RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVALRaindance Film Festival: 17 – R26 June at host cinema Vue Piccadillyhttps://raindance.org/festival/nominees-2026/To celebrate the outstanding films screening at the 34th Raindance Film Festival (17 – 26 June), jury awards are presented to features and shorts. Raindance’s awards system honours features in 11 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 Cinematographthe Spirit of Raindance Award and new for 2026 is Best Horror Feature. Raindance is BIFA-qualifying for British features. An Oscar® qualifying festival, Raindance honours the work of short filmmakers with 4 awards. 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. Raindance is BAFTA-qualifying and BIFA-qualifying for British Shorts in the official selection. The winners will be announced at Raindance’s Jury Awards Ceremony on Friday 26 June. AND THE NOMINEES ARE: >> BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATUREAPRIL X (dir: Michel K. Parandi, USA). UK Premiere. First Feature. A multi-award winner at film festivals around the world, this high octane, near future thriller stars Connor Storrie (Heated Rivalry) and Lilly Krug (Shattered, Plane) as twins Bax and April. When April goes missing, Bax searches every dark corner of the post-Soviet cityscape trying to find her, ultimately descending into madness. BORN TO LOSE (dir: Joseph Zentil, USA) International Premiere. First Feature. A young biker races to restore a vintage motorcycle, while grappling with his father’s troubled legacy and escalating debts to a local gangster. Featuring Sarah Pidgeon (Love Story, Tiny Beautiful Things) and Dylan Arnold (You, Lady In The Lake).FRÄNK (dir: Tönis Pill, Estonia) UK Premierirst Feature. Following a serious domestic violence incident, a boy arrives in an unfamiliar town where he makes one bad decision after another – but his seemingly inevitable downfall is thwarted by a strange disabled man. The feature debut by Tönis Pill, assistant director on Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, had its world premiere at Tallinn film festival.JARDINES DEL BOSQUE (dir: Álex Barragán, Diego Barragán, Mexico) World Premiere. First Feature. Three friends remember the summer of 2014, when they were preteens, and when a girl from their neighbourhood vanished one day without a trace. Their obsession with the case slowly turns into a dark mystery that changes them forever.LOST LAND (dir: Akio Fujimoto, Germany/Philippines) UK Premiere. An award-winner at Venice, Pingyao and Red Sea film festivals, it follows a 4-year-old and his 9-year-old sister, who leave a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on a perilous journey to reach Malaysia in the hope of reuniting with their family.MY DAUGHTER’S HAIR (dir: Hesam Farahmand, Iran). UK Premiere. First Feature. In order to keep her job at an animation studio, Raha urgently needs to replace her stolen laptop. Her family cannot afford to buy one, so she is forced to sell her long hair.NO LASTNAME (dir: Mohammed Reza Sattari, Iran). World Premiere. First Feature. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an undocumented family living on society’s margins struggles with poverty, grief and emotional collapse. As death and desperation close in, fragile relationships begin to fracture. PARO: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BRIDE SLAVERY (dir: Gajendra Vitthal Ahire, India) UK Premiere. Bringing unheard voices to the forefront, Marathi actress and 2x Oscar-listed producer Trupti Bhoir (Agadbam, Touring Talkies) plays a woman whose journey exposes the horrors of being sold as a bride, enduring abuse, and losing her son. A story that challenges perceptions & celebrates resilience.SILENT REBELLION (dir: Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, Belgium/France/Switzerland) UK Premiere. First Feature. Regarded at Venice film festival, this WW2 drama follows a virtuous teen in 1943 Switzerland who questions her village’s morality when they turn away French refugees.TOKYO NIGHTFALL (dir: Ryo Endo, Japan) World Premiere. After his sister dies by suicide following a traumatic encounter in high school, Amenashi confronts entrapment and despair when drawn to a clandestine mass-suicide gathering in Tokyo. >> BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURECOPELAND (dir: Pablo Aragüés, Spain/USA) World Premiere. Documenting the amazing life and music of Stewart Copeland, the American musician and composer who achieved global fame as the drummer of English rock band The Police.CHILD OF DUST (dir: Weronika Mliczewska, Poland/Vietnam/Sweden/Czechia) UK Premiere. First Feature. An award-winner at festivals around the world, this moving portrayal of 55-year-old Sang: an unwanted and discriminated child from the Vietnam war, who must confront his own weaknesses