Boston Underground Film Festival

Started in 1998, by film professor/curator David Kleiler, BUFF was an extension of an all night film marathon produced by Kleiler and Dima Ballin. The First Annual Boston Underground Film Festival took place in February 1999 at the now defunct Revolving Museum in South Boston. Described by programmer Bernard Broginart as "a wonderful hoax of a film festival," the first BUFF was an extremely informal event. Patrons were encouraged to wander from room to room for a single ticket price in the art gallery converted to a cinema. This format was continued for the 2000 festival.

In the years following, BUFF has adopted a more traditional festival format with set screening start times and using actual cinemas and screening rooms. Between 2001 and 2004, BUFF had expanded and contracted with no central location or venue and no set duration. The festival took place during the month of February from 1999 to 2002. In 2003, it was moved to October; then to May in 2004. During this period, numerous venues housed BUFF screenings, including the Milky Way Lounge in Jamaica Plain, The Allston Cinema Underground (now defunct), The Arlington Regent Theatre, and the Brattle Theatre.

By 2005, BUFF was under new management, with Anna Feder and Kevin Monahan taking over as co-managing directors and bringing on Bryan McKay as graphic designer. David Kleiler retained Executive Director duties this year. One of Feder and Monahan's first actions was to feature the Bacchus bunny front and center by using McKay's striking designs. They also centralized operations during this year, with all screenings taking place at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square. In 2006 they made Harvard Square BUFF's new home, using the Brattle Theatre as the primary venue. The Brattle also hosted the festival in 2007 and 2008. Kleiler stepped down as Executive Director after the 2006 festival.

According to BUFF's website, the 2009 festival was held at the Kendall Square Cinema and the Brattle Theatre, both in Cambridge. The 2010 and 2011 festivals were held exclusively at the Kendall Square Cinema.

Anna Feder stepped down as Director after the 2011 festival. As of the 2012 festival, Kevin Monahan and Nicole McControversy stepped up into dual festival director roles as Artistic Director and Director of Programming, respectively, and restructured the festival as an officially registered LLC. The festival's graphic designer, Bryan McKay, was promoted to Media Director in 2012. BUFF is organized by an entirely unpaid, volunteer group of dedicated film fans.

In 2012, BUFF moved back to the Brattle Theatre where it has remained the festival's primary screening venue. The festival also used the Harvard Film Archive as a secondary venue from 2016 to 2018.

BUFF's 22nd annual festival, originally scheduled for March 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. BUFF was one of the five genre festivals (including Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, North Bend Film Festival, the Overlook Film Festival, and Popcorn Frights) that organized Nightstream, an online film festival, in October 2020. Four feature films and five short programs originally intended for the 22nd BUFF were featured in Nightstream. In 2021, four of the original Nightstream festivals, including BUFF, joined again for another edition of Nightstream in October of that year.

In March 2022, BUFF returned to the Brattle Theatre for its first physical edition since 2019; as a result, the festival held its 22nd edition in 2022.