To celebrate the outstanding films screening at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival (18 – 27 June), jury awards are presented to features and shorts.
Raindance’s awards system honours features in 10 categories: Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Discovery Award for Debut Feature, Best Debut Director, Best Performance in a Debut Feature, Best UK Feature, Best Director of a UK Feature, Best Performance in a UK Feature, Best UK Cinematography and the Spirit of Raindance Award.
An Oscar® qualifying festival, Raindance honours the work of short filmmakers with 4 awards. The winners will be announced at Raindance’s Jury Awards Ceremony on Friday 27 June.
AND THE NOMINEES ARE:
>> BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE:
ABDUCTED FILES (dir: Filippo Capuzzi Lapietra, Brazil) World Premiere. In this mocumentary, a crew of ufologists revisit lost UFO footage from 2016. When shocking evidence resurfaces, they uncover a government conspiracy – and must decide whether to expose the truth or vanish into silence.
DREAM! (dir: Paul Spurrier, Thailand) World Premiere. One of the biggest independent films ever made in Thailand, this lavish and cinematic Christmas-set musical follows a young girl who flees her mountain home, beginning a magical journey across Thailand to find a new family.
LOVE SONG FROM HIROSHIMA (dir: Hideyuki Tokigawa, Japan) European Premiere. A call to peace and togetherness as a benevolent alien wanders around present-day Hiroshima.
NAWI: DEAR FUTURE ME (dir: Vallentine Chelluget, Apuu Mourine, Kevin Schmutzler, Kenya) UK Premiere. Debut feature. Highlighting the plight of child brides in Africa, and acclaimed at multiple film festivals and at the African Movie Academy Awards, it follows a 13-year-old whose father is selling her to a much older man for a herd of goats, and so she embarks on a journey to reclaim her dream of joining high school.
NO BEAST. SO FIERCE. (dir: Burhan Qurbani, Poland/France/Germany) UK Premiere. Following its World Premiere at Berlin, this adaptation of Richard III by award-winning director Burhan Qurbani sees actress Kenda Hmeidan dazzle as the daughter of an Arab clan who, in the aftermath of a bloody gang war, plots against her male siblings to become the undisputed boss of the Berlin underworld.
SOMEWHERE IN LOVE (dir: Morgan Simon, France/Belgium) UK Premiere. Single mother Nicole and her teenage son live a fusional love that flourishes against all odds. As financial pressures mount, their relationship fractures – whilst Nicole’s own horizons are broadened by the beguiling Nora.
TAPE (dir: Bizhan Tong, UK/Hong Hong) UK Premiere. Set in modern-day Asia, this bold reimagining of Richard Linklater’s cult classic sees three high school friends reunite, only to confront a harrowing secret from their past.
THE ACADEMY (dir: Camilla Guttner, Germany) International Premiere. The story of a student who experiences a baptism of fire when she’s accepted by a prestigious art school. But the dazzling art world soon reveals itself to be a ruthless terrain.
THE PARTY’S OVER (dir: Elena Manrique, Spain/Belgium) UK Premiere. Beatriz Arjona won “Best Lead Actress” Carmen Award for her role as a wealthy divorcée in southern Spain whose life is disrupted when a young Senegalese immigrant seeks shelter in her toolshed.
WET MONDAY (dir: Justyna Mytnik, Poland). UK Premiere. Debut feature. When repressed trauma from a sexual assault resurfaces, a teenage girl develops a strange fear of water. Thanks to a new-found friend, she confronts it in an unusual way.
ZHAZA (dir: Darkhan Tulegenov, Kazakhstan). UK Premiere. In this action thriller, a corrupt mayor learns that his daughter has been raped by the chief-of-police. He takes him hostage and fights off the rape squads, while trying to save his daughter and establish a relationship with her.
>> BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
CHILDREN IN THE FIRE (dir: Evgeny Afineevsky, Ukraine) World Premiere. Debut feature. War-wounder Ukrainian children share their stories through a blend of live footage and animation, bringing their experiences to life.
EMMA: ONE LAST DANCE (dir: Maya Amin-Smith, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. The story of Emma Hayes, the most successful manager in WSL history, charting her last six months at Chelsea Football Club as she attempts to lead her team to victory one more time.
