PHILADELPHIA UNNAMED FILM FESTIVAL 2026
The eleventh PUFF comes to a close
by "Doc" Hunter Bush,
MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast
Summer camp is over; the eleventh installment of The Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival has come and gone. This year's fest featured the debut of Camp Puff, a viewing party hosted by Philly filmmaker Jack Stallion that embraced both meanings of the word "camp" by screening Cramps! A Period Piece (a nü-camp feminist classic), and Friday the 69th (a crowd-pleasing summer camp slasher parody)!
This year, the fest and the crowds were treated to lots of eyeball trauma (within the films, not the films themselves, which were by and large quite good), more than one gag about pornographic climax countdowns, and a lot of criticisms of influencer culture. Also, complaints from a grumpy neighbor IRL, but hey, everybody has a bad day sometimes.
Below I've rounded up some of my favorite flicks, both big and small. Speaking of, this year the shorts reigned supreme for me. While I saw a bunch of great features, PUFF's short film curation is incredibly strong and very diverse (shoutout to Maria!) I always recommend attending PUFF, but especially if you're a short film appreciator.
So let's start with the shorts. Some of the shorts this year were tremendously funny. CHÄIR (dir. Chris McInroy) about a demonic IKEA-style chair, is a simple concept, but the pacing and editing elevates it to legitimate laugh-out-loud material. A Bigfoot Christmas (dir. Kelly O'Connor) is a stop motion animated short done in the style of a Hallmark Channel film that uses our familiarity with the clichés specific to that genre to advertise a sadly, nonexistent film that would probably clean up for real around the holidays. Bike Short (dir. Kevin McDevitt) is a very silly story, based on true events, about a disagreement between two cyclists over a pair of the titular shorts. A Dish Best Served Hot (dir. Josh Kay) about a "cool boss" whose wife only allows him to eat one hotdog a year, is tremendously funny, and odd in all the right places. So much so that you can never be sure you know what will happen next. Personally, I laughed hardest at Really Good Deal (dir. Jon Plester), about the lengths folks, especially musicians, will go to for a cheap second-market purchase.
But shorts, like full-length features, can be many things, sometimes at once. I Think Something Followed Me Out (dir. Catherine Rieg) is haunting, but not frightening; an art piece utilizing video collage and poetry to capture the melancholy feeling of wandering through an abandoned mall. Pan & Stove (dir. Scott Kane) acknowledges the limitations of its amateur computer animation origins, and leans into them with a short, sweet, funny tale of the dangers of love. Or maybe it's about Capitalism. Sunspark (dir. Danny Bourque) is a much more polished computer animated story about robots and love, but is really more about what someone is willing to sacrifice for another person, and how we all have unique traits that we can use to help those we love. HVAC (dir. Jackson McKeehan), about a father and son repairing the air conditioning in a theater the night of a big performance, strikes a really fine balance between unsettling and deeply sad. Lady Puritan (dirs. Gustine Füdickar & Justin Streichman) tells an impressionistic story of the conflicts inside of us utilizing gorgeous and arresting visuals. See You on the Beach (dir. Christopher S. Bickel) is a proof-of-concept for Bickel's upcoming feature, about a film fanatic obsessed with finding the star of the film he's making. Bickel's last film, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light is a pretty gonzo experience and, if this short is anything to go off of, what he's got planned will be just as entertaining. But, perhaps my favorite, was In the Palm of Her Hand (dirs. Greta Guthrie & Jake Lazarow) which starts off silly and spooky, but in just 7 minutes manages to strike a poignant note about what it means to be included.
Now let's talk about the features.
EDIE ARNOLD IS A LOSER
Directed by Megan Rico & Kade Atwood
Written by Megan Rico
Edie Arnold is a Loser is a tremendous flick. Funny, touching, creative, and light on its feet, it follows Adi Madden Cabrera as the title character, a Catholic schoolgirl and outcast who, at the urging of her best friend Frances (McKenna Tuckett) forms a punk band. Not for fame, not for glory, but mostly to impress a nice punk boy, and also because it's something to do. Complications arise involving a dreamy altar boy, the school's clutch of mean girls, the instruments they've borrowed from school, and the very strict Sister Myra (Star Herrmann), but the girls will not be deterred: they're gonna open for The Sex Pistols. Yes, in 2026. Apparently, Edie Arnold is a Loser is the first film in PUFF's 11-year history that was unanimously voted for inclusion in the fest: every one who saw it loved it, and thought it should be included in this year's lineup. And I get it. This coming-of-age, punk rock, Catholic schoolgirl comedy is one of the best films I've seen all year.
ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
Directed by Zach Weintraub
Written by Zach Weintraub
On the eve of selling his childhood home and evicting the tenants that live there, family man Zach (writer / director Zach Weintraub) is unsettled by the realization that he is no longer young, cool, and carefree. Finding himself with a family-free day, Zach decides to treat himself: masturbation, day-drinking, at-home-karaoke, and drug use ensue, as well as a trip to the skatepark he haunted in his youth. There, Zach finds that he can still relate to the youths, and even makes a friend (Arsenio Salvante) before finding out that this new friend is actually a tenant in the house Zach intends to sell and will soon be evicted. Too high to object, Zach takes part in a black magic ritual to curse himself and, once back at home, he finds out just how far he'll have to go to set things right. Assets and Liabilities manages to find a balance between some really diverse styles of humor (props, sight gags, physical and gross-out gags) while making a satirical statement about the follies of chasing a youth you'll never recover.
CRAMPS! A PERIOD PIECE
Directed by Brooke H. Cellars
Written by Brooke H. Cellars
Writer / director Brooke H. Cellars has created something really special and unique here. Cramps! A Period Piece gets compared to the work of John Waters a lot, which is warranted, but imagine Waters's love of camp and shocking tendencies combined with Anna Biller (writer / director of The Love Witch)'s manicured aesthetics and b-movie horror throwback tone and you're much closer. I loved the world created here. Sheltered Agnes Applewhite (Lauren Kitchen) pulling away from her judgmental family by taking a new job at a salon staffed by free-spirits, just wanting to meet a nice boy and feel at home in her body, all the while being terrorized by that very same body. I'm in love with cupcake pink Satanist Teddy Teaberry (Wicken Taylor), but all the performances are across-the-board fantastic. The dialogue is fun and quippy, the characters are arch, and it all just works, and looks great doing it.
Honorable mention must be made to two films: First is The Killing Cell (dirs. James Bessey & Karsen Schovajsa), a found footage film that makes hugely ambitious choices for a low-budget, urban exploration style flick and sticks the landing really well, anchored by really solid lead performances. I know found footage is not everyone's jam, and I totally understand, but I've never (*knocks wood*) had a bad experience with a found footage film shown at PUFF (shoutout to Madeline!) The other film is The Barn Part III (dir. Justin M. Seaman). The Barn films, which I've only recently watched to prepare for this third installment, are tonally like if a Spirit Halloween exploded (complimentary). The thing that sets them apart from the tons of other, similar-enough low budget films, is that everything is done in-house by writer / director Justin M. Seaman and his crew, just over yonder near Pittsburgh PA. And, not for nothing, the effects work is pretty damned good. I love the dedication to the DIY spirit, especially when it's this grand in its ambitions.
That's it for this year's PUFF coverage, and as always I look forward to next year. I hope I'll see you there and I hope you'll check out any or all of the above films at your earliest convenience. Speaking of, the filmmakers behind Edie Arnold is a Loser intend to tour the film down the east coast and should be passing through Philly sometime in October, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
Until next time, Long Live the Movies!
