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East End Film Festival · 2017

East End Film Festival 2017

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Programme

10 films · 7 reviews

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Access All Areas

Review preview for Access All Areas

A cast of talented actors and a superabundance of musical acts and a genuine sense of fun.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A group of British teenagers go on a road trip to an island music festival.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Bryn Higgins; Writer: Oliver Veysey; Stars: Ella Purnell, Georgie Henley, Arnas Fedaravicius, Nigel Lindsay, Bobby Lockwood, Jo Hartley, Phil Daniels, Jordan Long, Jenna Harrison, Jordan Stephens, Edward Bluemel, Paul Blackwell, Stuart Davidson, James Ashton, Laura Marie Howard)

Full review

All Eyez On Me

Review preview for All Eyez On Me

Messy, unstructured and deeply disappointing

Angus Wolfe Murray · 1.5 out of 5
Biopic of the late rapper, actor, poet and activist Tupac Shakur.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Benny Boom; Writer: Jeremy Haft, Eddie Gonzalez, Steven Bagatourian; Stars: Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham, Hill Harper, Annie Ilonzeh, Lauren Cohan, Keith Robinson, Jamal Woolard, Dominic L. Santana, Cory Hardrict, Clifton Powell, Jamie Hector, Deray Davis, Chris Clarke, Ronald Brooks)

Full review

Butterfly Kisses

Jake and his friends pass their time hanging out in the courtyards of their high-rise development or in pool halls, talking about girls, watching pornos and getting drunk. But Jake has a dark secret.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Rafael Kapelinski; Writer: Greer Ellison, Merlin Merton; Stars: Theo Stevenson, Elliot Cowan, Rosie Day, Thomas Turgoose, Charlotte Beaumont, Honor Kneafsey, Luke McKenzie, Leigh Gill, Lee Nicholas Harris, Anastasia Drew, David Neville, Taniel Yusef, Ella-Rae Smith, Paul A Munday, Leslie Hall)

City Of Ghosts

Review preview for City Of Ghosts

Heineman's film inevitably includes some tough-to-watch footage but he recognises the power in not always showing death.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The citizen journalists risking their lives to report on atrocities within in Syria.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Matthew Heineman)

Full review

Insyriated (In Syria)

Review preview for Insyriated

The idea that a family would face the war crime equivalent of lions, tigers and bears in the space of a few hours barges through the boundaries of belief.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A woman tries to hold her family together under a constant barrage of war.

(Country: Belgium, France, Lebanon; Year: 2017; Director: Philippe Van Leeuw; Writer: Philippe Van Leeuw; Stars: Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bou Abboud, Juliette Navis, Mohsen Abbas, Moustapha Al Kar, Alissar Kaghadou, Ninar Halabi, Mohammad Jihad Sleik, Elias Khatter, Husam Chadat)

Full review

Liberation Day

Review preview for Liberation Day

There’s a strange voyeurism to the film, especially given the isolated nature of North Korea.

Luke Shaw · 4 out of 5
The story of Laibach's visit to North Korea.

(Country: Latvia, Norway, North Korea, Slovenia; Year: 2016; Director: Ugis Olte, Morten Traavik; Writer: Morten Traavik; Stars: Boris Benko, Tomaz Cubej, Milan Fras)

Full review

Menashe

Review preview for Menashe

Rather than pick apart rituals... Weinstein simply lets us see them in action as part of the natural fabric of his life

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man faces losing custody of his son after the death of his wife.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Joshua Z Weinstein; Writer: Joshua Z Weinstein, Alex Lipschultz, Musa Syeed; Stars: Menashe Lustig, Ruben Niborski, Yoel Weisshaus) , Trailer

Full review See: Menashe co-writer/producer Alex Lipschultz on the challenges of making the film

The Pacemakers

Heading to the World Senior Athletics Championship in Korea, a 97 year old athlete is distracted by women.

(Year: 2017; Director: Selah Hennessy)

The Penalty

The stories of a man wrongly convicted who spent 15 years on death row; a lawyer fighting against increasingly inhumane, botched executions; and a mother battling against the state’s pursuit of the death penalty for her daughter’s murderer.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Mark Pizzey, Will)

Tom Of Finland

Review preview for Tom Of Finland

Although much of Laaksonen's work was hardcore, Karukoski doesn't seek to 'shock' audiences with outrageousness, instead gracefully zoning in on the man and his life to celebrate his both his bravery and his art.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Portrait of the Finnish artist famous for his homoerotic work.

(Country: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, US; Year: 2017; Director: Dome Karukoski; Writer: Noam Andrews, Aleksi Bardy, Aleksi Bardy, Aleksi Bardy, Mark Alton Brown, Dome Karukoski, Susanna Luoto, Kauko Röyhkä, Mia Ylönen; Stars: Pekka Strang, Lauri Tilkanen, Jessica Grabowsky, Jakob Oftebro, Werner Daehn, Jimmy Shaw, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Seumas F. Sargent, Jan Böhme, Kari Hietalahti, Taisto Oksanen, Georg Kroneis, Niklas Hogner, Siim Maaten, Roy Saaristo)

Full review See: Dome Karukoski on biopic Tom Of Finland