Cutting Sounds, a live soundtrack and foley workshop from Into Film kicked the day off composing new scores to some classics film clips resulting in a unique performance. The Cutting It Short programme screened a line-up of nine fantastic films made by local young people and provided the jury with a tough decision. The Matthew Martino Benevolent Fund Rising Star Award supported by East End Film Festival went to Phoenix Height’s (a Tower Hamlets youth club) film Just Another Saturday and a Special Recommendation went to Heather Basten for Winter: 1st Movt in F minor. A big thanks to all the filmmakers that submitted their films and took part in the screening.

CUTTING BEATS heard powerful spoken word performances from Caroline Teague and host Sara Hirsch as well as music and rap from King TT and Rapture amongst many more!, while our feature film MATERIAL, a hilarious comedy, didn’t leave a dry eye in the screening.
As always our hosts at Genesis Cinema genesiscinema.co.uk warmly welcomed Cutting East into the cinema and and it was so fantastic to see to so many familiar friendly faces. Special Thanks to our friends Mile End Community Project, East End Film Festival, Into Film and of course all of our programmers new and old!
For more information about the Cutting East Film Festival visit our website or check out our social media channels

Instagram: CuttingEast

After a very energetic and fun picking process, a final cut has been made! And we are very pleased to announce the order in which these outstanding short films will be shown!

Sunset Rose

A flirtatious rapport descends into a dark and dangerous game in a high tension tale of murder and deception, set in 1940s San Francisco.

Winter: 1st Movt in F Minor

The video is the 1st movement in a body of work by Eden. It is autobiographical of her life growing up from a child to the musician she is today. Both cinematic and audio-visual, the song will slide you into her shoes.

A Matter of Time

A man finds a key with magical powers, it freezes time leaving him free to move around as he pleases. After a morning of mischief, it’s not long before he realises this isn’t quite as fun as he had anticipated.

Our Hamlets

A short film produced by young people living in Tower Hamlets, exploring Tower Hamlets and how generally young people feel about living there.

Just Another Saturday

No one would have believed that in the last weeks of 2015 the Phoenix Heights Saturday `Club was being watched keenly and closely by a creature from another dimension.

Be Proud

This short film attempts to capture the essence of what today’s young people from a British Bangladeshi community feel about the growing stereotypes of being a young Muslim.

East Side Story

This music video was created by students at Young and Talented. It tells the story of the gangs that form in rival schools in London. The aim is to encourage young people not to get involved in negative gang culture.

Repressed

A man wakes up alone in his house surrounded by overturned furniture, broken glass and blood. He moves from room to room trying to make sense of the scene. Gradually he unlocks the secret to the night before in a shocking revelation.

Struggle

A creative short film articulating the struggle of an ex offender growing up in east London. The challenges identified and the change is truly inspirational!

Sandyman

Every day, Geoff – the Sandyman –  heads to his strip of beach. He spends hours crafting a design in the sand, only for it to be washed away once the tide comes in. But he is not saddened by the tide. The water merely resets the canvas for another day.

Chicken

This short film takes an exploratory look at the phenomenon of PFC (Perfect fired Chicken) and uncovers some of the underlying reasons behind the ‘big deal’

The 4th Cutting East Film Festival is exploring the theme; hidden identity, and is working with East End Film Festival, The Matthew Martino Benevolent Fund, Into Film and THAMES to showcase local talent and equip young people with skills to work in the creative industries.

CUTTING SOUNDS WORKSHOPS

11am-5pm| FREE for 13-19 year olds

The hidden character in every film is the soundtrack. Join music specialists from Into Film for a film sound tracking and Foley workshop. Find out about music in film, pick up a new musical instrument, form a studio band and compose and perform an original musical soundtrack to short film clips. To reserve a place email cutting-east@eastendfilmfestival.com or DM @cuttingeast

CUTTING IT SHORT + AWARDS GALA

3PM | £3.50

Last year’s festival highlight is back celebrating new filmmaking talent in East London. All films selected are eligible for The Matthew Martino Benevolent Fund Rising Star Award in partnership with the East End Film Festival  judged by the Cutting East Youth Jury. The winner will receive a cash prize of £150. Short listed films are on our website.

CUTTING BEATS

4:30pm | FREE

This annual spoken word showcase features rappers who from the council’s youth platform ‘A’ Team Arts and a sneak preview of ‘Rapture’ before its Edinburgh premiere and includes a performance of the live soundtracks created during the Cutting Sounds workshops.

