The upcoming 18th Annual Sydney Underground Film Festival kicks off in Newtown, NSW, on Thursday 12 September with a Smell-O-Rama screening of John Waters cult classic Female Trouble, celebrating its 50th anniversary. The festival runs until Sunday 15 September with a huge array of films and features ranging from the truly bonkers Vulcanizadora to the superbly surreal Can't Stop the Music extravaganza, alongside frightfully great features like the Aussie dark comedy The Organist to the latest work of the provocative filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, The Visitor.

There will also be a book launch from myself on Friday evening at Better Read Than Dead, where I'll be joined by Jack Sargeant and Platon Theodoris to kick off my new book, Lonely Spirits and the King.

Tickets for all of these films, and more, are available via SUFF.com.au.

Ahead of the festivals launch, I caught up with Festival Director Nathan Senn to chat about what makes an underground film festival an underground film festival, how important it is to showcase films from different genre backgrounds, and what it means to amplify Australian filmmakers like Saara Lamberg, whose film The Lies We Tell Ourselves screens at the festival on Sunday 15 September.

We dig into a bunch of recommendations, stories about the films screening at the fest, and a bunch more in this in depth discussion.

If you're in Sydney for the fest, come along and say hello. It's going to be one heck of a festival.

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