Demi London Premiere
After making the selection list at four international film festivals, DEMI the first feature film from Rianne Pictures had it's London premiere at Hackney Picturehouse Attic on Sunday 4th September.
Effy Willis, Hayley Wilson, Kerenza Qayum, Caris Rianne, Hannah Bury, Eva Crawford, Elinor O'Leary and Jayde Manning with the Royal Reel Award from the Canadian International Film Festival which Rianne won in the First Time Filmmakers Category.
The venue was filled with the cast and crew who brought the independent film to completion as well as friends and family who have supported the film since it's early stages. carter seagrove, an american production company who support lgbt projects helped sponsor the evening.
Kerenza Qayum who played the lead role of Dianna.
Hannah Bury who played the titular role of Demi.
Eva Crawford who played the antagonist role of Kiera.
Joseph Wakelin who played the role of Owen, Dianna's boyfriend.
Caris Rianne, director, writer and executive producer.
Hannah Bury, Kerenza Qayum, Elinor O'Leary, Caris Rianne and Effy Willis.
The premiere was also the first time the cast and crew were able to see the award that Rianne won from the Canadian International film festival earlier this year in April.
This was the first event that Rianne Pictures had hosted since it's start in 2013. Actors from our next short film Extra Time were there to celebrate the evening, including Best Actress nominee Lydia Lakemoore.
Lydia Lakemoore with her partner Arman Mantella.
Samantha Perry from Extra Time and F is for Friends Forever.
Erin Read (R) with her guest Tabitha Bennett.
The film received a four star review from ELIE Magazine who were also at the premiere.
"Demi is a powerful representation of a new generation of British LGBT Film. If this is only her first LGBT feature film, Britain may need to pay more attention to what Caris does next."
After two years of making the film, the evening was an appropriate ending celebration for all the hard efforts poured into the film. But the journey of Demi isn't yet over. On Saturday 24th September, it will screen at the Golden Door New Jersey Film Festival and it is still awaiting news from a variety of other film festivals it was submitted to earlier this year.
Caris Rianne ended her introduction to the film with this.
"We’re here tonight because we actually did something we all dreamed about doing, we just decided to give it our best shot no matter what the chances were against us. It’s not perfect, it’s not going to be in the Oscar race this year and probably won’t be in HMV by Christmas. But it’s here tonight. It exists and it’s proof that if you really put your mind to it, you can achieve what you want."
All photographs taken by Zśofi Varga.