FLAMINGO CAMP (dir: Chris Coats, USA) European Premiere. In an off-grid squatter town in the California desert, a group of young queer and trans anarchists create a thriving safe space known as “Flamingo Camp” – but an unthinkable tragedy fractures this vulnerable community.
GOD AS MY WITNESS (dir: Lindsay Q. Pitre, USA) World Premiere. Debut feature. Decades after losing his brother, a man begins to uncover dark secrets within the Archdiocese of New Orleans, exposing a generations-long cover-up of betrayal, sexual abuse and corruption.
IMMORTALS (dir: Maja Tschumi, Switzerland/Iraq) UK Premiere. An insight into a new generation that has known nothing but war since the US-led occupation, Immortals follows strong-willed feminist Milo and ambitious filmmaker Khalili who, in the aftermath of the 2019 revolution, are the faces, eyes, and voices of an Iraqi youth that is relentlessly fighting for a better future.
POISED (dir: Toby Robson, UK) European Premiere. Debut feature. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at Cinequest, it charts a man’s hopes to use mixed martial arts (MMA) to save a group of disadvantaged young people in a post-industrial north-east England.
THE LAST OF THE WHALE SHARK (dir: Ramtin Balef, Iran) UK Premiere. The tale of the final surviving whale shark in the Persian Gulf, on a quest to find its mate. The film is rooted in the multitude of accidents and tragedies inflicted upon the marine environment by our generation.
THE SOCIAL TRAP: 5 WOMEN VS THE BIG 5 (dir: Elisa Jadot, France) UK Premiere. Adolescents who use smartphones for more than 5 hours a day are 66% more likely to suffer suicidal symptoms than those who use it for 1 hour a day. Facing tech giants like Meta, TikTok, X and Snapchat, five women decide to take action.
THE TWO OF US (dir: Owen Ward, UK). World Premiere. Debut feature. Tim Edwards, whose daughter Elle was a victim of gun crime, tries to deal with the trauma of loss by embarking on an epic walk spanning the length of the UK, accompanied by comedian and actor John May. A rare and deeply human perspective on the impact these violent crimes have on the victims’ families.
TURTLE WALKER (dir: Taira Malaney, India/USA). UK Premiere. Debut feature. In the 1970s, Satish Bhaskar embarked on an epic journey along India’s coastline, uncovering the vital nesting beaches of sea turtles. After a devastating tsunami strikes in 2004, Bhaskar grapples with a pressing question: What happens to sea turtles when their nesting beaches disappear?
>> DISCOVERY AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT FEATURE:
A CELL PHONE MOVIE (dir: Will Sterling, USA) European Premiere. A scrappy meta comedy shot entirely on a cellphone, it stars writer/director/producer/actor Will Sterling as…himself, an out-of-work actor trying to make a movie on his phone. It’s lo-fi, low-budget, and high on self-deprecation.
DALI (dir: Mickey Angelov, UK) World Premiere. Exploring themes of cultural identity and nature vs nurture, we follow a Bulgarian-born American-raised rapper who dies and so must relive his tumultuous past to determine whether he belongs Above or Below.
GOD TEETH (dir: Robbie C Williamson, Costa Rica) European Premiere. Created entirely from found internet footage, this fantastical odyssey tells of four recently deceased souls who find themselves on an abandoned ship at sea, who must recount the circumstances which led to their untimely deaths.
GRANNY MUST DIE (dir: Yi Jung Chen, Taiwan) International Premiere. This dark absurdist comedy portrays three generations of a family living in a tiny Taipei apartment when love, duty and lunacy spiral delightfully out of control.
REGINA (dir: Ashley De Grandy, USA) UK Premiere. Regina’s sense of reality unravels, and as strange encounters accumulate, she’s forced to confront unsettling truths in this surreal mystery about loss, identity, and the quiet collapse of control.
SABA (dir: Maksud Hossain, Bangladesh) UK Premiere. Acclaimed at festivals including Toronto, Göteborg and Busan, it sees a mother-daughter bond under strain due to divided views on end-of-life care, reflecting opposing perspectives within a complex relationship.
SHAKESPEARE’S THE TEMPEST (dir: Garret Replogle, USA) European Premiere. Star Trek meets Shakespeare in this tale of a spaceship captain marooned on a desert planet who orchestrates a series of events to confront the crew who betrayed him.
