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Songs of Redemption After Party

Join the East End Film Festival on Tuesday 9th July for the UK Premiere of the phenomenal Songs of Redemption, which recounts the power of music to reform the lives of prisoners in a Kingston jail; followed by a free party in the RichMix bar with music from Steve Bedlam and Ben Millar.  

An ex-holding area for African slaves, an almost uninhabitable jail in Kingston is the home of some of Jamaica’s most serious violent offenders. This “reality of unimaginable consequence” is made more profound by its transformation into a place of creative healing, as the superintendent and local activists work to help prisoners find new beginnings through education, and often music. A moving portrait of the potential for rebirth in the worst circumstances; where prisoners repent for their crimes when they rediscover their pride, and in one very clear moment, move from darkness into light.

The East End Film Festival, in association with Nice Time Productions and The Irregular Film Club, are proud to announce a fantastic DJ line up for the Songs of Redemption after party. Steve Bedlam and Ben Millar will bring their knowledge of all things reggae, dub and dancehall to help celebrate the occasion, with their decades worth of experience and quality sounds guaranteed to set the room alight.

The Songs of Redemption party will take place in the downstairs bar at Rich Mix directly after the screening. Beginning at 8pm, this event is free to attend. 

DJs:

Steve Bedlam has been tearing up dancehalls across the world for years with his mighty sound system. His killer tracks and incredible control of sound are sure to get you rocking, and Steve also works with Fairtunes, a music and radio charity that helps people from disadvantaged communities around the world and UK develop self esteem and build confidence through creative endeavours.

Ben Millar was long a part of Chiba City Sound System, who were a fixture on the free party scene. As well as organising his own events, he has DJ’ed at concerts from the likes of Aswad, Steel Pulse and Gary Clail, as well as on the On U Sound System.

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Will & Testament

Tony Benn, the longest serving Labour MP in history, is also, arguably, the most popular UK politician of all time. Across the globe and in particular over the last five years his brand of socialism has struck a chord with people of all ages and social backgrounds. A new film, Will And Testament reveals the human face behind the political mask. Tony Benn criss-crosses the UK bearing witness to major social and political upheavals and events. An exclusive and deeply personal look at the life of a national treasure, it is a frank, candid and sometimes painful exploration of the great themes of life that have affected him and affect us all, love, loss, hopes, dreams, fears and death. 

Further details of the film are available at http://www.tonybennfilm.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/tonybennfilm.

Screening at the Genesis cinema with War Matters: tickets available here.

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Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel meets the East End

The East End Film Festival brings the best of its short film programme to the famous luxury Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel, the junction between the hectic City of London and the vibrant East End with a visual installation that celebrates the diversity and multiculturalism of this unique part of London.

As Jan Noble writes in his poem ‘Tide”:  

East always East on the troubled current
East always East into the deep darkness
Fetching ahead into the dead distance
For burial at sea to retrieve
Another life, by chance: a second bite

Though a selection of short films, art videos and B&W experimental films, the three screen installation will give a flavour of some of the East End’s best filmmaking talent, and take you on a journey in which fiction, documentary and animation overlap.

Screening in the foyer of the Andaz Liverpool Street Hotel from June 25th to July 10th

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Low Tide

The second part of Roberto Minervini’s Texas Trilogy, Low Tide is a disarming, lived-in drama set in the badlands of Texas. Centering upon a boy and his relationship with his mother over one long, hot Summer, the character known only as The Boy (and played brilliantly by newcomer Daniel Blanchard) is clearly being presented as a Huckleberry Finn for modern America. The timeless boyish pursuits of catching frogs, fishing and exploring the countryside interweave with backbreaking errands, caring for his party-hard mother (Melissa McKinney, another excellent performance) and making enough money to scrape by. Utilising improvisation and a non-professional cast, Low Tide conjours Twain, Dickens, and Malick, while remaining accessible and personal. 

Tickets available from the Genesis Cinema website here.

