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East End Film Festival · 2012

East End Film Festival 2012

European

Programme

21 films · 3 reviews

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1/2 Revolution

Two documentary makers offer their footage of the Egyptian revolution of 2011, from the thrill of participating in mass protests to the dismay and fear at realising their movement has been infiltrated.

(Country: Denmark, Egypt; Year: 2011; Director: Omar Shagawi, Karim el Hakim; Stars: Omar Shagawi, Karim el Hakim)

Anarchy Girls (Anarchija Zirmunuos)

A nice country girl discovers a rebellious way of life in the city and unexpected feelings for her landlady.

(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2011; Director: Saulius Drunga)

Art Will Save The World

Review preview for Art Will Save The World

The title of Niall McGann’s documentary is a joke, elevating the work to a level of self-importance that the mischief therein consistently and amusingly undercuts.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
A look at the work, life and legacy of Luke Haines.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2011; Director: Niall McCann; Stars: Luke Haines)

Full review

Carré Blanc

A troubled man strives to navigate a complex dystopian society.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Jean-Baptiste Léonetti)

Chicks: Life At The Ranch

A group of young women hang out in and around a paris apartment nicknamed 'The Ranch'.

(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Sophie Letourneur)

Come As You Are (Hasta La Vista)

A group of young disabled people tell their parents they're planning a wine tour so they can take a road trip to a brothel.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2011; Director: Geoffrey Enthoven)

Either Way (Á Annan Veg)

Review preview for Either Way

A gentle, enjoyable little drama - a very comfortable and concise 80 minutes.

Scott Macdonald · 3 out of 5
Finnboeg and Alfred paint lines on a road in this gentle comedy. Re-released to coincide with David Gordon Green's remake Prince Avalanche.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2011; Director: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson; Writer: Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson; Stars: Hilmar Guðjónsson, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson) , Official site

Full review

Indignados

Film which uses a mixture of dramatised scenes and real-life events to follow an illegal immigrant travelling across a Europe in transition.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Tony Gatlif; Writer: Stéphane Hessel; Stars: Isabel Vendrell Cortès)

It Looks Pretty From A Distance (Z daleka widok jest piekny)

Review preview for It Looks Pretty From A Distance

Grim and unremitting, it's hard to go the distance.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
When a scrap merchant vanishes from a small Polish town, it sets in motion an unexpected chain of events.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2011; Director: Anka Sasnal, Wilhelm Sasnal; Writer: Anka Sasnal, Wilhelm Sasnal; Stars: Marcin Czarnik, Piotr Nowak, Elzbieta Okupska, Jerzy Lapinski, Hanna Chojnacka, Michal Pietrzak, Oskar Karas, Dawid Wolski, Waldemar Czyszak, Agnieszka Podsiadlik) , Official site

Full review

Karaman

One family, two battlefronts. Zehra, a young foreign-language secretary, travels out of Istanbul to spend a weekend with her family in Karaman, a town in central Anatolia. It’s been five years since she decided to begin wearing a hijab and her father, Hamit, a widower and former military officer, is still coming to terms with the fact that his daughter is now a practising Muslim and an opposer of the military. Zehra and her brother Erol cross swords because Erol isn’t convinced by his sister’s faith. A black metal fan, Erol doesn’t believe in anything, and his sister always seems to provoke his destructive streak. Zehra needs to ask her father something but is reluctant to do so: she wants to continue her studies in Germany, where she can live the life she wants. It’s not a problem to wear a hijab there, it seems. Zehra could travel there – as the daughter of a member of the military she is more privileged than many of her age who are not able to go to Europe, but her father is reluctant to give her his permission – how can a Muslim woman leave a Muslim country to live in the West? The battlefronts begin to blur. But why shouldn’t she try to find a life between them?

(Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Tamer Yigit, Branka Prlic; Writer: Tamer Yigit; Stars: Isilay Gül, Talu Emre Tüntas, Burak Yigit, Yusuf Kadir Han, Tamer Yigit)

The Legend Of Kaspar Hauser (La Leggenda Di Kaspar Hauser)

An androgynous woman washes up on an island, prompting two men to go to war with one another.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2012; Director: Davide Manuli; Writer: Davide Manuli; Stars: Vincent Gallo, Claudia Gerini, Elisa Sednaoui, Fabrizio Gifuni, Silvia Calderoni, Marco Lampis)

The New World (Uus Maailm)

A documentary about the New World Society, whose experiment in communal living is socially controversial.

