“CITY RATS” to receive UK prem at East End Film Festival

(London—February 20, 2009) Scanner-Rhodes Productions Ltd are happy to announce “City Rats” will receive its UK gala premiere at the East End Film Festival on Friday April 24th at the Genesis Mile End. The gala premiere will coincide with the forthcoming UK nationwide release of City Rats.

States Dean Fisher of Scanner-Rhodes, “The East End Film Festival is the perfect fit to premiere our film in the UK. The film was shot on location in and around East London, we even shot outside the front door the Genesis cinema so there isn't a better place to kick off the UK release".

The East End Film Festival, has been the launch pad for many succesful films. including Oscar winner Danny Boyle’s with his film ‘Millions’, Julian Temple’s ‘Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten’, - The London Premiere of Richard E Grants ‘Wah Wah’ and the Oscar winning documentary ‘Born into Brothels’.

“City Rats,” directed by Steve M. Kelly, one of UK’s leading drama directors, and written by Simon Fantauzzo cleverly presents the story of 8 individuals looking to transcend the banality of their lives; seeking comfort and answers from others. Coming together by sheer chance, they spark in one another the desire to do better, to stop their downfall for a moment in order to consider another future for themselves. The film’s stars Danny Dyer (“Severence”), Tamer Hassan (“Eastern Promises”), MyAnna Buring (“Lesbian Vampire Killers”), Ray Panthaki (“28 Days Later”), Susan Lynch (“Elizabeth: the Golden Age”), Kenny Doughty (“Elizabeth”), James Lance (“Marie Antoinette”), and Nastasha Williams (“Eastenders”), bring to life characters that are rich and substantial, interwoven in a sad tapestry.

Tickets for the event can be bought directly from either the Genesis Cimena or the East End Film Festival www.eastendfilmfestival.com or www.genesiscinema.co.uk.

Notes on East End Film Festival
East End Film Festival has been developing its support for film exhibition and filmmaking since its inception in 2001. The Festival began in Tower Hamlets out of a need to recognise the work of local filmmakers and to provide a platform for screenings. This included the films produced by the then Tower Hamlets Film Fund.

The Festival was an immediate sell-out success and as a result it entered into a partnership with the Raindance Film Festival, Hackney and Newham boroughs, and the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, from 2003 to 2005 to create the Raindance East Film Festival, before returning to its original East End Film Festival state in 2006.

The Festival is therefore a culmination of this experience, utilising established skills and input from the local filmmaking community and a unique continuing working partnership comprising of Tower Hamlets, Hackney, and Newham boroughs and the Lee Valley Park Authority to produce the biggest and best film festival that East London has ever seen.