Competition Line Up

The East End Film Festival’s awards system is a vital part of the festival’s mission to discover, debate and develop new voices in cinema. EEFF’s main prize is reserved for the most outstanding, powerful and distinctive piece of cinema from a first or second time director. The Best Feature Award winner is invited to return to the East End Film Festival the following year, heading up the festival’s jury and serving as Director in Residence.

The EEFF Director in Residence works alongside the festival’s programming team to create a special line up of films within the EEFF programme. Taking the form of a country specific focus, previous Directors in Residence have included Bobby Parnescu (Francesca, Romania, 2010), Vikramaditya Motwane (Udaan, India, 2011), Armando Bo (El Ultimo Elvis, Argentina, 2012), Sebastian Hoffman (Halley, Mexico, 2013), and Noaz Deshe (White Shadow, Tanzania, 2014), who prompted a a radical departure from our normal strand in 2015 with Deprogrammed, which rejected the very idea of national identity. This year’s Director in Residence, Tolga Karacelik, brings the idea of national cinema back to the fore.

We are delighted to present the Official EEFF Competition line up for 2016 here.

BEST FEATURE

ALOYS
Dir: Tobias Nolle
Switzerland | 2016 | 91 min

AS I OPEN MY EYES
Dir: Leyla Bouzid
France | 2015 | 102 min

THE CHILDHOOD OF A LEADER
Dir: Brady Corbet
UK, Hungary, France | 2015 | 115 min

THE DARKEST UNIVERSE
Dir: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe
UK | 2016 | 90 min

FRENZY
Dir: Emin Alper
Turkey, France, Qatar | 2015 | 119 min

THE LURE
Dir: Agnieszka Smoczynska
Poland | 2015 | 92 min

OPERATION AVALANCHE
Dir: Matt Johnson
USA, Canada | 2016 | 94 min

WE ARE THE FLESH
Dir: Emiliano Rocha Minter
Mexico | 2016 | 79 min

WIN WIN
Dir: Daniel Hoesl
Austria | 2016 | 84 min

BEST DOCUMENTARY

DEAD SLOW AHEAD
Dir: Mauro Herce
France, Spain | 2015 | 74 min

GARY NUMAN: ANDROID IN LA LA LAND
Dir: Steve Read, Rob Alexander
UK | 2016 | 85 min

THE GUV’NOR
Dir: Paul Van Carter
UK | 2016 | 84 min

THE HARD STOP
Dir: George Amponsah
UK | 2015 | 85 min

HOMELAND (IRAQ YEAR ZERO)
Dir: Abbas Fahdel
Iraq, France | 2015 | 334 min

NATIONAL BIRD
Dir: Sonia Kennebeck
USA | 2016 | 92 min

NOTES ON BLINDNESS
Dir: Pete Middleton, James Spinney
UK | 2016 | 90 min

SONITA
Dir: Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami
Germany | 2015 | 90 min

TRANSIT HAVANA
Dir: Daniel Abma
Germany, Netherlands, Cuba | 2016 | 86 min

ACCESSION AWARD
SCREENWRITING

A PUNTER’S PRAYER
Writer: Savvas D. Michael

ADULT LIFE SKILLS
Writer: Rachel Tunnard

CHASING ROBERT BARKER
Writer: Daniel Florencio,
Nefeli Zygopoulou

THE DARKEST UNIVERSE
Writers: Tiani Ghosh, Will Sharpe

LOVE IS THICKER THAN WATER
Writer: Ate de Jong

NATIVE
Writers: Neil Atkinson,
Daniel Fitzsimmons