After all the excitement, the build up, the late nights, the Festival is here. It's just as well, as both the sense of anticipation and the steady accumulation of coffee in our collective systems was leading to some serious jitters. But that has all become moot as we dust ourselves down, spruce ourselves up and press our shirts and dresses for tonight's opening night gala film. We're delighted to be presenting a special screening of Barney Platts-Mills 1969 classic BRONCO BULLFROG, a tale of a group of teenage boys growing up in the East End and dreaming of adventure, daring Borstal escapes and yes, girls. We think that it perfectly captures what the East End Film Festival is all about, being firmly rooted in its East End setting, and given total authenticity by its use of a cast of non-professional local kids, as well as being a piece of truthful, beautiful and moving cinema. It is both of its place and time, while also speaking to the universal experience of growing up, and the hopes, dreams, and serious mod fashions that come with it. A hit with the awards crowd, (winning the Semaine de la Critique at Cannes and several others at home) as well as the East End crowd, this is an event not to be missed, and to top it all off we are screening the film in the very cinema where it received its original premiere, watched by a young Princess Anne. The Genesis Cinema may longer be the ABC as it was then, and much has changed in the East End since the film was released (including the film itself, now being shown in a digitally restored HD print), but Bronco Bullfrog remains a brilliant piece of cinema, which will be displayed in all it's glory tonight. See you on the red carpet.