If you are a huge found footage fan, then you probably already know about the Unnamed Footage Festival (UFF). It’s a festival dedicated to all things found footage and in-world camera. This in-person festival celebrates its tenth year in 2027. But did you know that UFF also hosts an online festival that goes nonstop for 24+ hours?
That’s right. UFF24HR streams found footage features and shorts for an entire weekend. This past weekend, October 2 to October 4, it clocked in at just above 50 hours. It streams consecutively. If you have to step away for sleep, you do so at your own risk. Because you can’t go back and rewind what you have missed. What is great about this festival is that there is a live chat the entire time. All festival watchers can hang with each other and the filmmakers, cast, and crew of the movies. I got to experience this one-of-a-kind event, and I’m here to tell you all about it.
The Features
With well over 20 features, there was a little something for everyone to love, and boy, were there some fan favorites this year. Alan at Night, a movie about an internet prankster who documents the increasingly weird behavior of his new roommate, kicked off the program. Chat went wild with Alan at Night, and Mayo became a running theme/joke for the entire weekend.
Other fan favorites included movies like Big City Pizza, Mallbound, and Heritage. Don’t Look in the Dark was a personal favorite of mine. It was a standout with its unique, experimental take on the found footage genre, which made you use your ears more than your eyes. Content, which can now be streamed on Prime, also had the chat exploding with excitement and stress as they could not believe how insufferable the main character was. But we were still extremely captivated by the movie and its twist.
With so many more outstanding titles like Primal Darkness, Harvest Brood, This House is Totally Haunted, Reel, Reel 2, Tapeface, and more…there was a movie no one had ever heard of or saw coming. Stalker Gone Viral, directed by Opalynne Brown, follows an influencer and streamer whose date goes awry. Things take an even worse turn when an incident happens and sets the internet ablaze with their takes on what happened. Stalker Gone Viral is fast-paced, clever, and a great depiction of internet culture as a whole. It is an absolute must-watch.
The Shorts
Tofino 2018 has now become a tradition to play at every UFF24HR fest; come to find out, it all started with trolling a festival programmer. Alexis Briscuso’s I Tried a Ritual also had the chat going off about this strong single-location, deep, and effective short. Other great shorts included Rebrand, Rasterflesh, Mimics, Greeley’s Creamies, Having Fun, White Meat: Appetizer, and more.
The standout short had to be Dennis Cahlo’s A Special Day, which had the internet in a chokehold in the weeks leading up to the premiere. This is a four-minute short with a longer-lasting impact. I mentioned to Dennis on Instagram that I had to watch Eden Lake just to watch something lighter. It is that effective.
The Experience
Hands down, UFF24HR is my favorite film festival of the year. I have participated three years in a row now, and I look forward to it each year. Furthermore, it is programmed to perfection, from obscure titles you can’t find anywhere else to premieres, with a well-balanced mix of funny, deep, and terrifying. Again, this festival ran for 50 hours straight, no rewinds, pauses, or anything of the sort. So trying to schedule sleep around a program where you want to watch everything is very challenging. It also requires lots of caffeine.
The live chat throughout the festival really ties everything together. It is a bonding experience like no other, and the chance to basically do live Q&A’s with the filmmakers as their movie happens is so much fun. There is nothing quite like the experience you have at UFF24HR. I have walked away with new friends and connections; you can’t beat that experience.
Overall, the UFF24HR film festival is an experience that cannot be missed. A whole weekend of features, shorts, and chats that will make you wish it never ended. Thank you to the entire UFF team, the filmmakers involved, and the entire UFF chat that truly made the weekend. Do not miss out on this experience, and look out for UFF24HR in 2027.