and fatherly shortcomings when he miraculously finds his American father.EDDIE COCHRAN: DON’T FORGET ME (dir: Kirsty Bell, UK). UK Premiere. The first official biography of rock & roll icon Eddie Cochran. Despite his brief 21 years, Cochran’s musical legacy resonates across generations and genres, influencing icons from David Bowie to The Sex Pistols. GASLIT (dir: Katie Camosy, USA) UK Premiere. First Feature. Executive produced by Jane Fonda, this powerful fracking doc follows the multi-award-winning actress and activist as she travels across the oil fields of West Texas’ Permian Basin and through the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, visiting the communities impacted by oil and gas production.IN THE PATH OF GIANTS (dir: Fayed Khan, Kirsty Anna Wells, UK/Singapore) European Premiere. In southern Bangladesh, hungry wild elephants trapped by the world’s largest refugee camp are rampaging over farmland, resulting in a tense stand-off between the refugees, local Bengalis & indigenous farmers.LET US BE (dir: Viviane D’Avilla, Brazil) World Premiere. First Feature. An intimate portrait of Intersex individuals — born with sex anatomy not typically male or female — across India, Brazil, and the USA. Through personal stories, the film explores social & medical norms imposed on bodies and identities.OUR COLOURS NEVER FADE (dir: Jim McSherry, Ukraine/Germany). European Premiere. First Feature. Using frontline footage, personal archives, and intimate testimony, this documentary follows LGBTQ Ukrainians who leave civilian life to defend their country after Russia’s invasion.RESCUE (dir: Alessio Schiazza, USA/Ukraine) World Premiere. Executive produced by actor and Raindance Film School alumni Sadie Frost, this film focuses on those who risk everything to save animals left behind as the full-scale war in Ukraine forces millions to flee.THE ISSUE WITH TISSUE (dir: Michael Zelniker, Canada) UK Premiere. Supported by the government of Canada, this is the little-known story of the Boreal Forest and the Indigenous Peoples who call it home – and how it’s being cleared for the manufacture of toilet paper.THE LAST DIVE (dir: Cody Sheehy, USA/Mexico) UK Premiere. An award-winner at Tribeca, it follows an ex-Hells Angel who once formed an unlikely bond with a giant manta ray. He now makes one final dive expedition to a remote island, hoping to reunite with his extraordinary ocean friend. >> DISCOVERY AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT FEATURE (the Elisar Cabrera Award)AMERICAN MUSCLE (dir: Joel Veach, USA) UK Premiere. First Feature. A desperate auto mechanic hatches a plan to pay off a gambling debt. But when two ruthless collectors show up, and his estranged sister returns home, his plan quickly unravels, forcing him to confront family secrets.BLOODLUST (dir: Rupert Evans, Matt Michalik, Australia). World Premiere. First Feature. A couple drift through a post-apocalyptic world with only each other, until a collision with a gang of four survivors undoes everything, beginning a vicious cycle of violence and demise. CHILD (dir: Cyrus Neshvad, Luxembourg) World Premiere. First Feature. In an increasingly haunting atmosphere, a couple become willing to cross every boundary to save their dying child.COWBOY (dir: Nathan Grubbs, USA) UK Premiere. First Feature. In New Orleans, two war veterans scrape by on small-time heists, selling their loot to a secretive pawn shop owner. When one plans a risky horse theft to fund a fresh start, a rival’s betrayal leads to tragedy and prison. DEAD DOGS DON’T BITE (dir: Nuri Cihan Özdoğan, Türkiye) UK Premiere. First Feature. Two childhood friends earn a living disposing of illegal waste. As they descend deeper into a corrupt system, their bond begins to fracture. IDA WHO SANG SO BADLY EVEN THE DEAD ROSE UP AND JOINED HER IN SONG (dir: Ester Ivakič, Slovenia) UK Premiere. First Feature. A 10-year-old believes that the mysterious angelic singing resounding across the village graveyard is the only thing keeping her beloved Grandma alive. So she joins the school choir—even though she is tone deaf.SUMMER SCHOOL, 2001 (dir: Dužan Duong, Czechia/Slovakia) UK Premiere. First Feature. Having premiered at Karlovy Vary and winning awards at the Czech Lions, it’s the story of a teenager who returns to his family in Czechia after 10 years in Vietnam – but instead of a warm welcome, he finds a distant father, a mother desperate to mend the past, and a harsh younger brother.THANKS FOR NOTHING (dir: Stella Marie Markert, Germany) UK Premiere. First Feature. Four teenagers have created their own little anarchic utopia in the group home where they live. But one of them, sick of the world and its expectations, is determined not to survive past 18. Her friends try to keep her suicide attempts hidden, terrified of losing the only semblance of ‘home’ they’ve ever known.THE JANITOR (dir: Mauro Mueller, David Figueroa García, Mexico). European Premiere. The First Feature from two filmmakers who’ve both made Student Academy Award nominated shorts. An aging janitor at an elementary school struggles to balance his work and care for his sick wife, especially when lewd graffiti appears around the school and the responsibility of finding the culprit falls on him.THE TREK (dir: Meekaaeel Adam, South Africa). UK Premiere. First Feature. In 1846, a Dutch-Afrikaans family and their British benefactor make the perilous journey across the Kalahari to claim a plot of land – and are stalked by something older and more merciless than the desert itself. >> BEST UK FEATUREANGEL OF THE NORTH (dir: Cy Biggs, Sean Cronin, UK) World Premiere. The story of a bare-knuckle fighting champion who fights his way through life, but not just in a physical form.ARTHUR’S EMPIRE (dir: Ryan J. Smith, UK) World Premiere. As a Grade II–listed antiques building faces conversion into luxury flats, a burnt-out magazine writer documents its final days.LANDSHIP (dir: Callum Burn, UK) World Premiere. Stranded and slowly sinking into fetid mud, the crew of a World War One Tank fight for their lives against an insidious and determined enemy.MACBETH (dir: Daryl Chase, UK) World Premiere. When a malevolent force offers Macbeth a future as king, encouraged by Lady Macbeth, they seize their fate, with grave consequences. The story is brought to life via a social enterprise production, tackling barriers to filmmaking.MODEM (dir: Tim James Brown, UK) World Premiere. A digital detox vacation goes wrong when a teenager discovers a modem that wakes a dormant, sadistic demon when connected to the Wi-Fi.PINOCCHIO: UNSTRUNG (dir: Rhys Frake-Waterfield, UK) UK Premiere. Starring horror film icon Robert Englund (Freddie Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street) as Jiminy Cricket, this dark coming-of-age reimagining of Pinocchio follows the iconic puppet’s disturbing journey toward becoming real.ROOTED OUT: CHAPTER 1 (dir: F. Hutton-Mills, UK) World Premiere. The First Feature from the producer of Boiling Point, it’s set against the backdrop of the Southport Riots of 2024, when a dispute between neighbouring families spirals into a volatile confrontation, exposing buried prejudice, racial tension, and moral hypocrisy. TERRA (dir: Rory Wilson, UK) European Premiere. First Feature. A war doctor and his medical staff are forced underground into a make-shift hospital, only to be faced with a desperate father.TRAMP (dir: Philip James McGoldrick, UK) UK Premiere. First Feature. When an MMA fighter discovers she’s unexpectedly pregnant, she grapples with the repercussions on her fighting career. >> BEST HORROR FEATURE (The Roger Corman Award)BROKEN BEAK (dir: Christian Carroll, New Zealand/USA) International Premiere. After the murder of her uncle, a Māori photographer returns to New Zealand to claim her inheritance. Once home, she begins to have visions of a mythical monster, and as more family members die, she feels compelled to right an ancestral wrong.CORPORATE RETREAT (dir: Aaron Fisher, USA) UK Premiere. With a cast including Odeya Rush (Lady Bird), Sasha Lane (American Honey), Alan Ruck (Succession, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) and Rosanna Arquette (Desperately Seeking Susan, Pulp Fiction), this horror-comedy sends a group of ambitious young executives on a luxury team-building escape that devolves into a brutal, blood-soaked fight for survival. FRIDAY THE 69th (dir: Alex Montilla, USA) UK Premiere. First Feature. Slasher-comedy paying tribute to the bottom-shelf horror films of the early ’80s. Porn filmmakers in 1981 aim to capitalize on the slasher trend by making their own independent ripoff about a group of spring breaking college coeds terrorized by a mysterious killer beekeeper.JACKAOPE (dir: Bryce Hirschberg, USA) World Premiere. Two brothers take a quiet weekend retreat, which unravels into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the arrival of an enigmatic woman.LIFE FOR BEGINNERS (dir: Paweł Podolski, Poland). UK Premiere. First Feature. A shy vampire has one night to convince a suicidal vampire to embrace the idea immortality.MODEM (dir: Tim James Brown, UK) World Premiere. A digital detox vacation goes wrong when a teenager discovers a modem that wakes a dormant, sadistic demon when connected to the Wi-Fi.NAMELESS (dir: Hideo Jojo, Japan) European Premiere. The usual midday bustle is shattered by a mysterious indiscriminate murder – a bizarre crime committed without a weapon, and the motive is shrouded in mystery.PINOCCHIO: UNSTRUNG (dir: Rhys Frake-Waterfield, UK) UK Premiere. Starring horror film icon Robert Englund (Freddie Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street) as Jiminy Cricket, this