Reply to “Royal Wedding Street Party?!” (in Venues & Events talk )

CELEBRATE THE ROYAL WEDDING
AT EAST END FILM FESTIVAL
A day of pomp, circumstance and cinema
with Regency wenches, Libertine’s and other historic East End figures
inspiring the ultimate Royal Wedding street party
Friday 29 April 2011, The Water Poet, 11am – 11pm, FREE

Since its first edition in 2001, East End Film Festival has grown to become one of the UK’s largest film festivals. Last year’s festival comprised over 200 screenings and events across 29 venues, reaching an audience of over 30,000 people – and this year East End Film Festival will celebrate its TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY with a programme that promises to be even bigger and better. From our opening night World Premiere gala screening of an all-access documentary about The Libertines, to an array of brilliant British films, hot international premieres, street parties and heritage screenings to celebrate the Royal Wedding, two afternoons of film and music curated by Guillemots and Saint Etienne in collaboration with Camden Crawl, a free outdoor screening in Spitalfields Market of a silent classic with live accompaniment, and a Bank Holiday bonanza of movie madness where hundreds of free screenings, projections, live music and events will be found in every nook and cranny of the East End… there’s a massive sense of celebration in the air!

Another reason to celebrate is the fact that this years festival coincides with the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on 29 April. “When we found out that the Royal Wedding would take place bang in the middle of our dates, we decided a day of royal-related activity was in order,” explains festival director Alison Poltock, ”with music, screenings, and street parties – a full blown local wedding celebration of the East End old and new.”

There’s been a long-established tradition of street parties in the East End of London, with local residents taking to the streets to celebrate royal weddings, coronations, and jubilees. East End Film Festival is therefore dedicating the day of Friday 29 April to pomp, circumstance and cinema by entering into a marriage of convenience with historic local boozer The Water Poet to reinstate THE LIBERTY OF NORTON FOLGATE. This historic area dates to the Doomsday Book and for centuries recognised no law but its own, and whose unruly residents robbed travellers, hid traitors, and had a healthy disrespect for authority. This debauchery has inspired what’s set to be the ultimate Royal Wedding street party with Regency wenches and Libertine’s, music hall entertainment by singer Nichola Jolley and accordion chanteuse Garance Louis, a Sipsmith gin palace, a hog roast, stalls selling pies and puddings, a procession of conjurers and jugglers lead by the Pearly King and Queen of Bow, a horse and dray with Fullers cask ale, haircuts and shaves by a “Sweeney Todd” attired barber from Jack The Clipper, all accompanied by screenings of heritage films of street parties and celebrations of yonder year sourced from the archives of the BFI, the Imperial War Museum and Hackney Archives, plus a live broadcast of the Royal Wedding itself. So come celebrate a national event outside of national governance!

For full details visit eastendfilmfestival.com

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