'Magnetic,' 'Fight Til the End' on upcoming Mass. film radar.

• Author: Infante, Victor D.
• Position: Living

Byline: Victor D. Infante

Has anyone ever declared an official "film season'' in Massachusetts? This might be the time of year to do so Co not only is the art-film series Cinema 320 running here in Worcester at Clark University, along with the upcoming Latin-American Film Festival, but over in Boston, the Boston Underground Film Festival is set to return March 25-29 at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square in Cambridge, which Co by its own admission, presents films that are "bizarre and insane,'' as well as "uncompromising, unflinching film/video.''

While a lot of the full-length films have been screened elsewhere, most are having their New England or East Coast premieres. And happily for fans of regional indie film and awesome music, filmmakers Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein Co who also perform with the Boston-based bands Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling and the Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library Co have the only full-length feature film that's making its world premiere: "Magnetic,'' starring Boston-area actress Allix Mortis, who appeared as a murder victim in the Epstein-directed music video for the song "Staab,'' by the Boston band Endation.

Epstein and Cacciola have done a lot of video work for regional musicians, including their own bands, Southboro's Anda Volley, Boston's Hallelujah the Hills and others. The pair have also produced a full-length movie, the odd and gender-defying murder mystery "Ten,'' which will be distributed in April, according to the film's website.

"Magnetic'' is, according to the film's website, the story of a woman who flees New York City, "grabs her mixtapes and returns to her desolate, rural hometown and finds a job in an office located hundreds of feet underground, concealed beneath a sheep farm. Alice must piece together her memories, her dreams, and the space-time continuum itself to find out why she is so essential to the preservation of all life on Earth.''

Which is heady, but the BUFF website says, "Much of Magnetic operates as an extended music video, each full track lamenting confusion, loneliness, and ennui in a way dialogue cannot. ... Magnetic is a love letter to our need for purpose and belonging, to the circuitry that binds us to ourselves and others--and to rotary phones, cassette tapes, and the sound of sweet, sweet synthpop.'' Sounds like fun!

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