raybuck

Lux (10 mins) - A flat tire leaves a newlywed couple stranded in a bizarre town plagued by a monster that has a light for a face. Directed by Kenneth Perkins

Final Score (13 mins) - A music producer struggles with a horror film score as the fictitious world of his art bleeds into his own reality. Directed by Stephen Massar

The Hunter (15 mins) - Set in 1870’s Wyoming, "The Hunter" follows an ambitious young bounty hunter as he tracks down his first target. The legendary outlaw he pursues, known infamously as “The Reaper of the West,” has drifted through dozens of towns leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. As the young hunter closes in on his quarry, he begins to understand the gravity of the situation he’s found himself in. A final duel between the two figures puts both gunslinging skills and personal morals to the test. Directed by Tim Rose

3:00 PM - Feature Film

Cannibal Comedian (1 hr 27 mins) -A psychopathic cannibal, fed up with his lack of ambition, tries his hand at stand-up comedy in an attempt to satisfy his appetite for normalcy. Directed by Sean Haitz

5:00 PM - Horror Shorts Block

The Orb (3 mins) - A suburban couple clash over a mysterious product. Directed by Josh Kirk

Killer in a Small Town (19 mins) - True crime super-fan, Will Wesley, has seen it all, but tonight a face in the dark may outsmart him. Directed by Clinton Cornwell

Corpsepaint (12 mins) - A metal band finds a dead body in the woods and have to prove they didn't sacrifice it for Satan. Directed by Chris Nolen, Micah Troublefield

C'est La Vie (14 mins) - After a fatal accident sends a long haul trucker into a spiral, he seeks solace in something new and exciting only to discover he wasn't the only one looking for relief from that fateful night. Directed by Collins Abbott White

Lovestruck (8 mins) - Jax, a young video store attendant, comes face to face with an unlikely patron, a young lady who is either his biggest romantic fantasy or worst nightmare. Directed by Zachary Echols

6:30 PM - Feature Film

Acorn (1 hr 45 mins) - A dying filmmaker gets one last chance to make a movie. It goes ... badly. Directed by David Axe

8:45 PM - Documentary Shorts Block

The 200 Phenomena of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (13 mins) - In 2009 an anonymous notebook containing 200 stories of occult and magical phenomena was found at the University of Calgary. Since appearing online, the stories have formed new mythologies around the seemingly mundane city of Calgary. Directed by Nicola Waugh

Shaper (8 mins) - Renowned surfboard shaper Kelly Richards shares his life story and explains how he fought to put his tiny town on the surfing world’s map. Directed by Max Losson

Jackson (12 mins) - When Jackson was born, he was only expected to live for a few months. But today is his 25th birthday, and this special milestone is an opportunity to celebrate a story that's not only about Jackson - his unique obstacles, his magnetic spirit, his inspiring endurance - but about those who love and care for him too, and whose own words help shape a portrait of a man whose life holds lessons for us all. Directed by Denver Hollingsworth

Bare Metal (10 mins) - Microsoft, Google, META, and AWS are some of the biggest single-power consumers in the world. Along with other digital infrastructure companies’ consumption, they make up 2.4% of the world's energy use. This film details the digital infrastructure industry's work to reduce their carbon footprint in an effort to lower carbon emissions and help save the world. Directed by Brandon Robert Gries, Ryan Freng, John Shoemaker

9:30 PM - SCUFFY Awards

Date: November 4 - 5, 2023

Location:Spotlight Cinemas Capital 8

201 Columbia Mall Blvd Ste 211, Columbia, SC 29223

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