SNATCHERS (dir: Craig Alexander & Shelly Higgs, Australia) World Premiere. A pair of old friends try to make a quick buck selling the organs of a fresh corpse – but get thrown a curveball when she wakes up on the operating table.
SRISHTI (dir: Paul Antar, India) World Premiere. The story of a photographer, haunted by childhood guilt, who travels to remote Himalayan Sector K to investigate a mysterious phenomenon – this mystery/drama highlights the plight of children forced to work trawling through giant rubbish heaps in search of things that can be monetised.
>> BEST UK FEATURE:
BREAKWATER (dir: Max Morgan, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. Portraying the tentative romance between young Oxford student Otto and retired angler John, and with a cast including William Gao (Heartstopper), this is the second film to be made with the involvement of Oxford University – the first being 1982’s Privileged, which famously launched the Hollywood career of Hugh Grant amongst others.
DALI (dir: Mickey Angelov, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. Exploring themes of cultural identity and nature vs nurture, we follow a Bulgarian-born American-raised rapper who dies and so must relive his tumultuous past to determine whether he belongs Above or Below.
DIRTY BOY (dir: Doug Rao, UK) UK Premiere. Debut feature. Graham McTavish (Outlander, The Hobbit trilogy) stars in this tale of a reclusive schizophrenic raised in an oppressive cult, who discovers he’s being framed by cult leaders for a series of ritualistic murders.
HEAVYWEIGHT (dir: Christopher M. Anthony, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. Starring Nicholas Pinnock, Jordan Bolger and Jason Isaacs, it follows a wildcard boxing contender and his support team ahead of a title fight he doubts he can win. An intense & visceral experience exploring a side of elite sport rarely seen.
LONER (dir: Charlie Robb, Douglas Tawn, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. This raw, found-footage folk horror follows an aspiring vlogger who embarks on a wilderness retreat to make videos about nature and disconnecting from city life. But he is held at the mercy of a higher natural order.
ROW (dir: Matthew Losasso, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. Shot on the open sea, and with a cast including Bella Dayne (Humans) and Sophie Skelton (Outlander), this thriller sees a woman wash ashore on a blood-stained rowing boat after a failed trans-Atlantic world record attempt. With all her crewmates missing, presumed dead, she must piece together fractured memories of the ordeal to prove her innocence.
THE LONELY MUSKETEER (dir: Nicolai Schümann, UK/Germany) London Premiere. Debut feature. In this psycho-thriller, a man wakes up in a locked, windowless room with no memory—only his phone. As he investigates, fragments of his past resurface, and he’s forced to confront the horrifying truth.
WHITE GUILT (dir: Marcus Flemmings, UK) World Premiere. Set on a US plantation, affluent white individuals sample an ‘inverted slavery experience’ through a pay-to-play service.
>> BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR:
Alissa Jung, Paternal Leave, Ashley De Grandy, Regina, Elena Manrique, The Party’s Over, Javier Polo, Pet Peeves, Justyna Mytnik, Wet Monday, Mausud Hossain, Saba, Max Morgan, Breakwater, Max Train, James, Paul Antar, Srishti, Urzula Barba, Corina
>> BEST PERFORMANCE IN A DEBUT FEATURE:
Amata Masmalai, Dream!, Dylan Beatch, James, Edith Martínez Val, The Party’s Over, Julia Polaczek, Wet Monday, Juli Grabenhenrich, Paternal Leave, Lisa Siera, The Invisible Half, Li-Yin Yang, Granny Must Die, Mehazabien Chowdhury, Saba, Michelle Lemuya Ikeny, Nawi: Dear Future Me, Sumeet Thakur, Srishti
>> BEST DIRECTOR OF A UK FEATURE:
Doug Rao, Dirty Boy, Max Morgan, Breakwater, Mickey Angelov, Dali, Helena Berndl & Francesco Maria Gallo, In Symbiosis, Maya Amin-Smith, Emma: One Last Dance, Christopher M. Anthony, Heavyweight, Charlie Robb & Douglas Tawn, Loner, Tristan Loraine, Our Journey With Lobular Breast Cancer, Matthew Losasso, Row, Lg White, The Dark Fantastic, Roderick Godman & Mark Christopher Lee, The Rendlesham UFO: The British Roswell
>> BEST PERFORMANCE IN A UK FEATURE:
Bella Dayne, Row, Charlie Robb, Loner, Daniel McNamee, Breakwater, Edward Hogg, The Lonely Musketeer, Graham McTavish, Dirty Boy, John Altman, The Last Grail Hunter, Jordan Bolger, Heavyweight, Mickey Angelov, Dali, Temica Thompson, White Guilt
>> BEST UK CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Bruce Jackson, The Lonely Musketeer, Chas Appeti, Heavyweight, Diego Rodriguez, Poised, Evan Bridges, Breakwater, Eva Yap, Reaching For Light, Luke Musharbash, The Two Of Us, Ross Yeandle, Dirty Boy, Zoran Veljkovic, Row
>> SPIRIT OF RAINDANCE AWARD:
To be announced on the day
ADDITIONAL SYNOPSES OF NOMINATED FEATURES:
CORINA (dir: Urzula Barba, Mexico) UK Premiere. For the past 20 years, Corina has rarely left her house, except to work at a local publishing house. When she makes a grave mistake at work, her world is thrown into turmoil. To save her job she must confront her deepest fears.
