2023 Arizona Underground Film Festival Award Winners

2023 was quite a year for the Arizona Underground Film Festival, with tons of great films screened. See you next year!

Best Narrative Feature

Rampage Electra

Rampage Electra

2023 / 115 min / Australia / Narrative

Directed by Hassibullah Kushkaki
Cast: Mikayla Levy

Mikayla Levy takes the lead, starring as Hannah Electra. A young girl that discovered the truth regarding the secrets of her past. Just as she discovers the truth, events take place that change her life forever.

Best Horror Feature

Pig Killer

Pig Killer

2023 / 120 min / USA / Horror

Directed by Chad Ferrin
Cast: Jake Busey, Lew Temple, Kate Patel, Bai Ling

Based on the terrifying true story of Robert ‘Willy’ Pickton, the pig farmer cum prolific ladykiller whose horrific crimes shocked the world. PIG KILLER graphically depicts Pickton’s felonious farmhouse of rape, torture, slaughter and dismemberment of almost fifty women. With his herculean hog, Balthazar, by his side, Willy and his menagerie of colorful cohorts terrorized Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for almost two decades until his 2002 arrest that uncovered the most bizarre series of murders Canada has ever seen.

Best Experimental Feature

Lori and the Six Six Sixties

Lori and the Six Six Sixties

2023 / 70 min / UK / Fantasy Experimental

Directed by Grant McPhee
Cast: Loro Stott, Ashley Sutherland

“The Other Side of the Forest” is a fantasy Pop-Art Fairytale starring Lori Stott (BBC’s The Demon Headmaster) and Ashley Sutherland. It is the tale of a shy young woman seeking her fame in the dark work of the 1960s folk-music underground. Lori’s journey to stardom takes her on a journey far beyond the familiar music world she is trying to break into and instead breaks out to a forgotten past of rural landscapes, magic, myth, dead Gods and mysterious fallen angels.

Best Animation

The Odyssey of Cleve and Mike

The Odyssey of Cleve and Mike

2022 / 9 min / USA / Animation

Directed by Kevin A. Webb
Music: Mike Watt, Cleveland “Cleve” Eaton

Animated musical tribute to bass legend Cleve Eaton with Mike Watt on an odyssey of surreal bass-centric salvation.

Best Narrative Short

The Last Butterflies

The Last Butterflies

2023 / 27 min / USA / Drama

Directed by Patrick Rea
Cast: Cooper Andrews, Whitney Wegman-Wood

After a collection of environmental disasters lead society to the brink of collapse a young mother must find ways to survive with her small child as they navigate the near-future apocalypse.

Best Horror Short

Septichexen

Septichexen

2023 / 14 min / Norway / Horror

Directed by Anders Elsrud Hultgreen
Cast: Susann Bugge Kambestad, Brita Grov, Roskva Yasmin Andersen

In the sewers beneath the city of Bergen, a microbiologist tries to uncover the source of a contamination of the drinking water.

Best Experimental Short

The Mobius Trip

The Mobius Trip

2023 / 17 min / UK / Drama, Experimental

Directed by Simone Smith
Cast: 
Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Mirren Mack, Stephen McMillan

A road trip pushes a dysfunctional family to the brink after their journey descends into a claustrophobic hallucinatory nightmare. THE MöBIUS TRIP is a darkly intimate and surreal portrayal of a chaotic family unit, confined in their car and fated in their familial roles. Will they ever make it to the wedding?

Best Documentary

For Kicks

For Kicks

2023 / 66 min / USA / Documentary

Directed by Sean P Fahey
Cast: Eugene Thomas

Semi-retired Chicago security guard Eugene Thomas reflects on his life, music, and martial arts practice. Oh, and that decade between the 80s and 90s when he was an international celebrity, starring in a dozen ninja movies filmed in Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Also featuring Ron van Clief (The Black Dragon), For Kicks is a unique window into the history of black martial arts in movies.