HASTINGS ROCKS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Friday & Saturday 12-14 April 2024
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ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

HASTINGS ROCKS INT. FILM FESTIVAL is home to independent films that push boundaries across all genres, fiction or non-fictional. In keeping with the UK seaside town’s culture and history, we especially welcome works that explore esoteric themes as well as films that are made in Hastings.

HRIFF 2023 screened 66 films (including 6 feature films) to over 500  attendees. The comedian Jo Brand hosted our awards ceremony and gave a Q&A following the screening of her acclaimed film "The More You Ignore Me." The next edition of the festival will take place 12-14 April 2024 at the PRINTWORKS, a unique arts space in the old Hastings Observer building off the cyberpunk-esque Gotham Alley, often used in film productions, and BLACKBOX theatre in Hastings Old Town.

ROCKS FILM FESTIVALS (Brighton, London & Los Angeles) showcase emerging and established filmmaking talent from around the world and aim to create a platform for original voices from all walks of life. If your film embodies our ideals and aspirations, we will help it get the recognition it deserves.

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE

Dr. James Rowlins, Festival Director

"HASTINGS is a coven of creatives, filmmakers and musicians from all walks of life and is fast becoming one of the premier sites in the UK for film and television production. 

The town’s unique identity has been forged over the course of more than a thousand years of history. As every schoolchild knows, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 saw the demise of King Harold and the birth of modern England.

Gangs of smugglers have inhabited a maze of ancient cliffside caves since the Middle Ages. The town was made into a bustling resort by the Victorians, who built splendid – now decaying – Gothic buildings, while sadly allowing poverty and disease to run riot. The occultist Aleister Crowley spent his final year here, allegedly casting a spell on the town prohibiting those born in Hastings from leaving.

Today, Hastings is famed for its vibrant festivities: Jack in the Green, Fat Tuesday,  Bonfire Night, etc – now joined, with great pride, by the Hastings Rocks International Film Festival.

I'm sure you'll find this wonderful town the perfect backdrop to share your film with fellow artists."