IN SYMBIOSIS (dir: Helena Berndl & Francesco Maria Gallo, UK) World Premiere. Debut feature. From land to lab, this environmental doc unveils the driving forces behind a broken food system.
JAMES (dir: Max Train, Canada) UK Premiere. A comedy about an East Vancouver nihilist who finds new purpose after restoring a race bicycle salvaged from the trash. When a crooked dealer, aware of the bike’s true value, steals it, our anti-hero becomes trapped in a relentless pursuit.
OUR JOURNEY WITH LOBULAR BREAST CANCER (dir: Tristan Loraine, UK) World Premiere. The true story of some remarkable ladies diagnosed with lobular breast cancer, and their campaign to get the 2nd most common type of breast cancer its own specific treatment.
PATERNAL LEAVE (dir: Alissa Jung, Germany/Italy) UK Premiere. A champion at Berlin and BCN film festivals, it follows a girl’s journey to Italy’s northern coast, seeking her unknown biological father.
PET PEEVES (dir: Javier Polo, Spain/Mexico) International Premiere. An eccentric watchmaker seems to have the power to influence the townspeople, pushing them to their limits and challenging them to take control of their chaotic destinies.
REACHING FOR LIGHT (dir: Matt Lanning, Eva Yap, Alex Keen, UK) World Premiere. A team of high-altitude filming experts set out to document the Northen Lights from closer than ever before.
THE DARK FANTASTIC (dir: Lg White, UK) UK Premiere. Debut feature. This music documentary is a psychedelic dive into the mind and work of renowned film composer Simon Boswell, exploring his innovative approach to music and his impact on cinema.
THE INVISIBLE HALF (dir: Masaki Nishiyama, Japan) World Premiere. A “half” Japanese high school girl struggles with the feeling she’s not Japanese. She discovers she is being watched by a monster that can only be seen through her smartphone.
THE LAST GRAIL HUNTER (dir: Mark Christopher Lee, UK) World Premiere. Shot in 4 days guerrilla-style, and starring John Altman (EastEnders ‘Nasty’ Nick Cotton), it’s set in a post-apocalyptic future run by a secret society, where life is a mystical game and one man is on a quest for the truth.
THE RENDLESHAM UFO: THE BRITISH ROSWELL (dir: Roderick Godman, Mark Christopher Lee, UK) World Premiere. Narrated by William B. Davis of X-Files fame, this thrilling and sometimes hilarious investigation delves into the 1980 Rendlesham UFO incident where a mysterious craft was reportedly seen landing near a U.S. airbase.
WET MONDAY (dir: Justyna Mytnik, Poland). UK Premiere. When repressed trauma from a sexual assault resurfaces, a teenage girl develops a strange fear of water. Thanks to a new-found friend, she confronts it in an unusual way.
ACADEMY AWARD® QUALIFYING SHORTS PROGRAMME
Raindance is an Oscar-qualifying festival. The recipient of Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary Short, and Best Animation Short are eligible for consideration in the three Short Films categories of the Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run (provided the film otherwise complies with Academy rules). Honouring homegrown talent, Raindance also presents an award to Best UK Short.
