Unnamed Footage Festival Announces Stunning Second-Wave [Exclusive]
The Unnamed Footage Festival (UFF9) is back and better than ever. The ninth annual festival will run from March 24 through March 29 in San Francisco, California. We at Dread are excited to share the exclusive second-wave slate of titles and events available at this year’s fest, one that promises to be more thrilling and terrifying than ever before.
The festival will feature several noteworthy events. On Tuesday, March 24, Alamo Drafthouse is partnering with the festival for an exclusive screening of Ti West’s cult-shocker The Sacrament. Attendees can also check out the Found Footage Power Hour with Thomas Burke on Wednesday, March 25. Saturday brings The ARGathering 2026! hosted by filmmaker, documentarian, and alternate reality game aficionado Alex Hera (see the announcement trailer below).
The celebration features guest speakers, films, and activities centered around alternate reality games. Perhaps most exciting is Sunday’sEvening with Dutch Marich (of Horror in the High Desert fame), a Q&A event that promises a secret screening. Earlier that day, Jarrett Kobek and DieDie Books will host a talk on Kenneth Anger’s seminal film Invocation of My Demon Brother. If you haven’t yet, check out Kobek’s incredible book on the film. There’s more to come, so check out the full list of second-wave announcements below:
looky-loo: PART II (2026, dir Jason Zink) – World Premiere
Continuing where the first film left off, the looky-loo killer’s newfound infamy encourages him to push his crimes to further extremes as he documents his sadistic ventures, adding a new metatextual element to the film.
Jason Zink (Straight Edge Kegger, looky-loo) returns to San Francisco with his second journey into Found Footage Horror. Expanding his world while ensuring Part II stands firmly on its own, Zink welcomes newcomers into a nightmare of voyeurism, obsession, and the commodification of human suffering. Teaming up with fellow UFF8 alum Kansas Bowling (Cuddly Toys, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) and bringing her singular presence to this unfiltered Midwestern horror, looky-loo: PART II doesn’t simply ask you to watch. It asks what it means that you want to.
The Devil’s Teardrop (2025, dir Gonzalo Otero) – US Premiere
Sarah, a young American, convinces her three friends – Isaac, Jackie, and Horacio – to assist in completing her audacious ecological documentary. Their journey takes them deep into the shadowy world of illegal mining in an enigmatic Peruvian forest. Upon arrival, locals vehemently caution them against approaching the forest or the mining town, citing the presence of the Supay – an ancient being from Andean mythology capable of taking various forms and remaining unnoticed to attack intruders.
Initially dismissing these warnings as ploys to conceal illegal activities, the group defiantly breaches the prohibition, venturing into the forbidden territory. However, they swiftly realize the chilling myths hold genuine and terrifying truths, along with the actual purpose of their presence – a revelation that will forever alter their fates.
Content (2025, dir Adam Meilech)
Shown exclusively through real phones, laptops, drones, and doorbell cameras, Content follows a seemingly polite director whose commitment to “authenticity” curdles into obsession.
Shot for under $3,000 by a scrappy team of University of Arizona film school alumni, Adam Meilech’s debut feature is an independent found footage satire of online performativity. Using real screens, real locations, and a crew that often doubles as the cast, the film leans into immediacy and voyeurism to capture the hyper-online world we inhabit. Rejecting the notion that phones and text threads are “un-cinematic,” Content weaponizes the familiarity of webcams and front-facing cameras – placing us directly in the gaze of a stalking, maniacal filmmaker and daring us to look away.
Big City Pizza (2025, dir. Dusty Saunders)
The Omni Ball Championship is here and tensions are rising in the big city. Meanwhile Boney, a pizza delivery skeleton, is just trying to make it through one increasingly impossible night.
Inspired by the experimental animation of Don Hertzfeldt, and constructed with the theory of Ian Hubert – who’s known for his hyper detailed world building – Big City Pizza is an exciting addition to the genre of in-world-camera, skeleton POV, one-take, animated, features.
The Killing Cell (2025, dir. Karsen Schovajsa, James Besse)
In the summer of 2006, five teenagers break into an abandoned prison that is supposedly haunted. As they explore the place, they discover that what inhabits it is much more dangerous than the paranormal.
Co-directors Karsen Schovajsa and James Bessey bring years of tenacious genre experience to their feature debut. Schovajsa, whose shorts have played festivals including Atlanta Horrorfest and Tuesday of Horror (where he received a Best Horror Short nomination), proved his DIY mettle shooting The Devil’s Hour on 35mm in a single day. Bessey, with a background working crew for major studios like Warner Bros. and Marvel while crafting tense, character-driven shorts of his own, pairs industry know-how with indie grit. Together, the duo have created a Hi 8 urban adventure that feels like a microbudget German gore film.
Groupchat (2025, dir. Dan Brownlie)
A grieving game master’s new online role-playing adventure spirals into a deadly reality, trapping players in a supernatural fight for survival.
Told entirely through screens, webcams, and in-game interfaces,Groupchat embraces its tabletop DNA while weaponizing the intimacy of digital space. Dan Brownlie leans into the chaos of online collaboration, blurring performance and panic in real time. The result is a screenlife RPG session set during the Halloween season, something UFF thinks is long overdue.
Are you excited for this year’s Unnamed Footage Festival? Let us know on socials @DreadCentral, and be sure to stay tuned in for additional coverage as the festival nears.
In the meantime, badges are currently on sale via FilmFreeway.
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