Storytelling brings us together and today Raindance Film Festival brought us all together as they announce their 2020.
2020 has been the year of the pandemic which has decimated film Festivals worldwide. Many have cancelled, Britain’s biggest independent film festival knew they had to adapt to showcase this year. They did and will now bring you a hybrid version whilst delivering all the atmosphere, affinity and camaraderie you’d expect.
The 28th Raindance Film Festival will Comprise of 50 film premieres. This year’s programmes will be available in every corner of the UK with an array of independent features and documentaries is a cinematic snapshot of today’s world. The films will be free this year with patrons encouraged to donate an contribution with 28% donated to charity.
Kicking off this years proceeding with be the UK Premiere of Gabriel Range’s Stardust stars Johnny Flynn (Emma, Beast) as a young David Bowie embarking on his first trip to America, revealing the inspirations and life events that gave birth to his iconic alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, charting the transformation of one of the world’s greatest cultural icons.
Some of this years other highlights include Dorin Hardy’s Citizen Penn (European Premiere) Actor and filmmaker Sean Penn joins aid workers from around the world to help the relief effort following 2010’s devastating Haiti earthquake. Duco Donk‘s Jimmy Is Punk (UK Premiere) A punk story about the 1976 Dutch band Panic: capturing the pure undiluted spirit of punk. Brandon Colvin’s A Dim Valley (International Premiere) is queer hallucinogenic fairytale, a biologist and his two pot-smoking assistants working deep in the Appalachian woods encounter a trio of mystical backpackers. Catherine Linstrum’s Nuclear (UK Premiere) this tense drama stars George MacKay, Emilia Jones, Sienna Guillory and Oliver Coopersmith.
Oddball Ukrainian drama My Thoughts Are Silent, (dir: Antonio Lukich) a champion at festivals including Karlovy Vary follows an over-tall sound engineer and his diminutive mother, as they head to the mountains to record the sound of a very rare bird. Hiroshi Akabane‘s Twiceborn will get an gala screening, with German Heller, Federico Carlini‘s Paper Birds starring Jojo Rabbit star Archie Yates who voices the lead character, a boy musician whose music attracts mysterious paper birds.
“Storytelling brings us together,” says Raindance founder Elliot Grove. “This year more than ever, we need the medium of film to unite us, inspire us, and help us to feel empowered and not isolated. No matter where you are in the UK, as long as you have a screen you can be a part of the Raindance Film Festival. There’s no stopping us.”
