Grindhouse and queer film: meeting in the middle

It may seem like an odd pairing, but the genres of grindhouse cinema and queer film have more in common that you'd think.

"Stuck," for example, is "an homage to women-in-prison grindhouse movies," Anna Feder, executive director of the 2010 Boston Underground Film Festival, said. This March will see the East Coast premiere of "Stuck," directed by Steve Balderson, who Feder calls "a very prolific queer filmmaker."

And, of course, both genres are being showcased at this year's BUFF. The low quality camera work and unabashed violence and gore of grindhouse films meets underlying queer themes and issues in a way that is surprisingly copasetic; the genres seem to play off of one another and agree easily.

It's never been hard for Feder -- in her fifth year as Festival director -- or the Festival to find queer films. "We've always had queer cinema at the Festival. It's always been a part of the underground," she said. "We've never really had to search for queer cinema; it's always been a thread in a lot of stuff that's been submitted to us." While queer films are slowly inundating mainstream cinema, a good portion of LGBT cinema still exists in the underground. "I think underground and queer -- they easily go hand-in-hand," Feder said. "It's really sort of a huge topic in independent cinema as a whole, but I think it's great to still show the sort of subversive queer cinema and have a place for that."

One of Feder's favorite examples of the subversive inclusion of queer themes in underground films is S&M sex comedy "My Normal," which is included in this year's lineup. "'My Normal' is a good example of being a film that doesn't present as being entirely a queer film, but the main character is a lesbian," Feder said. "It ends up being a sort of minor thing in the film. It's really about her as a dominatrix trying to get her script that she's writing with her drug dealer made into a movie."

The most celebrated film included in this year's festival is Jennifer Kroot's "It Came From Kuchar," a documentary exploring the work of legendary filmmaking twins George and Mike Kuchar. "The Kuchars have been making underground queer cinema since the '60s," Feder said. "I saw 'Hold Me While I'm Naked' while I was an undergrad and just fell in love."

Along with "It Came From Kuchar," Aliza Shapiro's "Cinementals" queer shorts program is not to be missed. "This is our second year working with Aliza Shapiro...so we're trying to build connections in the community," Feder said. "Cinementals" represents a cross-community partnership that's exemplary of much of the festival. Feder is working closely with the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival to produce the event. "I said, 'oh, we should have been working with a gay and lesbian film festival years ago!'" she said.

Serbian absurdist film "Life & Death of a Porno Gang," continues the Festival's exploration of queer themes. "It's definitely a difficult film to watch, and that's why it's one of our midnight films," Feder said of the movie. "Two, three of the main characters in this traveling performance troupe are gay and it's a big part of the story, but again, it's not part of the main plot points."

"Life & Death," Feder cautions, is "not for the faint of heart," however. "It is an excellent film, but it's not an easy film to watch. It's a group of people who are going across the countryside doing this art/porno show, and it's not always pleasant. One of the troupe participants has AIDS...they get raped by a band of locals. It's intense."

While the midnight shows are normally not recommended for the general public (unless they know what they're getting themselves into), the Festival offers plenty of lighthearted fare. "'Stuck' [starring underground superstar Mink Stole] is a lot of fun, very campy," Feder said. "Our animated films are a lot of fun."

"Stuck" star Stole is the recipient of the Festival's "Lifetime Achievement" award. "We always give an award at the Festival, but we've never given out this 'Lifetime Achievement' award," Feder said. "We thought, 'now we've got a chance to do it!' We've got somebody we really want to give it to. ...[Stole is] this weird woman; I've already just fallen in love with her." Stole was happy to receive the award and appear at the Festival. "Being a small festival, with not a lot of money, we can't really have divas around. It's just too much," Feder said of the down-to-earth actress. "I'm thrilled that she's coming."

Whatever your film poison, BUFF offers it all this year from March 25 to April 1 at the Kendall Square Cinema (1 Kendall Sq.) in Cambridge. Individual films are $10 and Festival passes are $100, which includes admission to all films and parties. Don't miss Q+A's with director Jennifer Kroot, filmmaker George Kuchar, and actress Mink Stole. A free launch party will be held March 9 at the Stuart St. Playhouse (200 Stuart St.) Don't miss free beer, free food, and free trailers. The opening night party on March 25 is entitled "Tokyo Steampunk," and attendees are encouraged to dress the part at T.T. the Bear's Place (10 Brookline St., Cambridge).

The underlying -- or at times, blatant -- inclusion of queer themes is inescapable at this year's Festival; not that you'd want to escape it. "To varying degrees," Feder said, "there's a lot of programming of queer interest or dealing with queer themes or involving queer characters or queer filmmakers; it's just always embedded into the fabric of the Film Festival."