Jack Huston’s directorial debut ‘Day Of The Fight’ to open Raindance Film Festival
The film festivals are in full swing! We had the Venice Film Festival, and right now, Toronto is welcoming great movies and filmmakers to their Festival. London will be up next with two major film festivals. There’s the BFI Film Festival — from the 4th of October until the 15th of October — and the Raindance Film Festival at the end of October. The first already announced its line-up earlier this month, but now we know what great (short) movies and documentaries are part of the Raindance Film Festival.
The festival is known for championing upcoming film talent, independent cinema and new cinematic voices, and they prove that with their opening film ‘Day Of The Fight’. Jack Huston’s directorial debut will open the festival on the 25th of October during a special gala event at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema in London. The movie tells the story of a once-celebrated boxer who goes on a redeeming journey through his past and present on the day of his first fight since he was released from prison. Michael Pitt takes on the lead role, and we see Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci, and Steve Buscemi alongside him.
Raindance founder and CEO Elliot Grove and his impeccable programming team also chose an excellent closing movie as they’re hosting the U.K. premiere of Isabel Coixet’s ‘Un Amor’ on the 4th of November. The movie — which was recently greatly received at San Sebastian — is based on Sara Mesa’s bestselling novel. Natalia (Laia Costa) is a young woman who wants to escape the stressful city and, therefore, moves to rural Spain. When she agrees to a disturbing sexual proposal, her life will never be the same as passion, obsession and lust are running sky-high. ‘Un Amor’ is presented as part of Raindance’s special focus on Catalonia.
Like any year, the festival also hands out awards in eight categories including Discovery Award, Best International Feature, Best U.K. Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Performance and Best Documentary. This year’s jury includes Celyn Jones, Michael Socha, Duncan Jones, Finn Bruce, Rory Kinnear, Michael Winterbottom, Samuel Bottomley, Vinette Robinson and many more filmmakers, actors, critics, producers, editors and PR representatives.
The Raindance Film Festival takes place between the 25th of October and the 4th of November. This year’s host cinemas include Vue Piccadilly, Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, Garden Cinema and Genesis Cinema. There’s also The House of Raindance industry hub and the Raindance Immersive VR Showcase at Wonderville in the heart of the West End.
Festival passes for the 31st edition of the Raindance Film Festival are now on sale and check out the full programme here:
In Competition: Film Strands
Discovery: Features by First-time Directors
- ‘Parachute’ (directed by Brittany Snow)
- ‘All The Colours of the World Are Between Black and White’ (directed by Babatunde Apalowo)
- ‘Upon Entry’ (directed by Alejandro Rojas, and Sebastián Vasquez)
- ‘Only the Good Survive’ (directed by Dutch Southern)
- ‘Mountain Onion’ (directed by Eldar Shibanov)
- ‘Lost Soulz’ (directed by Katherine Propper)
- ‘Storm’ (directed by Erika Calmeyer)
- ‘The Land Within’ (directed by Fisnik Maxville)
International
- ‘All The Silence’ (directed by Diego Del Rio)
- ‘Blood For Dust’ (directed by Rod Balckurst)
- ‘Clashing Differences’ (directed by Merle Grimme)
- ‘Heavis Tendres’/’Tender Metalheads’ (directed by Joan Tomas)
- ‘Palimpsest’ (directed by Hanna Västinsalo)
- ‘Pett Kata Shaw’ (directed by Nuhash Humayun)
- ‘Sweet Sixteen’ (directed by Alexa-Jeanne Dubé)
- ‘White Plastic Sky’ (directed by Tibor Bánóczki, and Sarolta Szabó)
Documentaries
- ‘Satan Wants You’ (directed by Steven J. Adams, and Sean Horlor)
- ‘Dusty & Stones’ (directed by Jesse Rudoy)
- ‘Sex With Sue’ (directed by Lisa Rideout)
- ‘La Singla’ (directed by Paloma Zapata)
- ‘We Are Guardians’ (directed by Chelsea Green, Rob Grobman, and Edivan Guajajara)
- ‘Another Body’ (directed by Sophie Compton, and Reuben Hamlyn)
- ‘Aurora’s Sunrise’ (directed by Inna Sahakyan)
- ‘Omar and Cedric’ (directed by Nicolas Jack Davies
- ‘The Books He Didn’t Burn’ (directed by Claus Bredenbrock, and Jascha Hannover)
U.K.
- ‘Long Distance Swimmer’ (directed by Charley Feldman)
- ‘Sisters Interrupted’ (directed by Caroline Sharp)
- ‘Red Herring’ (directed by Kit Vincent)
- ‘Embers’ (directed by Christian Cooke)
- ‘Silent Roar’ (directed by Johnny Barrington)
- ‘The Portrait’ (directed by Simon Ross)
- ‘Catching Dust’ (directed by Stuart Gatt)
- ‘Warhol’ (directed by Adam Ethan Crow)
Off-competition: Critics picks and special pre-release screenings
- ‘Restore Point’ (directed by Robert Hloz)
- ‘Typist Artist Pirate King’ (directed by Carol Morley)