Connor Storrie, Kit Harington, Jane Fonda, Robert Englund, music icon Eddie Cochran and different large names will function within the lineup of the thirty fourth version of the Raindance Movie Competition in London – whether or not as stars, behind-the-scenes expertise or topics of films.
However organizers unveiled the 2026 program on Monday with commentary on the state of the world. “In an increasingly divisive and polarized world, the power of storytelling has never been more crucial,” they stated. “Raindance is privileged to be a platform for sharing stories from emerging filmmakers: the new voices in cinema who won’t wait for big-time producers or major studios to greenlight their projects, because some films can’t wait.” And so they added: “That urgency might be to share important truths about headline-making topics ranging from Ukraine to AI, fracking to deforestation, refugees to bride slavery.”
In fact, the lineup can even put a highlight on celebrities previous and current and escapist fare, whether or not of the sci-fi, horror or different varieties. Working June 17-26, Rainance is total screening 85 narrative and documentary options, together with 48 movies by first-time filmmakers, and 112 quick movies. Plus, the eleventh version of Raindance Immersive will showcase 27 initiatives.
“Some films can’t wait, and we at Raindance can’t wait to share this year’s selection of must-see indie films,” stated Raindance founder Elliot Grove. Highlighting the mission to “champion emerging filmmakers along with under-the-radar films that other festivals may overlook,” he urged cinema followers to “come join our celebration of indie cinema in the heart of London.”
The U.Okay. premiere of Michel Okay. Parandi’s debut function April X, a near-future thriller starring Storrie (Heated Rivalry) and Lilly Krug (Shattered, Aircraft), will open the competition. The opening gala can even function “the first and exclusive festival screening of the Gorillaz’s short film The Mountain, the Moon Cave and the Sad God (directors: Jamie Hewlett, Timothy McCourt, Jonathan Djob Nkondo), an animated short by the English virtual band Gorillaz from their latest album The Mountain,” the fest stated.
The closing gala will function the U.Okay. premiere screening of the documentary Eddie Cochran: Don’t Neglect Me, directed by Kirsty Bell, a certified movie concerning the rock & roll icon behind such hits as “C’mon Everybody” and “Summertime Blues.”
Different movies set for Raindance embody Katie Camosy’s Gaslit, a fracking doc government produced by Jane Fonda, Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Pinocchio: Unstrung, starring horror icon Englund as Jiminy Cricket, the quick movie Psychopomp, the directorial debut of Harington and such world premieres as Rooted Out: Chapter 1, the directorial debut of Boiling Level producer Freddie Hutton-Mills. Set towards the backdrop of the Southport Riots of 2024, it tells the story of “a dispute between neighboring families [that] spiraled into a volatile confrontation, exposing buried prejudice, racial tension, and moral hypocrisy.”
Amongst competitors titles beforehand lined by THR is Dužan Duong‘s Summer School, while Richard Hawkins’ Think of England will get a particular out-of-competition screening.
This 12 months’s jury consists of the likes of Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Sluggish Horses, Imagine Me), Charlotte Hope (The Spanish Princess), David Ajala (The Lady in Cabin 10, Regulation and Order), Jacob Anderson (Interview With the Vampire, Recreation of Thrones), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Fringe of the World, Match Level), Sope Dirisu (My Father’s Shadow, Gangs of London), Anthony Andrews, the founding father of We Are Parable, Ashanti Omkar, a movie critic and broadcaster, Fiona Lamptey, a producer and former head of U.Okay. options at Netflix, Hayder Hoozeer (filmmaker behind BAFTA-winning quick movie Rock, Paper, Scissors), Lee Knight (filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated quick A Pal of Dorothy) and producer and expertise government Rita Osei.
Take a look at the full Raindance program here.
