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East End Film Festival · 2012

East End Film Festival 2012

World

Programme

31 films · 9 reviews

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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Review preview for Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Weiwei is such a fascinating subject that even a documentary that never seems to stray into the experimental is compelling, but white text on a black screen does not a revolution make.

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has garnered international attention as much for his ambitious artwork as his political provocations and increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.

(Country: US, China; Year: 2011; Director: Alison Klayman; Stars: Changwei Gu, Ai Weiwei, Evan Osnos, Ying Gao, Tehching Hsieh, Huang Hung, Zuzhou Zuoxiao, Yanping Liu, Danqing Chen, Inserk Yang) , Official site

Full review

Another Night On Earth (Oche Notre En La Tierra)

The Egyptian Revolution as observed through conversations in and between cars caught in Cairo's notorious traffic jams.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2012; Director: David Muñoz)

Bestiaire

Review preview for Bestiaire

This is a challenging and rewarding piece that reflects your own thoughts as much as those of the filmmaker.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Documentary meditation on man's relationship with animals.

(Country: Canada, France; Year: 2012; Director: Denis Côté; Writer: Denis Côté)

Full review

Call Me Kuchu

Review preview for Call Me Kuchu

Despite its grim subject, this is a film full of fight, with all the energy you'd expect from that.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The story of the Ugandan campaigners who have spoken out against the country's proposed Anti-Gay Bill.

(Country: USA; Year: 2012; Director: Malika Zouhali-Worrall, Katherine Fairfax Wright; Stars: David Kato Kisule, Naome Ruzindana, Stosh Mugisha) , Official site

Full review

Chapiteau Show (Shapito-shou, Shapito Show)

Review preview for Chapiteau Show

That the film tests our patience due to the wearily extroverted characters and a distinct lack of laughter is undoubtedly more frustrating than the numb limbs arising from such an intimidating run-time.

Robert Munro · 2 out of 5
At a Crimean resort, various characters cross paths with one another across an intricate multi-story narrative.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2011; Director: Sergey Loban; Writer: Marina Potapova; Stars: Jim Avignon, Stas Baretskiy, Dmitriy Bogdan, Stepan Devonin, Yuliya Govor, Sergei Kuzmenko, Anton Kuznetsov, Pyotr Mamonov, Dmitry Novikov, Sergey Pakhomov, Aleksei Podolsky, Sergei Popov, Darya Spiridonova, Vera Strokova, Maksim Tiunov)

Full review

Cut

A filmmaker who owes money to the mob ends up as a human punching bag to repay his debt.

(Year: 2011; Director: Amir Naderi; Writer: Amir Naderi, Shinji Aoyama, Yuichi Tazawa; Stars: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Takako Tokiwa, Takashi Sasano, Shun Sugata, Denden, Takuji Suzuki, Ikuji Nakamura, Satoshi Nikaido, Jun'ichi Hayakawa, Hatsuo Itou) , Official site

Dekh Indian Circus

A mother living in poverty will stop at nothing to take her children on a trip to the circus.

(Country: India; Year: 2011; Director: Mangesh Hadawale)

Electrick Children

Review preview for Electrick Children

This low-key coming of age drama pokes gently into questions of faith, temptation, family and belonging.

Owen Van Spall · 3 out of 5
A sheltered Mormon girl believes her unexplained pregnancy must have been caused by listening to rock music.

(Country: USA; Year: 2012; Director: Rebecca Thomas; Writer: Rebecca Thomas; Stars: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane, Bill Sage)

Full review

Fray

A young marine returning from combat struggles to find meaning in civilian life.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Geoff Ryan)

The Guerilla Son

A Kurdish man who is about to become a father questions his own father about why he was sent abroad as a young child.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2011; Director: David Herdes, Zanyar Adami)

Jai Bhim Comrade (Jai Bhim Comrade)

A look at India's caste system and the Dalits struggling for dignity against over 2,000 years' worth of prejudice.

