Building on last year’s success, Film Africa is back in London with another goldmine of shorts, documentaries and features that showcase the cinematic identity of a continent largely unseen on an international stage. With some 70 films in town, there’s every reason to take a trip to some of the more unlikely destinations of world cinema.

Every so often you watch a film that you know you’re going to love within the first 5 or 10 minutes. Treacle Jr. is one such film. Funny, poignant, wonderfully acted and making brilliant use of its South London locations, Treacle Jr. is an absolute gem of a film, illustrating once again that you don’t need a Hollywood budget to create brilliant cinema.

Take a stroll through London with Tom and Eve, two star-crossed young hipsters trying to make sense of their messed up lives, finding solace and comfort in each other’s conversation. Or rather, don’t. In fact, do anything else rather than watch this deeply underwhelming love story.

London Boulevard has a great premise. Guns and money, seedy thugs and intelligent crooks, and the chance for freedom in an unforgiving world. Unfortunately, the story jumps around looking for direction, avoiding the avid gunfire of genuine performances from Ray Winstone, David Thewlis and even Colin Farrell, and in the end falls head first in a ditch for trying too hard.

October is, of course, a time dominated by ghouls, zombies and good ol’ fashioned frightfulness. But with All Hallow’s Eve not falling until the last day of the month, what on Earth are you supposed to do until then? Well you can stop fearing death by boredom and leave your demise to the demons, because here at Best For Film we’ve leapt on the case and compiled some of our favourite film events happening this month. After all, if you’re going to get shocked by skeletons and mauled by monsters, you might as well have some fun first.

Looking for some cinematic excitement in October? Across The Street, Around The World is a three week festival celebrating the cultural diversity and artistic output of the communities within Kensington and Chelsea, with lectures, DJ sets, classical music, film screenings and art exhibitions.

If you’re bored, London-bound and film orientated over the next week or so, you’d do well to check out the Story Of London Festival – running until the 10th of October with events throughout the capital of our fine, vaguely depressed nation. We’ve cherry-picked the best FREE events for film lovers looking for something a little different, read on!

The top-secret script for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was found left on a table in a London cafe after the film’s bosses stopped for lunch and forgot to take it with them. Luckily for them (and deeply unluckily for dastardly film schemers like us) the script was found by an avid Pirates fan (presumably the only one left), who decided not to look at the script at all.

Call us crazy, but we thought Christmas was the time for good cheer? There’s not much to be cheerful about in this dark adaptation of the Dickens classic. With pacey action and good performances there is still something to enjoy, but if we’re honest, at Christmas we just want to leave the cinema with sleighbells in our ears and a smile on our faces.