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BEYOND THE GRAVE

In a world struck by some unspecified disaster, a vengeful police officer is hunting a possessed killer. With the dead walking the earth, and the living that remain almost as dangerous, the Officer picks up two teenagers, Nina and The Shooter, and hits the road. Conflating horror, exploitation and the Spaghetti Western, Beyond the Grave is uniquely Brazilian twist on a classic Grindhouse. A perfect late night crowd pleaser.

Tickets £8.50. Available from the Rio Cinema website here.   

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Mosaic Networking

Mosaic Networking, in association with the East End Film Festival, invite you to a networking event where you will have the opportunity to meet new contacts, as well as catching up with old ones. This informal networking evening could help you get your next project up and running. Mosaic was set up in 2001 to create a different and informal approach to business and social networking. 

For more details on Mosaic Networking visit www.mosaicnetworking.com

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Documentary Afternoon

Join us at the Rio Cinema for an afternoon of mid-length documentaries from London filmmakers, with a truly international reach. EEFF alumni The Rainbow Collective introduce us to two boys who make their living on a railway platform in Bangladesh; Lainey Richardson explores the ravaging effects of drug addiction on the townships of South Africa; Eelyn Lee follows four performers getting ready to participate in the spectacular Paralymic Games Opening Night Ceremony Santiago Posada travels with an ex-alcoholic across Sri Lanka towards an uncertain reconciliation with his family; and Eva Weber’s Black Out shows students in Guinea going to extraordinary lengths to better themselves. This is British filmmaking at its most outward looking and illuminating.

All Eyes On Us – 1.30pm
UK | Eelyn Lee | 26 min

Black Out – 2.20pm 
UK | Eva Weber | 47 min

Platform 12 – 3.20pm
UK | The Rainbow Collective | 9 min

Railway Redemption – 3.50pm
UK, Sri Lanka | Santiago Posada | 35 min

Tik and the Turkey – 4.35pm
UK | Lainey Richardson | 52 min

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Pimps & Pinups Pop-up Parlour

Prior to the screening of La Antena, East London-based hair salon Pimps & Pinups will be hosting a FREE pop-up hair salon at Leon’s restaurant in Spitalfields Market. Renowned for their glamorous classic and modern styles within a setting of 1950s Hollywood cool, this is an opportunity to transform your hair into a stylised creation inspired by the dreamlike visuals of La Antena. No appointment necessary; just pop into Leon’s from 6.30pm for your free styling session.

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Doc Heads at EEFF 2013

Come and join Doc Heads as they celebrate their 4th Birthday as part of the 2013 East End Festival. Doc Heads will be screening a selection of the best new short documentaries from UK film makers and having a drink or four!

Monty’s Bar, 149 Brick Lane. Doors 6.30pm, films begin at 8pm.

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Argentine Cinema Panel

Having championed some of world cinema’s most groundbreaking cinematic New Waves over the past few years, the EEFF’s annual national focus returns in 2013. Following Armando Bo’s dark comic drama The Last Elvis taking the EEFF’s top award in 2012, Bo returns to the festival as the EEFF’s Director in Residence as the festival presents a phenomenal selection of films from new Argentine directors, including the extraordinary, mystical debut from Pablo Trapero’s screenwriting partner Alejandro Fidel, The Wild Ones; Jazmin Lopez’s Leones, Mariano Llinás’s mind-bending meta-thriiler Extraordinary Stories; a selection of Argentina’s most vital short films; and a special rescreening of El Ultimo Elvis.

Join the EEFF at the Barbican for a discussion of what makes Argentina one of world cinema’s most important cinematic movements, and how the country has overcome military juntas and economic collapse to become a remarkably productive filmmaking powerhouse. With a panel featuring Armando Bo, Matias Pineiro, Alejandro Fidel, Sofia de Skalon (London Argentine Film Festival), the panel will accompany the London Premiere of Pineiro’s wonderful play on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Viola.