From Wednesday on, London will be graced again with the great movies the East End Film Festival has to offer. Every year, the film festival provides us with very eclectic, inspiring and must-see films and this edition, the 17^th already, is no different.

Female director Sara Driver her latest work BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat will be this years’ opening film. As the title already mentioned, it’s all about Jean-Michel Basquiat and how New York, its people and its arts cultures influenced his vision. The likes of Nan Goldin, Luc Sante and Jim Jarmush will guide you into the life of their friend thanks to music, image, anecdotes and of course, film footage. Want to know what the Lowest East Side of New York looked like back in the ‘70s and ’80s while learning more about a great American neo-expressionism artist that Basquiat was? Then head off to Rio Cinema on Wednesday, the 11^th of April. A little over two weeks after that, the East End Film Festival will close with an outdoor showing of the critically acclaimed Call Me By Your Name, as well as the New Vision Queer Shorts program.

Just like during any edition, the East End Film Festival “in competition films” are from all different place all over the world and about all different topics. However, they have one thing in common: They are all outstanding. From teenage dramas Team Hurricane (Denmark) and Different Kinds of Rain (Germany) about loneliness, anorexia, isolation and parental issues to Tigre from directors Ulises Porra and Silvina Schnicer about a woman trying to reconnect with her estranged son and from High Fantasy (director Jenna Cato Bass) about friends being body swapped to I Am Another You from award-winning Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang about a young drifter who rejects society’s rules for a life of intentional homelessness.

UK premiers taking place at this year’s festival include Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Indonesia/France/Malaysia/Thailand), Deborah Haywood’s Pin Cushion (UK), Super November (UK), written by and starring Skins actress Josie Long, Never Steady, Never Still (Canada), Revenge (France), The Bromley Boys (UK), Freddie Foreman documentary Fred (UK), Blerta Ziqiri’s The Marriage (Kosovo) and In The Fade (Germany).

East End Film Festival is taking place from 11th-29th April on different locations in London. Visit http://www.eastendfilmfestival.co.uk for more information and book your tickets now. You don’t want to miss this!

Film and Celerity Reporter Liselotte Vanophem