Lovelace to close East End Film Festival

Lovelace [pictured], Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman’s biopic of adult actress Linda Lovelace, is to receive its UK premiere as the closing film of this year’s East End Film Festival (EEFF).

The festival will open this year with the world premiere of Mark Donne’s second feature The UK Gold, a feature documentary that follows the dramatic battle of a vicar from a small parish in the London Borough of Hackney as he goes head to head with an ancient and mighty heavyweight, revealing its central status as the tax-haven capital of the world.

In total, EEFF will host 16 world premieres, two European premieres, 28 UK premieres and 19 London premieres at this year’s event, which runs June 25-July 10.

“Even in the six years I’ve been involved, the festival has undergone some seismic movements, but none more so than this year,” commented EEFF artistic director Alison Poltock. “Two weeks of the best cutting-edge voices in cinema, found in the less obvious places – a mixture of art, music and political discourse all relevant to the energetic and diverse nature of London’s East End.”

This year’s edition will screen an international programme of over 80 features and 100 shorts, with films screening including Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s Inch’allah, Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha and Mikael Marcimain’s Call Girl.

British films screening at this year’s EEFF include Mike Figgis’ Suspension of Disbelief, Justin Edgar’s We Are The Freaks, Mike Lerner & Maxim Pozdorovkin’s Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer and Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England, with director, cast and crew in attendance.

Armando Bo heads the jury to choose this year’s best feature, open to first- and second-time directors, and will be joined on the jury by film critic Peter Bradshaw, producer and co-founder of Tugg, Inc. Nicolas Gonda and director Sally El Hosaini.

The jury for best documentary consists of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, filmmaker and poet Iain Sinclair, musician Mark Stewart, producer Rachel Wexler and head programmer of CPH:DOX Niklas Engstrom.

EEFF’s industry sessions Mind the Gap return, with three days of expert-led sessions, helping filmmakers in all stages of their careers cross the divide between an initial success and a sustainable career in the industry.

For more information on this year’s EEFF, visit the festival’s website.