FEATURE FILM FINALE MATERIALS

Director: Craig Friemond

5:30pm | £3.50

Comedy! A young Muslim man, Cassim, works in his father’s shop but wants to be a stand-up comedian. When he gets a gig at a local bar, he has to find a way of keeping it a secret from his family.

ACCESS INFORMATION

All screens at the Genesis are accessible except screen 1 and Bar Paragon. If you have any access requirements please phone ahead. All auditoria have looped hearing.

To book tickets call 020 7780 2000 or book online at www.genesiscinema.co.uk. All screenings and activity; Genesis Cinema, 93 – 95 Mile End Road, E1 4UJ

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Are you a young person who loves movies?

If so, the Cutting East Film Festival invites you to apply to be a member of the Cutting It Short Youth Jury.  Select the films that make it onto the big screen and win prizes!

The Cutting East Film Festival has opened the call for film enthusiasts aged 13 to 19 years to be on the Cutting it Short Jury Panel. As a member of the Jury you will be responsible for choosing the winning films for the fourth edition of the festival which will take place on Saturday 19^th March 2016 at the Genesis Cinema

The Cutting it Short Jury, will watch films, analyse them, vote for their favourites and select the winners for the Cutting it Short- MMBF Rising Star Award in partnership with East End Film festival.  You will also have an opportunity to meet film professionals, take part in workshops, and find out more about filmmaking and programming at join in activities held at Cutting East Film Festival.

Each jury member will have the chance of leading interviews, Q&A, writing reviews, blogs and attend awards ceremony. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to gain experience in film.

More Information:

Selected jurors will meet at the Brady Arts Centre/ Genesis Cinema. Under the guidance of an industry professional, the jury will watch a selection of short films with young protagonists, films that deal with themes and issues affecting young people.

After the jury has viewed all the films in competition, it will choose the winning film. The director of this film will receive a trophy plus a cash award, to be presented at the Cutting East Film Festival 2016 awards ceremony on 19 March at the Genesis Cinema.

To be considered for the youth jury, you must:

• Be located in East London
• Be between the ages of 13 and 19 years old
• Be available for sessions/discussions and  film screenings that will take place during day and evening during the  (15 Feb –5 March)
• Obtain permission from a parent or guardian if you are under the age of 18
• Be available to attend the festival Saturday 19 March

The deadline for all Youth Jury is midnight on Sunday 14th February.  Successful applicants will be contacted by email.

Name:

DOB:

Gender:

School/Educational Institution (if applicable):

Occupation (if applicable):

Address:

Phone number:

Email:

Please write, in 250 words or fewer, what your favourite movie is and why?

Email in at: Cutting-East@eastendfilmfestival.com

Find us on Twitter/ Facebook @Cutting East

Who are House of Talent and how did it all begin?

House of Talent is Tower Hamlets’, ‘A’ Team Arts’ in-house performing arts provision and has been running for 36 years. Our annual shows vary from films, animation and puppets to full scale live theatre productions. The Hidden Heroes project came out of an idea to produce a live street theatre event to commemorate the commonwealth soldiers sacrifice during the Great Wa

r. We decided that our research and story would be more wid

ely accessible through film. We explored the story through stop-frame animation as a means of learning new skills, as well as re-creating the epic journey of the letters in a creative and feasible way.

Thanks to all those who came to our first open evening event last night! We had a great group of people involved to help kick off Cutting East 2016!

There’s still time for everyone to be a part of what will be another brilliant year of talent.

Submit your short film here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CESubmissions

Apply to become a CE 2016 programmer here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CEApplication

Check our twitter for regular updates and news on Cutting East 2016! @cuttingeast

Cutting East Film festival 19th March 2016 at Genesis Cinema.

Apply: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CESubmissions

Terms & Conditions
The deadline for entries is 12pm on 15th February 2016
Films of up to 10 minutes in length will be considered.
A maximum of 2 films can be submitted per person.
All decisions on selected films are final.
Regrettably, we cannot return any DVDs submitted.
Films may be entered into a festival competition.
Films in languages other than English are welcome, but must be subtitled in English.
The film maker(s) must secure all copyright clearances where applicable and Cutting East Film Festival will not hold responsibility for any copyright infringement.
East London, for the purposes of the CEFF, is classified as comprising the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest, and Greenwich.
Submitting your film grants Cutting East Film Festival permission to use 2 minutes or under of footage from any successful film as part of festival promotion, this also includes up to 3 still images that are selected by the film maker.
All films submitted will be watched and selected by the young programming team at Cutting East.