dark coming-of-age reimagining of Pinocchio follows the iconic puppet’s disturbing journey toward becoming real.SACRIFICIOS (dir: Mauricio Chernovetzky, Mexico) European Premiere. A father kayaks out to sea and pulls his dead son from the water — impossible, breathing, alive. But the gods demand a price. SERENA (dir Rob Alicea, USA) International Premiere. A down-on-his-luck former rock star becomes a beta tester for a revolutionary new chat bot named Serena – but who is testing who? Starring Andi Matichak (Halloween), Steven Strait (The Expanse), Ashleigh Murray (The Other Black Girl).THE DEVIL WHISPERED MY NAME (dir: Emilia Cotella, John Mathis, Argentina). UK Premiere. Carla returns to her hometown 10 years after the death of her friend in an ayahuasca ritual and confronts ancient malevolent forces and resurfaced part traumas. >> BEST DEBUT DIRECTOROccupy Cannes: Lily-Hayes KaufmanHigher Calling: Benjamin FormanOur Kind of Chaos: Ryan Stutt, Clayton LarsenA Free Daughter of Free Kyrgyzstan: Leigh IacobucciApril X: Michel K ParandiThe Killing Moon: Daniel BogranPetyr: Olcan James, Anthony McSparronSilent Struggle: Sara SálamoWalls: Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, Sofie RørdamPescador: Harry Domenico Rossi >> BEST PERFORMANCE IN A DEBUT FEATUREApril X: Connor StorrieWhiskey Dixie & The Big Wet Country: Amanda RichardsThe Troll: Brianna LeeLucky Weekend: Kevin AlvesSilent Rebellion: Lila GueneauIda Who Sang So Badly Even the Dead Rose Up and Joined Her in Song: Lana MarićPescador: Alex WaneboThe Killing Moon: Matthew LeoneSeahorse: Aisha EvelynaShadows of Willow Cabin: John Brodsky >> BEST DIRECTOR OF A UK FEATUREMacbeth: Daryl ChaseLandship: Callum BurnTerra: Rory WilsonArthur’s Empire: Ryan J. SmithRooted Out: Chapter 1: Frederick Hutton-MillsTramp: Philip James McGoldrickHannah’s Story: Pete Edward CohenEddie Cochran – Don’t Forget Me: Kirsty BellGhost in the Machine: Valerie VeatchSection 1591_Sex trafficking of children in the U.S.A: Dan Poole, Cort Kristensen >> BEST PERFORMANCE IN A UK FEATUREMacbeth: Shaq B GrantLandship: Vin HawkeTerra: Ramin FarahaniArthur’s Empire: Jake WaringRooted Out: Chapter 1: CJ BeckfordModem: Josh BurdettAngel of the North: John DuddyTramp: Izabella MalewskaPinocchio: Unstrung: Richard Brake >> BEST UK CINEMATOGRAPHYEddie Cochran: Don’t Forget MeSo WhatGhost in the MachineSection 1591_Sex trafficking of children in the U.S.A.TerraPinocchio: UnstrungTrampModemAngel of the NorthIn The Path Of Giants >> SPIRIT OF RAINDANCE AWARDTo be announced on the day ADDITIONAL SYNOPSES OF NOMINATED FEATURESA FREE DAUGHTER OF FREE KYRGYZSTAN (dir: Leigh Iacobucci, Switzerland) Musician and activist Zere Asylbek uses her music to spark solidarity among Kyrgyz women, despite a backlash including death threats, public humiliation, and the threat of legislation that could criminalize her art.HANNAH’S STORY (dir: Pete Cohen, UK) World Premiere. The deeply moving story of Hannah Cohen’s fight against a deadly brain tumour: a relentless journey across the boundaries of conventional medicine that saw Hannah and her husband Pete pursue innovative treatments and rally a global community around them. HIGHER CALLING (dir: Benjamin Forman, USA) World Premiere. First Feature. Following the tragic death of his brother, director Ben Forman embarks on a motorcycle journey through the Himalayas, seeking a cure for his broken heart and asking: where do we go when we die? LUCKY WEEKEND (dir: Kevin Alves, Canada) World Premiere. First Feature. The directorial debut from Yellowjackets star Kevin Alves, tells of 18-year-old Gabe who discovers his best friend stole his winning lottery ticket, so he assembles a crew for a chaotic weekend mission to steal it back.OCCUPY CANNES (dir. Lily-Hayes Kaufman, USA) UK Premiere. First Feature. Directed by his daughter, it follows Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma Team as they use guerrilla tactics to market their film Return to Nuke ‘Em High at the Cannes Film Festival. Troma has become a famed staple of the festival for over-the-top activity on the Croisette, but now the French police have them in their sights.OUR KIND OF CHAOS (dir: Ryan Stutt, Clayton Larsen, Canada) European Premiere. First Feature. The story of modern snowboarding’s creation in the early 1990s by a group of misfit teenagers, also documents how childhood shapes and follows us into adulthood, as these iconic teenagers are now nearing their 60s.PESCADOR (dir: Harry Domenico Rossi, USA/Costa Rica) European Premiere. First Feature. Magical and existential stories of American siblings in Costa Rica. A biologist searches the jungle for a mythical fish. Her erratic brother, lost at sea, is taken in by a lonely fisherman who longs for a son.PETYR (dir: Olcan McSparron, UK) |
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