We Are East - Leytonstone pop-up cinema

'We Are East' featured the following eight short films all of which have an East London flavour:

Lucia Ashmore, ‘ERIC’S SECRETS‘
Monro and Menon, ‘NO WAY THROUGH‘
Lisa Muten, ‘EAST‘
Gareth Polmeer, ‘MID-TERRACE‘
Rayna Nadeem, ‘DEADLIFE‘
James Norton, ‘BORDERLANDS‘
John Smith, ‘BLIGHT‘
Bamforth & Nadeem – Dekko Productions, ‘A13:ROAD MOVIE‘

I particulary enjoyed 'Blight' which was about the building of the M11 link road through Leyton & Leytonstone which entailed the demolition of houses and the eviction of the residents. The film features the half demolished houses & interviews with residents which have been cut with music which works really well, the overall effect is quite beautiful.

Another stand out was 'No Way Through' which is a very powerful film about an injured woman who is being driven to an ambulence but can't get though check points manned by soldiers and a wall. This then turns out to represent the daily travails of Palestinians.

'Eric's Secrets' features an old boy called Eric talking about his life, which is very interesting; 'Mid-Terrace' was very short (50 seconds) about a terrace house which doesn't sound like much but when it ended I wanted to see it again. 'A13-Road Movie' is a lovely film about the characters and area around the A13 as it makes its way from East London to Shoeburyness in Essex and 'Deadlife' is by the same film-maker, this time a documentary about the life of a cemetry which again is very interesting and is surprisingly amusing at times.

All in all a most enjoyable evening as always at Leytonstone cinema.