Ridley Road market set to display its wares at the East End Film Festival’s tenth anniversary
Published: 29 April 2011
by ANDREW JOHNSON
FILM-makers Aisha Zia and Adam Ryzman will see their short documentary – about a day in the life of Ridley Road Market – debut at the East End Film Festival which started on Tuesday.
The festival, celebrating its tenth anniversary, is mixing local talent with big names from western and world cinema.
So, along with a day of short films at more than 60 small venues on bank holiday Monday, cinemas such as the Barbican in Farringdon and the Genesis in Mile End Road are also involved.
Highlights include a rare screening of Ken Russell’s The Devils on Sunday at the Barbican and on Saturday in Camden Town bands The Guillemots and St Etienne will be curating a musical-based film session in collaboration with the Camden Crawl music festival.
The film festival, which runs until Tuesday, is also an opportunity for up and coming film-makers from east London to show their work.
Aisha, 30, and Adam, 32, who live in Newington Green shot their nine-minute film, simply called Ridley Road, in December using time-lapse photography which they have overlaid with interviews with the stall-holders.
“Dalston is changing fast with lots of new young people in the area,” said Ms Zia, who produced the film. “But there has been a market at Ridley Road for more than 50 years. It’s a generational thing and we wanted to document how their environment was changing and what they thought their future was.”
The film was made in December, just after the cold snap had brought the country to a standstill.
“We turned up at 5.30 in the morning,” Ms Zia continued.
“It was the first day after the snow cleared, and we weren’t sure they’d set up. But when we arrived the stall-holders were already there and setting up. What we didn’t know was that they set skeleton stalls up the night before so all they have to do is unload the vans with their produce. It was a cold, clear, day when we filmed and we wanted to bring out the warmth of the market.”
The film will be screened at the Rio Cinema on Sunday along with several other short documentaries under the banner of East End True Life Stories.
Other venues during the festival range from the Barbican to the Genesis Cinema in Mile End Road, to The Forge in Camden Town.
• For a full programme see www.eastendfilmfestival.com