Good Luck and we look forward to seeing your film!

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… If you were not there, then YOU my friend… missed out, big time! Although it was a smaller affair than previous years, the overall atmosphere and impact of the festival reached new heights. As a novice to the whole film festival programming world, I must admit that I was not fully sure of what to expect at the festival. An image of running around completing last minute errands and panicking when things go wrong had crossed my mind but lo and behold, that image was wrong. And thank goodness for that! Could you imagine what a nightmare that would have been? Opening night (Friday 20th March) was definitely a huge success with the screening of short films made by our very own Cutting East programmers. The turn out to the screening as well as to the food and drinks reception afterwards really was impressive and served as a perfect opportunity to mingle with aspiring film makers, an impromptu networking event if you will.

The screening of ‘Sepideh’ on Day 2 of the festival (Saturday 21st March) could be described as the main attraction of the day. Cutting East had made ‘Sepideh’ their poster girl for this year, quite literally, seeing as the main image of the film featured in the Cutting East 2015 leaflets, posters and advertisements. ‘Sepideh’ along with the screening and panel discussion of ‘Mass E Bhat’ enabled the festival to showcase the depth in the style of film making present in the current industry as well as giving people the chance to pick the brains of film makers on all matters film and production. A personal favourite event from Day 2 of the festival would have to be the ‘Cutting Beats Open Mic Night’ which was hosted by performance poet and Genesis’ resident Slam Poetry guru, Sara Hirsch. The atmosphere at the festival during performances was truly magnetic! C’mon, seriously, who doesn’t love an opportunity to just sit back and listen to the lyrical genius behind a spoken word artist?

Our long running ‘Cutting it Short ‘competition brought in an array of figures within the film industry such as Alison Poltock, Director of EEFF; Cairo Cannon, Producer of The Falling and Dreams of a Life and Executive Producer for Film London and the Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham Film Fund to name a few. The presence of such individuals provided a perfect networking occasion where the aspiring film makers who submitted work into our competition were given time to expand their circle of film making contacts (yes, you’re very welcome kids!).

Now I would be a fool not to mention the amazing artistic (and by artistic I mean the people who can actually draw and produce the traditional form of art) talents that featured in this year’s festival. Firstly, one must extend appreciation of the exhibition put on by AK Rahman (his one of ours) and Hannah Habibi on opening night. The messages behind the hoodies did more than just create an interesting display, it encouraged the need to fight against the stereotypes cruelly slapped upon the youth of today (and as a youth myself, I find those stereotypes deeply offending and ignorant. I’d elaborate on this more, but I fear what other stereotypes society will try and force on me as a result of my words but thank you for your exhibition guys! There was also a t-shirt printing stall (opening night) and a Zine making stall (Day 3) which produced completely original works of art at the request and direction of the festivals attendees so everyone could take a piece of Cutting East 2015 home with them! Wear the t-shirt and hang your personal Zine at home… you will always remember your experience at Cutting East 2015.

But don’t worry if you’ve missed out on CE15 the 4th additional of Cutting East 2016 will be kicking off on the 19thMarch. And we are NOW RECRUITING for the new CE team and of course SUBMISSIONS FOR SHORT FILMS ARE NOW OPEN. Find out more here.

Thank you all, and good night (or good morning, depending on when you’re reading this)!

Ayesha Begum
Cutting East Film Festival Programmer 2015

Heroic effort rewarded…

An animated film created by members of LBTH ‘A Team Arts- House of Talent’ won first prize of £250 from the Matthew Martino Benevolent Fund Rising Star Award in partnership with the East End Film Festival at the closing night award ceremony of the Cutting East Film Festival’s ‘Cutting it Short’ Film Award.

The 5 min stop motion film “Hidden Heroes” sweep the award for Best Short 2015. The short honours the bravery of and sacrifices made by WWI soldiers from the Indian sub-continent on behalf of the British War effort from 1914-18.

The film-makers were all aged from 13-19, and based in Tower Hamlets. Worked over a 6 weeks to research, create the sets and models, and operate the cameras in order to tell the poignant tale of how letters between sepoy soldiers and their loved ones made the perilous journey from India to the western front and back.

Cutting it Short had a great selection of shorts films submitted this year, a massive thank you to everyone you helped contributed to a great programme.

We hope to get some of the shorts films online soon…So watch this space!

Join Cutting East in celebrating World Poetry Day when we hold our very own open mic session – Cutting Beats - at our annual festival.