BULLDOZER (Andrew Leeds, USA), DARK SKIN BRUISES DIFFERENTLY (Susan Wokoma, UK), GRANDMA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVOURITES (Chheangkea, Cambodia/France/USA), LITTLE REBELS CINEMA CLUB (Khozy Rizal, Indonesia), MAGAN’S FARE (Chris Knoblock & Dana E White, USA), O (Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland), ORAL TRADITION (Graham Seely, Ireland), SARDINIA (Paul Kowalski, Poland), THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS (Elham Ehsas, UK), THE JUNCTION (AJ Lambert, USA)
A WILD KINDNESS (Mattias Evangelista, USA), DARU/N (PASSED/MOTHER) (Benjamin Hindrichs, Spain), LOVE IMMORTAL (Ömer Sami, Denmark/UK), MY DANCE WITH ROSA (Esben Thode Schultz, Denmark), SEANA (Audrey Lane, USA), THE ANGRY BIRD (Lisa Smith & Jack Lilleywhite, UK) *, THE FINAL COPY OF IION SPECHT (Ben Proudfoot, USA), THE GOOD FATHER AND THE FAILED SON (Ailill Martin & Peter Kilmartin, UK) *, THE GRANNY AND FISHES (Maria Mavati & Ehsan Farokhi Fard, Iran), THE HERRING QUEEN (Eilidh Munro & Isabella Bassett, UK) *
*Netflix Documentary Talent Fund shorts – World Premiere presentation at Raindance on 26 June
BIRTH CONTROLLED (Isa Fraga-Abaza, USA), EXTREMELY SHORT (Koji Yamamura, Japan), IL BURATTINO E LA BALENA (Roberto Catani, Italy), LARVAL (Alice Bloomfield, UK), MOTHER’S CHILD (Naomi Noir, Netherlands), PARADISE BUFFET (Santi Amézqueta & Héctor Zafra, Spain), PERCEBES (Alexandra Ramires & Laura Gonçalves, Portugal), STRANGER IN PARADISE (Gabriela Fernanda Orozco, France), THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (Rune Callewaert, Belgium), THERE WILL BE NO OTHER END (Piotr Milczarek, Poland)
A FRIEND OF DOROTHY (Lee Knight, UK), DARK SKIN BRUISES DIFFERENTLY (Susan Wokoma, UK), FIEND (Barnaby Boulton, UK), FOREIGN BODY (Sára Ní Eithir, UK), HOT YOUNG GEEK SEEKS BLOOD-SUCKING FREAK (Heath Virgoe, UK), OUR FATHER (Aisling Bea, UK), THE LAST DANCE (Hayden Mclean, UK), THE PARISH (Matt R. Smith, UK), THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS (Elham Ehsas, UK), TRIPTYCH (Sophia Ray, UK)
RAINDANCE 2025 JURY
Antonia Campbell-Hughes (filmmaker: It Is In Us All, Cordelia, 3096 Tage), Ashley Walters (actor: Adolescence, Top Boy), Cristo Fernández(actor: Ted Lasso), Emily Beecham (actor: Pursuit Of Love, Cruella, Little Joe), Iain Glen (actor: Game of Thrones, Resident Evil, The Rig), Iwan Rheon (actor: Vicious, Misfits, Game of Thrones), Jason Flemyng (actor: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Boiling Point), Jo Hartley (actor: Swede Caroline, In My Skin, After Life), Natascha McElhone (actor: Laurel Canyon, Carmen, Surviving Picasso), Ng Choon Ping (director: Femme, What It Feels Like for a Girl), Theo Barklem-Biggs (actor: Rogue Heroes, Cherry, Make Up), Tosin Cole (actor: Supacell, Children of Blood and Bone, Till), Waad Al-Kateab (director: For Sama, We Dare To Dream, Death Without Mercy), Fred Hogge (co-founder & original producer of BIFA), Joshua Trigg (director: Satu – Year Of The Rabbit, World Premiere at 32nd RDFF), Kemal Akhtar (producer), Neil Norman (film critic), Sam Crane (director: BIFA winning Grand Theft Hamlet), Sonja Klaus (production designer: Gladiator, American Gangster), Vineeta Misra (head, NFDC Film Bazaar India).
