Launching as a multi-venue celebration of independent cinema, repertory discoveries and emerging voices, TFFF brings together new international premieres, overlooked classics, special screenings and experimental works across venues including Curzon Soho, ICA, Genesis Cinema, The Castle Cinema, Peckhamplex, The Nickel Cinema and more.
The festival opens with the previously announced Perfumania a madcap freewheeling comedy by director/musician Charlotte Ercoli, and closes with Faces of Death by Conan Le Cillaire (John Alan Schwartz), the 1978 film that gained notoriety in the 80s VHS era, presented as a world premiere of the new restoration.
The Final Film Festival was founded by independent film programmers Jack Hewitt and Kit Ramsay, with the aim of creating a new home for independent cinema in London, bringing together new voices, rediscovered works and the filmmakers shaping the future of film culture.
Kit Ramsay says — “TFFF has come about quickly and excitingly because it’s filling a gap in London’s cinema culture! In an age of ‘online’ cinephilia and taste curation, audiences can find, through various means, a far broader diet than is typical for a four-wall cinema or festival. The fact is that TFFF comes from a few disparate influences; we love the mainstay cinemas and festivals London has to offer, but we also love the pop-up cinema culture found in bar basements all over and the repertory festivals of Bristol and Bologna [Cinema Rediscovered and Il Cinema Ritrovato]. We wanted a festival to exist that housed all that under one programme.”
Jack Hewitt adds — “TFFF is best described as an inevitability. With the recent success of similar flavours of festivals like LA Festival of Movies (LAFM) and Brunswick Underground Film Festival (BUFF) there is a clear cultural demand for that brand of filmmaker/ community focused programming. With our programme in particular, Kit and I realised that there is no consistent pipeline for a bulk of films premiering at Tribeca, New/Next, Rotterdam and Locarno to quickly come to London unless a name is attached or it befits an arthouse’s monthly strand. London hasn’t been a hub for independent cinema in decades, we wanted to change that.”
The programme includes an In Competition section of eight films by emerging filmmakers screening as world and UK premieres exclusively at The Nickel Cinema; while the Out-of-Competition section showcases for the first time in the UK works of indie filmmakers shown at film festivals in the US and internationally, such as – Locarno, San Sebastian, Tallahassee, New/Next Baltimore, Downtown Festival, Berlinale, SXSW, and Tribeca.
The Repertory programmes celebrate rediscovered, underseen and newly reevaluated works; plus an In Focus: programme celebrating maverick filmmaker, the late Albert Pyun; and a selection presented in collaboration with independent distributor Radiance Films.
A section of Special Screenings includes unique current and repertory titles, as well as an In Focus of four shorts from between 1984-1992 by music video director Richard Heslop; with further titles to be announced.
Alongside feature works TFFF includes a Short Film Showcase that embraces the friction between different forms and perspectives in filmmaking.
For full programme details and tickets, visit tfffestival.co.uk. And @tff_festival on Instagram.
In Competition
The festival’s inaugural competition strand showcases emerging filmmakers from across the world, screening exclusively at The Nickel Cinema.
- National Sport — William North
- Hard Time Love — Joao Pedro Faro
- Eramus — Oliver James Hunt
- Softshell — Jinho Myung
- Plane Film — Orla Smith
- Affection Affection — Alexia Walther & Maxime Matray
- Sitting Idle — Luke Olutunmogun
- Belief Is Not Without Pathos — Owen Vince
Gala Screenings
The festival opens with Perfumania, a madcap freewheeling comedy by director/musician Charlotte Ercoli, screening at Curzon Soho.
The festival closes with Faces of Death by Conan Le Cillaire (John Alan Schwartz), the 1978 film that gained notoriety in the 80s VHS era, presented as a world premiere of the new restoration at Genesis Cinema introduced by filmmaker Daniel Goldhaber.
Out of Competition
The out-of-competition section showcases for the first time in the UK works of indie filmmakers shown at film festivals in the US and internationally.
- A. Rimbaud — Patrick Wang
- Camping du Lac — Eléonore Saintagnan
- Cece’s Interlude — Tee Park
- City Wide Fever — Josh Heaps
- Drinking & Driving — Jillian Frank and Avalon Fast
- Imaginal Disk — Amanda Kramer
- Perfect — Millicent Hailes
- Pomp and Circumstance — Adrian Anderson & Patrick Gray
- Python Hunt — Xander Robin
- Women as Lovers — KOXI
- You Sorta Know It’s Going to End — Kalil Haddad & Ryan Steel (hosted by Lucy Peter of Electric Blue Cinema)
A further special title will be announced as the closing film of the out-of-competition strand.
Repertory Programme
TFFF’s repertory programme celebrates rediscovered, underseen and newly reevaluated works:
- Godmonster of Indian Flats — Frederic Hobbs
- The Hereafter — Michael J. Murphy
- Personal Problems — Bill Gunn, new restoration
- Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes — Mike Donahue
- Hellbreeder — Johannes Roberts & James Eaves
- Herostratus — Don Levy (hosted by Georgia Hunter of Siren Screen)
- Image of the Beast — Donald W. Thompson (preceded by short The Daylight Zone introduced by screenwriter Maurielle McGarvey)
- In the Dark — Ned Caderni
A further special title will be announced as the closing film of the repertory strand.
In Focus: Albert Pyun
TFFF presents a dedicated strand celebrating the work of filmmaker Albert Pyun:
- Alien from L.A.
- Nemesis
- Radioactive Dreams
- Captain America (director’s cut UK premiere)
Radiance Partnership
In collaboration with independent distributor and label Radiance Films, TFFF will present a selection of repertory titles across the festival weekend at Genesis Cinema:
- White God, Black Death — Glauber Rocha
- Hi, Mom! — Brian De Palma
- The Dancing Hawk — Grzegorz Krolikiewicz
Special Screenings
The festival will also feature a selection of unique events:
- The Astrologer — Craig Dennehy, presented with Tarot
- Body and Soul — Oscar Micheaux, featuring a live score by SECT
- House of the Dead — Uwe Boll, followed by a late-night party in the woods courtesy of Canal Club
- Surprise – Peter Hewitt & Simon Hewitt
- In Focus: Richard Heslop Shorts
Short Film Showcase
TFFF presents a selection of short works exploring new forms of storytelling and moving image practice:
- Good Cock, Bad Cock — Nelly Dansen
- Maidenhair — Julia Sipowicz
- Murder Him in Your Mind — Sophie Monks Kaufman & Lisa Schnepp
- Route 310 — Julia Mervis
- Sea Within Yourself — Polina Kuzminska
- Swimming Lessons — Ned Caderni
- Talismans — Lada Kopytova
- Total Coverage — Julian Barahona Rhi & Cheyenne Terborg
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