East London sees return of Fringe! Underwire and Homeless film festivals

Jeffrey Hinton in Willy Nilly at Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Festival

The big festivals have been and gone, but November sees a number of smaller independent film festivals vie for East London’s cinema audiences.

Homeless comforts

A screening of Jesse Moss’ Sundance Winning documentary The Overnighters, dubbed a modern day The Grapes of Wrath, will be opening the Homeless Film Festival on 1 November at Lower Clapton’s Roundhouse Chapel.

The documentary, set during the North Dakota oil boom, highlights the plight of migrant job seekers caught up in an affordable housing crisis and the attempts of a Lutheran priest to help them.

A panel discussion will follow the film, with speakers including the director Jesse Moss as well as producer Tony Garnett and Green Party MP Charlotte George.

Fringe! benefits

The Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Festival returns this month, and after securing Arts Council funding has become a week-long event with an expanded arts section and panel events.

Films to look out for include Camp Beaverton: Meet the Beavers (9 November, Rio Cinema), a documentary about an all-women, trans*-inclusive sex camp at Burning Man Festival, and Naomi Campbel (8 November, Rio Cinema), in which a trans* woman desperate for gender alignment surgery decides to audition for a reality TV show to win the plastic surgery of her dreams.

Contemporary queer culture in all its forms is to be represented, including shows from artists of national and international repute such as Stuart Sandford, Jeffrey Hinton, the Superm art-duo, Sara Davidmann, Pauline Boudry and Renate Laurenz.

Feminist fix

Usually a November staple, the London Feminist Film Festival is taking a break this year to plan for the future of the festival. But those needing a fix of feminist film won’t be found wanting as Underwire, the short film festival dedicated to promoting women working in film, will be returning to the Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick.

Ring Masters (13 November), is a night of short films produced by women. Featured shorts include Gold, about an only child’s close bond with her goldfish, and He Took His Skin Off For Me, the story of a man who takes his skin off for his girlfriend and ends up regretting it.

The Homeless Film Festival (1–14 November, www.homelessfilmfestival.org)
Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Festival (4–9 November, www.fringefilmfest.com)
Underwire (11–15 November, www.underwirefestival.com)