The inaugural film festival will see a celebration of independent film from filmmakers across the East of England and nationally which includes 86 independent film screenings, Q&As with the filmmakers and inspiring talks taking over local venues including the East Point Pavilion, The Grits Art Centre & The Lowestoft Library.
The event comes after submissions officially closed earlier this year for the competition entries into the film festival, which received nearing 300 submissions for the first year.
Films on their recently released Top Picks list include A Love Letter to Row 116 made by local filmmaker Jordon Thomas Sendall, a poignant story raising awareness on Tourettes called Tourettes & I, the East Anglian premiere of Right of Way a new feature-length programme that mixes stunning new artists’ commissions with historical archive films that give a bigger picture of questions of access and inclusion in the UK countryside, as well as 12 other independent films.
Joshua Freemantle, Development Producer of Sunrise Studios part of Access Community Trust who run the festival, said: “We have a really exciting and varied programme of films, that audiences across Lowestoft otherwise wouldn’t be able to access or view and we’re lucky to be bringing lots of films to be showcased in Lowestoft that will be receiving their first ever public audience premieres.
“We’ve put together ‘Our Top Picks’ list of films, that we think audiences won’t want to miss out on, and this acts as a guide to help them know what films they should book when browsing through the large scale of choice we have on offer in this year’s film programme.”
“We hope to see plenty of film lovers supporting the first-ever edition of this event, which is set to become an annual celebration of independent film on the east coast for our whole region.”
Lowestoft Film Festival was made possible with the support of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery in order to bring this project to more audiences across the UK, Lowestoft Town Council, East Suffolk Council, Lowestoft Central Project & Wherry Lines Partnership, Friends of Lowestoft Library, East Point Pavilion, The Grit Arts Centre, Sunrise Studios & Access Community Trust.
Tickets are required to be booked in advance for most screenings which are free or low cost, the film festival starts on Saturday, October 22 and runs through to Friday 28 October, bookings can be made through the Lowestoft Film Festival website with all proceeds made going to local charity Access Community Trust.
