Overview
Audiences have thrown spoons at Tommy Wiseau's The Room for over a decade, turning the film into a cult hit in the process. Alas, anyone hoping to gain a deeper insight into the cinema phenomenon at this year's Sydney Underground Film Festival might feel like lobbing cutlery in the filmmaker's direction instead. Unhappy about planned screenings of the documentary Room Full of Spoons, Wiseau threatened legal action, forcing organisers to remove the movie from the program.
SUFF announced the news on their Facebook page, advising that they "tried everything in our power to move forward with the screening and have had many conversations with our own barristers and Wiseau's Australian-based legal team". In a move Wiseau could only approve of, the doco will be replaced by sessions of The Room itself.
Amazingly for a festival that celebrates its tenth weird and wonderful year in 2016, this is the first time they've had to withdraw a film. Speaking to The Guardian, festival co-director Stefan Popescu delivered one heck of a burn: "This is the biggest censorship issue our festival has ever had, and it is not from the government — it's from the man who has delusions of cinematic adequacy." Ouch.
Sydney Underground Film Festival runs from September 15 to 18. To view the full SUFF 2016 program, or to buy tickets, visit suff.com.au.
Meanwhile, here are our top ten picks of SUFF. Go see 'em.