Kevin's Picks Of This Years Festival
Well, Here we are again for the Romford Film Festival… Myself and my fellow Selectionists have had to whittle down a list of about 300+ movies to the magnificent 120. Not content with stressing us out with this painstaking task, Spencer decided he also wanted a list of our must see flicks at the fest this year. Jeezo dude I am making the 4 and a half hour journey EACH WAY down there BY TRAIN to be with all you wonderful folks in sunny old Romford, don't you think I have shown all the commitment to this cause?.
I do kid though because I honestly think we have some absolute belters this year at the festival and sometimes not enough light is being shone on them because we all fall in love with a few and they become talked and talked about. With that said this list stands as my chance to let you all in on some of the movies I personally think you have to check out while at the fest because if you dont you are going to miss out on a smorgasbord of instant gems.
First up…
DOOR SALESMAN DAVE… Monday night 6:13pm come and watch 7 minutes of Director/Actor Ross Henson just throwing himself into a character of his own making with everything he has. I have spoken on Door Salesman Dave on more than one occasion and for good reason. I don't need amazing cinematography in a 5-15 minute short every single time, yes your short can look good, sound incredible and smash it out the park tonally BUT was I interested every second of your audiogasmic ocular overload?. Sometimes I just want to be entertained by a cast and crew that are clearly passionate about their passion project.
Friday morning 11:17am CONSEQUENCES… This year sees a whole bunch of Spanish shorts, some good and some MEH but for me one of our Spanish contingent stood head and shoulders above the rest and that was Consequences. Young male lead Eddy Munoz is terrifyingly great in this role. His role gave me a real City of God type vibe where you just have to let this kid guide you through his story and I sat there the entire time hooked.
They say that you are only as good as your last project, and with that in mind I had almost written off Marcel Walz after his all style no substance but serviceable BLIND… Then comes along the sequel PRETTY BOY which is a shining example of how a director can level up and is smart enough to look back and not exactly fix mistakes but work out the kinks for a better well told and more rounded flick. I really enjoyed Pretty Boy and I think along with DADDY'S GIRL you have an outrageously good double bill of horror on Sunday night!!! So strap in for that one.
Larry Lamb, Sarah Jane Potts, Jamie Lomas, Jack P Shepard, Marc Bannerman and Jaimie Winstone are just a small selection of names in some of these projects that you will know as household names. I would like you to pay particular attention to Kathryn O’Reilly as Rita in Fred Kelly short movie CAUGHT, she is sensational and for my money was a clear front runner for best actress. Make sure you check out Caught Saturday night between 9 and 10.
I could go on and rattle off another 10 to 15 movies off the top of my end in all honesty but I think the real beauty of the fest is buying a ticket for the entire fest and plopping your butt down not knowing what to expect. This is where you will find the gems like West Bottoms, Micropubs, Colossus, New Material, Divertimento, Colour Me Jane, Professor Television, Candle Cops, Pandemic Spy and everything else in between. Anyway thanks for reading and I really hope to see you all at the fest (I’ll most likely be at the bar).
Kev!
