Complicated friendships, revenge and blackmail are some of the topics that will be explored at the annual Romford Film Festival in June.
More than 100 shorts and feature length movies from more than 30 countries will be screened from Thursday, June 6 to Monday, June 10 in the Premiere Cinema at Romford's Mercury Shopping Centre for the festival's third year.
Festival programmer Spencer Hawken said the diversity of films shown in this area makes this festival unique. While international films are shown in central London, many do not make their way this far east.
"Out here in the periphery these types of festivals don't exist," Mr Hawken said.
This year, the festival will feature Eurasian filmmaking each day in collaboration with the Eurasian Creative Guild (ECG) Film Festival. Films from countries such as Afghanistan, Belarus and Kazakhstan will be shown, according to the festival's Facebook page.
"These are countries you wouldn't normally be able to see films from," Mr Hawken said.
Other international films come from countries such as Germany, Argentina and the USA. One such film is the American film Safe Spaces, which just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
"Rather than its next place being the London Film Festival, it's in Romford," Mr Hawken said.
In the midst of this international flare, local films will be shown as well such as Ilford Lane, self-described on crowd funding website Indiegogo as a neo-noir short film from 'the real girls of Ilford Lane'.
"We're bringing a much more diverse selection of film than ever before," said Mr Hawken.
Besides film showings, the event will feature film talks, Q&A sessions and a fashion show Thursday, June 6 showing designs from along the Silk Road.
Both the Romford Film Festival and the ECG Film Festival will give out awards on Monday, June 10.
The festival has been posting film synopses and show times on its Facebook page at facebook.com/TheRomfordFilmFestival.
Tickets are £4 for one film, £12 for a day of films and £50 for a full festival pass.
Visit the festival's website for more information.
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