The 32nd edition of the UK’s Raindance Film Festival is to open with Tilman Singer’s horror-thriller Cuckoo, starring Hunter Schafer, as the festival shifts away from autumn to a midsummer slot, running June 19-28.
This year, 90% of the international films screening in competition are debut features.
The jury includes actors Alice Englert, Claes Bang, Jared Harris and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and producers Ivana MacKinnon and Paul Sng.
Opening night film Cuckoo is a German-US co-production, that has played at Berlin and SXSW. Schafer plays 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. Dan Stevens also stars.
The festival closes on June 28 with the European premiere of Toronto title National Anthem, the debut feature from US filmmaker Luke Gilford. Charlie Plummer plays 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.
Cuckoo is screening as part of the festival’s special focus on Germany. Further key German titles are Eternal You, Falling Into Place, It’s Burning, What You See Of Me and a special screening of Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon.
“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,” said Raindance founder Elliot Grove.
Raindance Film Festival artistic directors Martyna Szmytkowska and Malaika Bova added: “In our second year as artistic directors, we continue with the mission that we began last year: to confirm Raindance as the leading UK platform for emerging filmmakers.”
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 (June 18 – 19) will once again be hosted at Wonderville on Haymarket.
Highlights from the immersive line-up include Shaool Levy’s animations The Elephant I Found Under My Skin and Dee Dee Harvey’s BFI Network and Northern Ireland Screen-backed Heartbeat VR and documentary-style VR film Fly To Me from Songmoo Le.
Raindance 2024 line-up
*denotes world premiere
Discovery (best debut director award)
Arni dir. Dorka Vermes (Hun)
Cat Call dir. Rozália Szeleczki (Hun)
Falling Into Place dir. Aylin Tezel (UK-Ger)
It’s Burning dir. Erol Afsin (Ger)
National Anthem dir. Luke Gilford (US)
Satu – Year Of The Rabbit dir. Josh Trigg (UK)
Sisterhood dir. Nora el Hourch (Fr)
Sleep dir. Jason Yu (S Kor)
The Heirloom dir. Ben Petrie (Can)
The Quiet Maid dir. Miguel Faus (Sp)
International (best international feature award)
Animal dir. Sofia Exarchou (Greece)
Body Odyssey dir. Grazia Tricarico (It-Switz)
Cuckoo dir. Tilman Singer (Ger-US)
Don’t Hang Up dir. Manfredi Lucibello (It)
Endless Summer Syndrome dir. Kaveh Daneshmand (Czech)
Kathleen Is Here dir. Eva Birthistle (Ire)*
My Killer Budy dir. Gianluca Santoni (It)
The Strangers’ Case dir. Brandt Anderson (Jor)
What You See Of Me dir. Isabelle Caps-Kuhn (Ger)*
Documentaries (best documentary feature award)
Avant-Drag! dir. Fil Ieropoulos (Greece)
Eternal You dirs. Hans Block, Moritz Rieseviek (Ger-US)
From My Cold Dead Hands dir. Javier Horcajada Fontecha (Sp)*
Mogwai: If The Stars Had A Sound dir. Antony Crook (UK)
Searching For Amani dirs. Debra Aroko, Nicole Gormley (Geo)
Smiling Georgia dir. Luka Beradze (Geo)
Sting Like A Bee dir. Leone (It)
The Click Trap dir. Peter Porta (Fr-Sp)
The Contestant dir. Clair Titley (UK)
The Man With 1000 Faces dir. Sonia Kronlund (Fr-Pol)
The founders’ strand (Spirit of Raindance award)
Dog War dir. Andrew Abrahams (US)
Double Exposure dir. Howard Goldberg (US)*
Humane dir. Caitlin Cronenberg (US)
I’m Still Here dirs. Elizabeth Healey, Franc Vissers (UK)
Peaky Blinders dir. Benoit-Swan Pouffer (UK)
Shari And Lamb Chop dir. Lisa D’Apolito (US)
Something’s More Than One Thing dir. Jay Alvarez (US)*
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