Connor Storrie, Kit Harington, Jane Fonda, Robert Englund, music icon Eddie Cochran and other big names will feature in the lineup of the 34th edition of the Raindance Film Festival in London – whether as stars, behind-the-scenes talent or subjects of movies.
But 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 said. “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 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.”
Of course, the lineup will also put a spotlight on celebrities past and present and escapist fare, whether of the sci-fi, horror or other varieties. Running June 17-26, Rainance is overall screening 85 narrative and documentary features, including 48 films by first-time filmmakers, and 112 short films. Plus, the 11th edition of Raindance Immersive will showcase 27 projects.
“Some films can’t wait, and we at Raindance can’t wait to share this year’s selection of must-see indie films,” said 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 fans to “come join our celebration of indie cinema in the heart of London.”
The U.K. premiere of Michel K. Parandi’s debut feature April X, a near-future thriller starring Storrie (Heated Rivalry) and Lilly Krug (Shattered, Plane), will open the festival. The opening gala will also feature “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 said.
The closing gala will feature the U.K. premiere screening of the documentary Eddie Cochran: Don’t Forget Me, directed by Kirsty Bell, an authorized film about the rock & roll icon behind such hits as “C’mon Everybody” and “Summertime Blues.”
Other films set for Raindance include Katie Camosy’s Gaslit, a fracking doc executive produced by Jane Fonda, Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Pinocchio: Unstrung, starring horror icon Englund as Jiminy Cricket, the short film Psychopomp, the directorial debut of Harington and such world premieres as Rooted Out: Chapter 1, the directorial debut of Boiling Point producer Freddie Hutton-Mills. Set against 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.”
Among competition titles previously covered by THR is Dužan Duong‘s Summer School, while Richard Hawkins’ Think of England gets a special out-of-competition screening.
This year’s jury includes the likes of Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Slow Horses, Believe Me), Charlotte Hope (The Spanish Princess), David Ajala (The Woman in Cabin 10, Law and Order), Jacob Anderson (Interview With the Vampire, Game of Thrones), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Edge of the World, Match Point), Sope Dirisu (My Father’s Shadow, Gangs of London), Anthony Andrews, the founder of We Are Parable, Ashanti Omkar, a film critic and broadcaster, Fiona Lamptey, a producer and former head of U.K. features at Netflix, Hayder Hoozeer (filmmaker behind BAFTA-winning short film Rock, Paper, Scissors), Lee Knight (filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated short A Friend of Dorothy) and producer and talent executive Rita Osei.
Check out the full Raindance program here.