(Country: Estonia; Year: 2012; Director: Jaan Tootsen)

Night of Silence (Lal Gece)

A convoy of cars, decorated horsemen and the sound of drums and shawms. Men dance, illuminated by the flames from torches; women dance apart from the men. This is a traditional wedding in a remote part of Turkey. It’s an arranged marriage. Neither the bride nor the groom were given a choice. What happens when a much older man is married to a young girl? In his quiet, intimate film, director Resi Çelik succeeds in telling the tragic story of an unusual wedding night – without the strains of a musical score on the soundtrack. The groom has recently been released from prison; he has spent most of his life behind bars on account of two honour killings. This marriage is meant to put an end to a blood feud that has lasted many years. After the ceremony, he finds himself alone with his bride; lifting her veil he looks into the frightened face of a fourteen-year-old girl. He tries to be nice to her, and gentle, but he is a desperate, broken man. She hesitates and tries to use other distractions to get through the night. Night passes and dawn arrives, bringing the relatives with it; all of whom are waiting for the stained bed sheet that will prove that everything is as it should be.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2012; Director: Reis Çelik; Writer: Reis Çelik; Stars: Ilyas Salman, Dilan Aksüt)

Radioactivists

A journey looking at the growing culture of protect against the use of nuclear power in Japan.

(Country: Germany, Japan; Year: 2012; Director: Julia Leser, Clarissa Seidel)

Simple Desires (Proste Pragnienia)

A family fractures under the pressure of poverty and social alienation.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2011; Director: Marek Stacharski)

Snackbar

Sometimes the smallest thing is enough to make them explode and then all of a sudden it’s a life-or-death situation. The three lads Mohamed, Mounir and Nouredin have a lot of fun with their mates – but there’s also so much anger inside them. They may be born to Moroccan parents in the Netherlands but they don’t feel at home here or anywhere else for that matter. They manage to get along somehow thanks to a bit of dealing here and there; or perhaps they’ll steal a bike, or break in somewhere. None of them could ever imagine working for a boss and if any of them were to try and pretend that they’re top dog they’d get a mouthful from the others. Ali’s snack bar in suburban Amsterdam is where they eat, hang out, smoke dope, fight and have a laugh. Ali, a Turk, runs the little café with his wife and children. A child of the ghetto himself, he knows exactly how to get along with the lads. He listens to their troubles and tries to mediate when they fight. At times they can be a real pain and he’s been known to get tough if the need arises. Nonetheless, he too has his problems. The film’s director Meral Uslu was herself born into a family of Turkish immigrants to the Netherlands. Her drama is an authentic and convincing portrait of this milieu.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2012; Director: Meral Uslu; Writer: Stan Lapinski; Stars: Ali Cifteci, Nazmye Oral, Dileria Horuz, Esra Horuz)

Somewhere In Palilula

A doctor is posted to an obscure town in which all his patients are healthy and the populace live in a constant state of decadance.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2011; Director: Silviu Purcarete)

Sons Of Norway (Sønner Av Norge)

A boy tries to come to terms with his mother's death during the early days of punk.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2011; Director: Jens Lien; Stars: Åsmund Høeg, Johnny Rotten)

Spain (Spanien)

A foreigner unintentionally stranded in Austria is trying everything to get to his original destination of Spain. A restorer who earns money on the side by painting religious icons has had enough of her ex-husband’s intrusions. He’s searching for the right words to get her back whilst sniffing around in the private lives of bi-national couples as part of his job as a police official. A gambling addict is hoping for assistance from a dubious finance institute. All of them are in search of happiness.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2012; Director: Anja Salomonowitz; Stars: Grégoire Colin, Tatjana Alexander, Cornelius Obonya, Lukas Miko)

Turn Me On, Goddammit (Fameg pa, for faen)

Alma is a small-town teenager with an active imagination and an even more active libido. After a titillating but awkward encounter with school heartthrob Artur turns her into a social outcast, Alma is desperate to move out of town and on with her life. Turn me on, goddammit is an offbeat coming-of-age comedy.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2011)

Wilaya

A poetic tale of two sisters whose lives take different paths and the clash of cultures that ensues between North Africa and mainland Europe.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2011; Director: Pedro Pérez Rosado; Stars: Nadhira Mohamed, Memona Mohamed, Aziza Brahim, Ainina Sidameg, Ahmed Molud)