Make no mistake about it: Raindance is in fighting mode.
Raindance films are the dances of protest and our short films and documentaries are the poems of insurrection. Raindance films edify dissent. Raindance celebrates filmmakers who challenge society, musicians who sing for freedom, artists who revolt against the forces that validate oppression.
Raindance is an open, handcrafted forum. Our festival won’t show just any film. We don’t. We won’t. We never will. We curate and we select. We select based on the filmmaker’s capacity to have an aesthetic and to have thought provoking ideas. Films that push, bend, impel our future toward the world we want to live in. Quite simply, we believe in the power of film.
Films at Raindance stand up for the vulnerable, the marginalised, the outsiders, the rebels, the dreamers, the poets, the imaginative. We celebrate the filmmakers and their films.
This year Raindance stands up for diversity and representation on the big screen more than ever. Among this year’s films, Raindance stand up for the vulnerable, the marginalised, the outsiders, the queers, the rebels, the dreamers, the poets, the innovators, the imaginative.
Raindance is stepping it up in 2018. Raindance welcomes Chile as our guest country with a hand-picked selection of films, events and special guests. In addition we have an industry focus on cutting edge issues facing contemporary filmmakers. For the third year running we salute the Orient with China Day. We look beyond the horizon and explore Virtual Reality in the Gallery of Immersive Stories. And for the fifth year running we bring you Web Fest.
If you feel the same way, you can’t be passive or silent, and neither can we.
Our challenge is your challenge: Take the leap. Take the chance. Check our the bold programme our courageous programmers have curated. We look forward to welcoming you at the festival.
Discover. Be Discovered.
Elliot Grove, founder
How to attend:
Passes >Here
What’s On + Tickets >Here
Virtual Reality >Here
Photo Credit: Bertie Watson
I founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993 because the British film industry was closed, polite, and congratulating itself while shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 because British indie film deserved more than a shrug, a pat on the head, and a Tuesday night screening.
Raindance didn’t start as a brand. It started as a rebellion: film training without gatekeepers, a festival without permission, and a community built by filmmakers who weren’t waiting to be invited in.
Later, we took it global: Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, and Brussels, because independent film doesn’t belong to one city, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ short films and seven features, including Deadly Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) not because someone “discovered” us, but because the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books used by filmmakers worldwide because too many courses taught compliance instead of survival.
In 2009, I was awarded a PhD for services to film education, ironic, given that most of my career has been about tearing down the rules that education insisted you follow.
I don’t believe in waiting for permission.I believe in making work, building systems, and forcing the industry to catch up.
Specialties: Independent Film (the real kind) · Producing · Writing · Film Education · Festivals · Breaking Broken Systems
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