(Country: India; Year: 2011; Director: Anand Patwardhan)

Kotoko

Review preview for Kotoko

This is a difficult film, full of abhorrent behaviours and unbearable tensions – but at the same time it shows a profound respect towards its troubled subject, and therefore towards its viewers as well.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
A single mother clings to life amid nightmarish mental problems and self-mutilation.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2011; Director: Shinya Tsukamoto; Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto, from an original story by Cocco; Stars: Cocco, Shinya Tsukamoto)

Full review

The Last Elvis (El Ultimo Elvis)

A Buenos Aires Elvis impersonator who believes that he is the reincarnation of the King struggles to shake free from reality and live his musical dream.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2011; Director: Nicolás Giacobone; Writer: Armando Bo, Nicolás Giacobone; Stars: John McInerny, Griselda Siciliani, Margarita Lopez)

The Law In These Parts

Israel's 43-year military legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories unfolds through provocative interviews with the system’s architects and historical footage showing the enactment of these laws upon the Palestinian population.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2011; Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz)

Look At Me Again (Olhe pra mim de novo)

Look At Me Again is a vibrant road movie that whisks us away to the wild, semi-arid expanse of north-eastern Brazil.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2011; Director: Kiko Goifman, Claudia Priscilla)

Machete Language (El Lenguaje De Los Machetes)

A couple make a stand against injustice through 'poetic terrorism'.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2011; Director: Kyzza Terrazas)

The Machinists

A look inside the garment manufacturing business in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

(Country: Dubai, UK; Year: 2011; Director: Hannan Majid, Richard York)

My Last Round (Mi Último Round)

Relationship drama about boxer and kitchen hand.

(Country: Chile, Argentina; Year: 2010; Director: Julio Jorquera; Writer: Julio Jorquera; Stars: Roberto Farías, Héctor Morales, Tamara Acosta, Gonzalo Robles, Manuela Martelli) , Official site

Night No. 1 (Nuit 1)

A planned one night stand leads to unexpected confessions.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2011; Director: Anne Émond)

Occupy Central Park

The Occupy Wall Street gathering as seen from the perspective of a teenager trying to organise a support gig.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Phillip Gara; Stars: Itamar Lilienthal)

On The Road To Downtown (Fi Al Tarik Le... Wust El Balad?)

A character study set in a downtown Cairo nighbourhood.

(Country: Egypt; Year: 2011; Director: Sherif Elbendary)

The Rat Race

An introduction to the workers who go out each night to try and eliminate vermin in Delhi.

(Country: India; Year: 2012; Director: Miriam Chandy Menacherry)

Reed: The Life And Works Of Roy Kiyooka

A documentary about a samurai's grandson who was a star of the New York School of Painting before giving it all up to become a wandering poet.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2012; Director: Fumiko Kiyooka)

Runway

A teenager living beside Dhaka International Airport gets caught up in violent extremism.

(Country: Bangladesh; Year: 2010; Director: Tareque Masud)

Scarecrow (Bijuka)

A woman's attempts to escape an abusive marriage lead to further suffering at the hands of corrupt authorities.

(Country: India; Year: 2011; Director: Ashtar Sayed)

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Review preview for Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Tsukamoto's preoccupations with meta(l)morphosis, body horror and unchecked masculinity remain firmly in place, as does the writer/director's way with outrageous images and ideas.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
A conspiracy of a gang of cyborgs.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1992; Director: Shinya Tsukamoto)

Full review

Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Review preview for Tetsuo: The Iron Man

The film's vision of creation and destruction as coexisting drives within the steely heart of man has lost none of its arresting force over the years – or been outdone by Tsukamoto's two sequels.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
The seminal work of extreme Japanese cyberpunk, newly restored from the original negative by cult director Shinya Tsukamoto, who will be in attendance at EIFF.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1989; Director: Shinya Tsukamoto)

Full review

Verano

Guests gather at a spa resort on a hot summer day.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2011; Director: José Luis Torres Leiva)

Voices From The Camps

The experiences of ethnic Biharis living in camps in Bangladesh.

(Country: Bangladesh; Year: 2011; Director: Hannan Majid, Richard York)

We Are Legion: The Story Of The Hacktivists

The story of hacker group Anonymous, their battles against Scientology and their contribution to the Arab Spring.

(Country: United States; Year: 2011; Director: Brian Knappenberger)