Picture This
By Nick Pelling
The first ever Hastings Rocks International Film Festival (HRIFF) opens this April. It runs from 22 to 24 of the month at St Mary in the Castle, and the newly reopened Electric Palace. Dr James Rowlins, the creative director behind this exciting venture, suggests that in some ways, the town itself will be the star. Local filmmakers and actors will be showcased and the town’s shady past – from Crowleyesque diabolism to Gothic grunge – will give the festival a noirish salty vibe.
The festival opens with two dark holiday-gone-wrong films, Camping Trip and Skagit. Other highlights include Under a Pagan Sky about down-under surfing druids. (No, that was not meant to say dudes!) The Boy and the Bear sensitively chronicles the trials and tribulations of the LGBTQ+ community since the 1970s. Re: A Pier is a kind of town biopic about the death and rebirth of our jutting seaside skeleton but also much more: a filmic delve into the odd-antagonistic-alt-culture of the whole place, featuring interviews with Jo Brand, Marsha Hunt, Glen Matlock and Suggs. For those with more surreal tastes, there is Flux Meltdown, an experimental, occult-inspired visual odyssey. On the closing Sunday, almost all of the films have a Hastings connection: short, long and strange. The festival closes with the psychological thriller Splinter, featuring local actor Bill Fellows and many more Hastings faces and places.
James Rowlins
On top of all of that, there is a bespoke projector installation by the artist Mark Nelson, running throughout the duration of the festival in the St Mary’s crypt. This particular celluloid hallucination is apparently very freaky. And free.
Dr James Rowlins, the passion and organisational brains behind all this, explained how this wonderful festival had come to be. He describes himself as “a cinema zealot and film festival aficionado.” He fell in love with film whilst studying in Paris, particularly with French New Wave cinema and film noir. He won a scholarship to study in Los Angeles and found himself drawn into the extensive Californian film festivals scene. His obsession led to a PhD in film and an academic career teaching movies everywhere from LA to Singapore. And then, the inspiration came upon him: to bring it all back home. He set up the Brighton Rocks International Film Festival five years ago, but for the last four years he has lived in Hastings and planned to give the town its own festival. The pandemic put a lot of plans on hold, but it also allowed Rowlins time to develop his vision. And this month it finally hits the town. Or should that be, rocks the town?
Either way, film fans in Hastings are in for a visual blast.
• For more information go to: www.rocksfestival.com/hriff for the full programme www.filmfreeway.com/HastingsRocks/tickets for tickets
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