With just over a week remaining until the 13th East End Film Festival, Amie Mulderrig takes a look at the top ten must-sees this year: 

 

Epping Forest Guardian:

1. Dermaphoria
Opening the film festival is the world premiere of this highly-anticipated movie. The first feature from director Ross Clarke, the east London-based filmmaker and DJ who directed award-winning feature documentary Skid Row and co-founded music festival Lovebox, it follows an experimental chemist who wakes up in a New Orleans jail with amnesia, accused of arson and links to a drug-manufacturing ring. Starring Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries) and rising star Nicole Badaan, plus Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy, Hellboy), Walton Goggins (The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, Justified) and Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy, The Wire, Fargo).
Followed by a Q&A with director Ross Clarke and star Ron Perlman.
Genesis Cinema, Mile End Road, Whitechapel, E1, Friday, June 13, 7pm.

Epping Forest Guardian:

2. Leave To Remain 
This powerful first feature from BAFTA winner Bruce Goodison, takes acclaimed actor Toby Jones, a young ensemble cast, and a soundtrack by Alt-J to tell the tale of three Afghan teenagers forced to move to the UK as refugees.
Genesis Cinema, 6.30pm, Thursday, June 19. 

 

Epping Forest Guardian:

3. A Very Unsettled Summer
The first live action feature from Romanian animator Anca Damian, this is the UK premiere of the film. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, the film tells the tale of a British writer in Bucharest.
Rich Mix, Bethnal Green Road, E1, June 21, 4pm.

Epping Forest Guardian:

4. Hot Wings
Having won East End Film Festival’s Audience Award in 2012 for short film Byrd, returning in 2013 with documentary short Queens, East End Film Festival is hosting the world premiere of Hot Wings, a feature debut about local criminals attempting to cash in on the Olympics in east London.
Stratford East Picturehouse, Salway Road, E15, June 22, 8.30pm.

Epping Forest Guardian:

5. The Blueblack Hussar
Set to be screened on the closing night of the festival, this insightful documentary follows Adam Ant during his obsessively driven comeback of 2011, after battling mental illness, sectioning and public acrimony. Featuring Charlotte Rampling, Mark Ronson and Allen Jones, and culminating with a Hyde Park show in front of 55,000, it’s an ode to a true British dandy highwayman. Including an exclusive live performance from Adam Ant.
Wednesday 25 June, 9pm, Venue TBC.

Epping Forest Guardian:

6. You and the Night
With the world focused on the World Cup, what better than this UK Premiere of You and the Night, a surreal cinematic orgy featuring Eric Cantona and Béatrice Dalle. Oh, and Cantona will actually be there. Goal!
Hackney Picturehouse, Mare Street, E8, June 21, 8.45pm.

Epping Forest Guardian:

7. White Shadow
There are plenty of international highlights in this year’s programme, but this one particularly stood out. Another UK premiere, White Shadow tells the story of a young albino on the run from witch doctors who want to use his organs for their potions.
Hackney Picturehouse, June 18, 6pm.

Epping Forest Guardian:

8. One Rogue Reporter
Former Daily Star journalist and Leveson Inquiry witness Rich Peppiatt lampoons his former employees with mischievous stunts and interviews. Featuring names such as Steve Coogan and Kelvin Mackenzie, this searing and funny exposé will be accompanied by headline grabbing stand-up. Couldn’t really leave that one out, could I?
Rio Cinema, Kingsland High Street, E8  June 21, 4pm.

Epping Forest Guardian:

9. Beautiful Noise
This documentary is an in-depth exploration of the wave of sonic innovators in the 1980s featuring Robert Smith of The Cure, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream.
Aubin Cinema, Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, June 15, 3pm.

Epping Forest Guardian:

10. Mexican Focus
Last year’s winner of the EEFF’s main prize, Mexican filmmaker Sebastian Hoffman, returns, having co-curated this year’s focus on the new wave in Mexican cinema. This includes the world premiere of Summum Bonum, the UK Premiere of multi-layered thriller Potosi and the London Premiere of Club Sandwich –among others.
Various dates, times and locations.


For the full programme for this year’s festival, visit: eastendfilmfestival.com