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