An international film festival returns to east London, endeavouring for the eight year to champion aspiring and established talent from the area.

The Walthamstow International Film Festival has now announced its programme of events and screenings for 2018 over June 23 and 24.

The festival seeks to support filmmakers from the borough since its inception in 2010 and invites submissions in the following genres: documentary, drama, experimental, animation and has a young person’s category for those making their first film.

“This is the best year yet for submissions,” says director and joint founder Paul Fletcher, part of the team who also run the London Experimental Film Festival. 

“We are particularly proud of the young talent we’ve supported to go on to apprenticeships, university and work in the industry,” adds Liza Fletcher, who also runs film workshops and film education projects with local schools and youth groups.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

The films cover tales from the borough, including an animated musical biography of JK Stanley who invented the modern bicycle design and lived off Church Hill, a 1980s style fanzine protest cartoon about The Mall development, and a documentary focusing on the poster protest movement embodied by Walthamstow’s Jo Robinson - whose work was recently featured in an exhibition at The Tate Britain. 

Young film makers in the under 18s category have chosen the silent genre to depict tales of childhood trauma, teenage angst and horrific subconscious memories, as well as multi-coloured pop confection music video.

Other film makers go outside the borough, such as Carol Gyasi’s film about the community of disabled street beggars who skateboard through traffic in West Africa to survive, which has been shortlisted in the documentary category.

See the line up at walthamstowinternationalfilmfestival.com