East End Movie

EAST END

EAST END
Drama / Canada
Status: Complete / Film Festival circuit
Director / Writer: Nathan Fleet
Producer: Jeremy Major

Synopsis

Max, a recovering alcoholic with a gambling addiction, has burned most of his bridges in the east end of the city where he lives. He has a sobering moment when he realizes that his estranged daughter is about to turn 16, and he wants back into her life. The road blocks he faces along the way are, his ex-wife, his criminal past, and his inner demons.

Based on true stories from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

#EastEndMovie

www.imdb.com/title/tt26217016/

https://letterboxd.com/film/east-end-2024/

FESTIVAL SCREENINGS

OAKVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
Wednesday June 18th, streaming starting at 7am until June 30th, 2025.
https://offa2025.eventive.org/schedule/6816877750e6042bf279c95e

Ancaster Film Fest
Monday November 25th, 7:15pm
Tickets
https://ancasterfilmfest.com

19th Annual Hamilton Film Festival
Encore Screening
Sunday October 27th, 1pm, $12
Playhouse Cinema, 177 Sherman Ave, N. Hamilton, Ontario

19th Annual Hamilton Film Festival
World Premiere
Saturday October 26th, 7:30pm, $15
Red Carpet at 6pm - Q&A after the movie
Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, 357 Wilson St. E, Ancaster, Ontario.

East End Screen Printed by Hand - Poster

$25 plus hst
Dimensions 18" x 26"
Screen Printed by hand at No Guff Studios in Hamilton
Image designed by John Godfrey of Chargefield

We are currently not shipping these but can arrange a pick-up at the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, or we can arrange to personally deliver it in Hamilton and Area.

Reviews and Articles

Hamilton Spectator

East End’ is a gritty drama about addiction and struggling on the streets
Read more HERE

HAMMER MONTHLY
https://thehammermonthly.ca/theatre-1/film/

HAMMER D20
by Stevan Sobot

In short, east end is a tale of the human experience in east end hamilton, and captures that idea of living in it and the culture surrounding it perfectly.

It follows max, a low-life bum who means well and tries to be a decent person, but can’t and keeps getting engrossed in the seedier world that surrounds them. It begins with max being threatened by a local drug lord who demands he gets the money he owes back to him by thursday. What we then see max doing is meander around and quietly look for means of getting that money quickly. He tries to steal it for tip jars, from his invalid dad, by borrowing and begging from friends who are wise to his poor choices, and from gambling.

He also is a recovering alcoholic, and is constantly at the edge of going back to drinking, with one thing after another going wrong. Not only does he keep failing to find consistent income sources, but he also tries to reconnect with his astranged daughter that he hasn’t seen in four years.

While it will be readily apparent that the film isn’t particularly high budget, the film wouldn’t really benefit much from an overblown spectacle. Characters act and speak naturally, like they’re real people, and we just so happened to capture the day to day events that surround max’s struggle.

The cinematography is notable, since most of the film is shot in long takes, usually between two characters talking among themselves, with the plot moving through one relatively normal conversation to the other. A lot of it is told in basically what is in between it all, which most characters individually wouldn’t notice whgat max is going through, if because they don’t know the plot of the movie, nor is he forthcoming with information.

For anyone familiar with hamilton, almost every shot of the film is filmed somewhere distinctly recognizable, particularly if you’re familiar with the east end. Not only is woodward restaurant a notable plotpoint, obviously located on woodward avenue, but you’ll recognize the the powerlines on brampton street, hamilton beach, the east mountain skyline, and a plethora of other locations that scream ‘hamilton’.

While it’s not particularly fast, it gives you time to reflect on it all, as well as your own upbringing. At times, we get to see why max is what he is, and why he’s an alcoholic. It makes us think about our own times where we had someone there to keep us on the straight and narrow, and how the culture of, let’s call it the east end culture, can keep a person down if they’re not careful. It’s not that it’s bad - it’s that it’s ok, and you can get bogged down in the mediocrity.

And that’s a story we don’t hear often: we often hear about the horrors of abject poverty - gang violence, racism, no food to eat, poor public services, extreme crime, etc. But what a large population of people live in, particularly in rust-belt cities like hamilton, are the doldrums, where innovation doesn’t occur often, because the status quo works well enough that people don’t complain, are fed enough, and crime’s not a massive issue.

You can get out of it, but it takes a lot of effort, and when you can still live comfortably without any effort, why put the effort in in the first place?

But that’s all built on a foundation of sand, and all it takes is one wave of something negative - an injury, an illness, a global pandemic, rising food/gas/house prices, and next thing you know, people are living paycheque to paycheque. Then it’s not so comfortable, then it’s not so nice, and you’ve lost the chance to get out.

That’s max, and that’s what east end is telling - a story that is often forgotten about the often forgotten, and I will always reward movies that tell untold stories.
I highly recommend it, and suggest you find a way to watch it!

East end will be premiering at the film festival on saturday, october 26th at 7:30pm at the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, as well as on sunday october 27th at 1:00pm at the Playhouse Cinema

Songs from East End

Photo Gallery

Fly On The Wall

Fly On The Wall: The Making of an Indie Production
$99 + hst
Ongoing | Enter anytime
Sign up anytime and get access to all previous materials starting January 12th.
Once registered, you will receive your private access. Any in-person experiences will be recorded and posted online so no matter where you live, you can experience everything. All the proceeds go towards the making East End.

June 2024 Status: Picture locked. Submitting to film festivals.

Experience the entire process of a movie being made, from development to the screen. EAST END, will be a dramatic production, (hopefully) made in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is in the very early stages of development and we want you to be able to experience the process via documents, images, videos, live video feeds, and in-person experiences. How long this will take is unknown, but it will be a real-world experience of an independent Canadian feature-film attempting to get financed, produced and released. Successes or failures, you will experience the whole process as a fly on the wall.

The 5 stages you will likely access and experience are:

Development: Budgeting, script writing, funding and applications, team building, casting, email correspondence, successful or rejected funding, film festival and release strategies.
Pre-Production: Locations, casting, rehearsals, script breakdowns, permit applications, insurance, legal
Production: On-set experiences, access to dailies, access to call sheets and correspondence, behind the scenes video and audio
Post Production: Editing room experiences, seeing the score come to life, sound editing and mixing experiences, marketing and promotional materials.
Exhibition / Distribution: Release strategies implemented, tickets to festival screenings (hopefully), sales (hopefully)

Every movie has a different plan or strategy and each creative project is like starting from scratch. We don't always have all the answers but we look for solutions and possibilities in order to complete the work. The hope is that this Fly On The Wall project helps other filmmakers on their journey through this insight, strategy, and inspiration.

A lens and app test in one of the Fly On The Wall sessions. This and much more in Fly On The Wall. Hours and hours of video already uploaded so you can see the entire process as a Fly On The Wall.