The 32nd edition of the Raindance Film Festival, the UK’s leading indie film festival has moved from its autumn date to a new midsummer slot.
Eternal You
The Film Festival runs from 19 – 28 June 2024, the host cinemas are Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, and The Prince Charles Cinema in central London, and Genesis Cinema in east London. The House of Raindance industry hub and the Raindance Immersive Summit (18 – 19 June) will be hosted at Wonderville on Haymarket. The 9th Raindance Immersive runs in VRChat 1 – 30 June.
Dog War
Raindance features a programme of premieres of must-see features and documentaries. The festival actively promotes new and vibrant voices. This year, 90% of the films screening in competition are debut features.
Double Exposure
Raindance founder Elliot Grove portrays the ethos of the event “Ever since Raindance launched back in 1993, year after year Raindance has developed a reputation as the place to discover and be discovered. With our newly determined and defined focus on first and second-time filmmakers, we continue our campaign of championing new voices and the edgy, under-the-radar films that we at Raindance love so much. Come and join our midsummer celebration of the very bestnew indie cinema and see what you discover. All we are saying is give film a chance.”
Opening Gala UK Premiere: CUCKOO
Following its World Premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival and festival screenings
including SXSW, the 32nd Raindance Film Festival opens 19 June with the UK Premiere of Tilman
Singer’s second feature CUCKOO (dir: Tilman Singer, Germany/USA). This bold twist on the final girl
trope stars Hunter Schafer (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Euphoria) as a 17-
year-old who is forced to leave her American home to live with her father and his new family as they
move to a resort in the German Alps, and Dan Stevens (The Guest, Downton Abbey) as the resort’s
mysterious boss. Including Q&A with director Tilman Singer.
Closing Gala European Premiere: NATIONAL ANTHEM
The festival closes 28 June with the European Premiere of NATIONAL ANTHEM (dir: Luke Gilford, USA). A highlight from Toronto film festival and SXSW, this love story and a western for a new world stars Charlie Plummer (BIFA nominated Best Actor for Lean On Pete) as a young construction worker who joins a community of queer rodeo performers in New Mexico, each in search of their own version of the American dream. The debut feature by filmmaker and photographer Luke Gilford follows onfrom his acclaimed 2020 photography monograph National Anthem, comprising images of America’s queer rodeo subculture.
What You See Of Me
Raindance welcomes Germany as this year’s Guest of Honour. This is a significant year for German Films, as they are celebrating their 70th anniversary in 2024. German Films want to use this anniversary to place a special focus on seventy years of German cinema abroad. German Films have joined forces with Raindance to present a new wave of German cinema achievements and to showcase exceptional German talent worldwide. Films presented at Raindance as part of this special focus include opening gala Cuckoo plus key festival titles Eternal You, Falling Into Place, It’s Burning, What You See Of Me.
As part of the ’70 Years Of German Cinema – A Success Story’ retrospective is a special screening of
THE WHITE RIBBON (dir: Michael Haneke, Germany / Austria / France / Italy / Canada). This
acclaimed Oscar® nominated and Palme d’Or winning feature from 2009 tells of the strange events
that happen in a small village in the north of Germany in the years before World War I, which seem to
be ritual punishment. Who is responsible? Before the screening will be a masterclass with German actor Christian Friedel, discussing his role in this and other films including the recent Oscar® winner The Zone Of Interest in a conversation led by Sandra Hebron (Head of Screen Arts at NFTS, and former Artistic Director of the London Film Festival).
Other highlights of the festival include:
ARNI (dir: Dorka Vermes, Hungary) UK Premiere. Debut feature. A lonely outsider working for a
travelling circus, Árni’s days revolve around feeding the animals and doing odd jobs. When the circus
gets a new python, the creature piques Árni’s curiosity. This bleak, visually rich feature was one of
four selected for the 11th edition of Biennale College Cinema, and was nominated for the Queer Lion.
CAT CALL (dir: Rozalia Szeleczki, Hungary) UK Premiere. Debut feature. Trapped in a world of her
own imagination, a woman can never fall in love because she pictures the death of each man she
finds attractive. But everything changes when a talking cat starts courting her.
FALLING INTO PLACE (dir: Aylin Tezel, UK/Germany) London Premiere. Debut feature. German
actress-turned-director Aylin Tezel makes her directorial debut and stars opposite Chris Fulton
(Outlaw King, Bridgerton, The Witcher) in this arthouse rom-com set in Scotland and London over a
brief winter weekend. 606 Distribution are set to release the film in the UK later this year.
IT’S BURNING (dir: Erol Afsin, Germany) UK Premiere. Debut feature. In this hard-hitting German-set
tale of hate crime, an Arab family encounter a man in a playground, where things unfortunately
escalate when he attacks the mother due to her headscarf. This leads to a court case, where
everything changes.
SATU – YEAR OF THE RABBIT (dir: Josh Trigg, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. Set in Laos and featuring local actors, this sumptuously shot coming-of-age film follows an orphan child labourer on a journey in search of his long-lost mother.
SISTERHOOD (dir: Nora el Hourch, France) UK Premiere. Debut feature. Three inseparable teenage girls attract public outcry after they post a video on social media identifying the assailant who attacked one of them. This potent coming-of-age drama explores issues including class division and feminism.
SLEEP (dir: Jason Yu, South Korea) London Premiere. Debut feature. The final film role for acclaimed Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun (Parasite, A Hard Day), starring alongside award-winning actress Jung Yu-mi (Train to Busan, Kim Ji-young: Born 1982) playing a young expectant wife who must figure out how to stop her husband’s nightmarish sleepwalking habits before he harms himself or his family.
THE HEIRLOOM (dir: Ben Petrie, Canada) UK Premiere. Debut feature. Having wrote, directed, and performed in the acclaimed short Her Friend Adam, and appeared in indie films including BlackBerryand Tito, Ben Petrie directs his first feature: the simple and quirky tale of a desperate filmmaker, seized by inspiration when he and his girlfriend adopt a traumatized rescue dog. Petrie also co-stars along with his regular collaborator Grace Glowicki.
THE QUIET MAID (dir: Miguel Faus, Spain) UK Premiere. Debut feature. In this cathartic Spanish thriller, a young Colombian woman works as a maid for a wealthy, privileged and difficult family. She is quiet and discreet, as she was told, until she sees a way to take revenge.
The Raindance Film Festival jury awards honour features by emerging filmmakers in five categories: Discovery Award for Debut Feature, Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Debut Director, Best Performance in a Debut Feature.
Raindance further honours shorts in four categories: Best UK Short, Best Live Action Short, Best Animation Short, Best Documentary Short.
For more information, visit the Event website here
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