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Film Festivals are a treat for the visually gluttonous, a healthy bit of hedonism for the cinematic epicurean. Feasting on the nascence, often the rarity of festival presentations is a precious thing, yet the largest rarity, perhaps the largest indulgence, is participating in a festival so inclusive and so deliberate as the East End Film Festival (EEFF). London’s East End Film Festival is in full swing, continuing on until July 10. It is an entirely public-oriented event, hosting films and talks with an un-exclusivity that most festivals of this sort have barely caught a whiff of.
Although its theatrical line-up is international in scope, the festival does a great job of shining light upon its home base, London’s East End. The burgeoning area boasts a roster of amazing venues and cinemas, and disperses its screenings throughout, giving movie-goers an opportunity to explore East London as they indulge in the filmic experience that the fest has presented.
To again reinforce the lack of pretence, the festival is conscious in delivering the work of novice filmmakers alongside more experienced or well-known names. The line-up grants the same attention to high-profile independents as it does to little-known, often locally produced films, which are often the richest, most poignant of them all.
The East End Film Festival, which got its start in 2000, procures quality programming and a credible attention to the artistic community. The EEFF team is committed to creating opportunities for first and second time directors, and forging partnerships between cinema and other art forms. The festival hosts exhibitions, installations, spoken word and live music events in support of its main programme. It showcases more than 70 features and multiple short films, and has an annual audience of more than 30,000, boasting a hugely impressive 2,100 per cent growth since 2007.
For the closing night of the festival on July 10, EEFF will present a special presentation of The Outer Edges, a documentary on the Essex borderlands. It will be the film’s world premiere, and will be accompanied by a uniquely-produced live soundtrack. EEFF calls the film, “A beautifully realised work of psycho-geography capturing both nature and the urban beginnings of London”, and its accompaniment a “stunning soundscape to match a beautiful, meditative film experience”. Not one to be missed. Following the spectacle and its succeeding Best of EEFF screenings will, naturally, be a grand closing night after party.
Glass has chosen a few of its favourite films from this past week, the first half of the EEFF, to share with you:
Burn It Up Djassa by filmmaker Lonesome Solo tells the tension-wrought tale of a young cigarette peddler struggling with social, economic, and familial identity in the midst of filial expectations, addiction, and murder. The story is narrated by interspersed sequences of rap-like street talk, and the feature film makes fantastic use of the setting’s local vernacular through depictions of music, rhythm, and soul.
Blackfish is a documentary that made waves at Sundance this year, chronicling the tail of an orca whale named Tilikum that made its way to Sea World in the US after a slew of ignored aggressions toward humans. Eventually, this is the whale that killed its trainer during a live performance, behaviour which was excused by Sea World lawyers and which has incited a litany of much warranted lawsuits. Director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite treks back to the origins of Sea World’s poaching of Tilikum, and the neurological explanations for such behavior. Nature versus nurture is on full display in this haunting thriller of a non-fiction piece.
Irish director Kirsten Sheridan’s Dollhouse has been making festival rounds for a bit now, and it’s about time it came through London’s East End. The tense, riotous film is full of adolescent debauchery and inexplicable angst-ridden decision making. Its twisted, surprising penultimate sequences are shocking and conjure up mixed feelings that range from forgiveness and complacency to horror and fist-clenching regret.
by Emily Rae Pellerin
For more information on the second half of the festival, its films, and for individual ticket bookings and for the closing night event, please visit eastendfilmfestival.com
Buy tickets for closing party here
Posted: 2 July 2013