Hastings Rocks Film Festival welcomes Jo Brand as guest of honour

A spokesman said: “This year’s festival is showcasing 60 films, including six feature-length ones. They’ve been made locally, across the UK and around the world. Screenings are based at The Printworks, a unique arts space in the old Hastings Observer Newspaper building. We also have a dedicated Festival Hub in Gotham Alley for Q&As and informal networking. On Sunday, April 16 a special screening and awards ceremony will be held at the newly reopened BLACKBOX in the Old Town.”

The festival programme can be viewed at www.rocksfestivals.com/hriff-screening; tickets are on www.filmfreeway.com/HastingsRocks/tickets.

“It’s a huge coup for us to be hosting Jo Brand in person on Sunday, April 16 for the screening of The More You Ignore Me, based on the comedian’s novel. Jo Brand spent her teenage years in Hastings and is known to be fond of the town. Her film is clearly very much a labour of love. Set in the 1980s, The More You Ignore Me is the story of a mentally ill matriarch of a dysfunctional family who finds a plan for happiness with the help of her Morrissey-mad daughter. The film is funny but also bitter-sweet, nuanced and self-reflective. The event ends with an 80 Morrissey medley by Hastings-troubadour Jason McNiff, whose 2021 album Dust of Yesterday was album of the week in The Times.

“Friday evening is almost exclusively devoted to Hastings and Sussex-based filmmakers. Salvation Has No Name is an extraordinary stop motion folktale exploring the prevalent themes of xenophobia and faith. BAFTA Cymru-nominated writer director Joseph Wallace has recently moved to Hastings. Just Add Water: Stories from the Sea is a fun documentary about the increasingly popular year-round sea bathing. Tales of the Great War combines fact with fiction through a series of interconnecting short tales set during the First World War, including a cameo by the Devil himself. It is directed and stars Andrew Elias, whose recent battles with cancer have led to a facial disfigurement that he bravely uses to effect in the film. Including scenes shot locally, it features cult horror director/actor Michael Fausti and a raft of talent based across the Southeast from Portsmouth to Southend. High Water is directed by Sussex-based Ewan Gorman and presents us with a taut PD James-esque thriller, the story of a journalist who is pitted against the Brighton mob while investigating the tragic death of his son. The evening ends with a twilight zone psychological horror, The Uncanny, directed and starring Los Angeles based mother-daughter duo Marie Laurin and Clara Gabrielle, who are traveling to Hastings to present their film. It tells the story of an art therapist who seeks to escape a life-shattering trauma by moving to new surroundings. As she attempts to focus on her fledgling career as a painter, she soon realizes you can't outrun memories. Amidst a world where reality has become indistinguishable from make-believe, a symbiotic relationship with an enigmatic child emerges. Will that friendship create an opportunity for Zouzou to redeem herself – or be the force that pushes her over the edge?

“Saturday begins on a more sober note with documentaries exploring pressing societal and political issues. It includes a ten-minute excerpt of HRIFF co-director’s exciting and timely new film in progress, RevolutionAnyone# exploring the recent purge of the Labour Left and the possibilities and challenges faced by modern-day socialism. The features interviews with prominent figures including Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, journalist and academic Gary Young, etc. The film is underpinned by a look at the classic Marxist novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, written by Robert Tressell and based on his experiences as a labourer in early 20th-century Hastings. This part of the film will be animated by the highly talented Hastings-based artists Martin O’Neil (Cut It Out Studio) and Griff.

“Later on Saturday afternoon, the fiction film Four O’Clock Flowers, directed by Peter Callow, takes an uncompromising look at knife crime from the perspective of two mothers who face feelings of loss, guilt and revenge in the wake of a violent attack. The film, which is adapted from an acclaimed play by Louise Breckon-Richards, is at times incredibly moving and injects a much-needed human factor into discourse around this difficult subject matter.

“Saturday evening showcases comedy, horror, sci-fi and experimental works that will take audiences deep down the proverbial rabbit hole and into realms and dimensions hitherto unexplored.”