The London Independent Film Festival saw 78 short and feature-length films descend on Whitechapel’s Genesis Cinema this week, as the annual event celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Showcasing many early-career filmmakers working on tiny budgets, the festival, casually known as LIFF, compliments its screenings with networking events designed to bring members of an occasionally isolating community closer together.
Current festival director Natasha Marburger, 38, says the programme was made with a community focus in mind.
She said: “In some of these roles, like an editor working on their own, or a writer working on their own, it’s really important to have these sorts of events to meet people and support each other.”
For many filmmakers, the festival gives them one of their first opportunities to screen work to a cinema audience.
Among them is screenwriter Chris Adams, 38, whose debut short, Ash Wednesday, screened at the Genesis on Friday night.
He said: “I’m very keen to watch it with an audience and see how they respond – if it comes across how I meant it to.”
For some, the road to LIFF hasn’t been easy.
Director Adam Crow, whose feature-length Warhol also played on Friday, battled health problems and a loss of financing to get the film over the line.
Starting with $2.6million for a 29-day shoot, Warhol ultimately got made over ten days for $170,000.
For Crow and many others though, the challenges of independent film production are part of the joy in the experience.
He said: “I think that’s a lot of the reason why I do what I do, I just love the process.”
Though the festival specialises in showcasing the work of filmmakers at the start of their careers, it continues to attract industry professionals at all levels of experience.
Warhol’s producer, Shelley Atkin, worked in forecasting and distribution at 20th Century Fox before making the jump to independent film, working on films in high-profile franchises from X-Men to Avatar.
Others, like Ash Wednesday star Niall Kielly, 26, and Cookster: The Darkest Days director Stephen Roach, 42, have juggled passion projects alongside full-time jobs in cafes or corporate production.
Despite the experience gaps, though, Marburger prides the festival on its ability to bring an otherwise de-centralised community closer together.
She said: “We don’t have any hierarchy – filmmakers don’t look down on other filmmakers who haven’t made as much, everyone’s just really nice and supportive of each other.
“It’s a really nice environment.”
The London Independent Film Festival celebrates the end of its 20th year with a closing night party and awards ceremony on Sunday April 28.
Featured image credit: The Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel (Credit: James Harvey)
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