As a media partner to the longstanding, extraordinary festival, I have been lucky enough to watch a few gems participating this year and will also moderate some Q&A’s with the creatives behind some of the titles. So come on down to the Vue Piccadilly from June 17th to the 26th!
One could never accuse Raindance Film Festival and its creator, Elliot Grove, of lacking a sense of humor. In fact, many of the films in the line up, year after year, confirm this tongue-in-cheek sense of cinematic funny that the festival is known for, along with showcasing the best of the best of indie films in London.
Just check out Grove’s post “The Seven Types of People You Meet at Raindance” on the organization’s website to find out how spot on hilarious the man is. But also to recognize yourself in one of these types for sure. I’m personally number 7, though secretly of course.
As Grove so masterfully put it in another post on how to attend your first ever Raindance, “this is not Cannes with yachts and sunglasses pretending to be cinema. Your first time at Raindance 2026 is going to be a lot different — This is where filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, producers, obsessives, and future collaborators collide in dark cinemas, noisy bars, packed Q&As, and late-night conversations that can genuinely change your life.”
So it was only a matter of time until Raindance and ENinaRothe.com got into a partnership — a media partnership that is. What that means for you is a hefty 20 percent discount on all films that are marked with my website’s logo. Just enter “nina20” at checkout to see your amount due go down…
The festival will open with the UK premiere of April X by
Michel K Parandi and will close with the UK premiere of Kirsty Bell’s Eddie Cochran: Don't Forget Me, with loads of films, panels, discussions and chance meetings in between.
This year, I’m proud to present 8 features, and will also moderate the Q&A for the second Documentary Shorts Programme, which includes a lineup of five mini docs that pack a strong punch in their short duration and all qualify for the Best Documentary Short prize — which gets them automatic qualification to an Oscar nod, as Raindance is an Oscar-qualifying festival.
The features include the world premiere of Iranian title My Daughter’s Hair (Raha) a haunting look at need in an family and the disastrous solutions that need brings them to, as a nucleus but also as individuals. The film is directed by Hesam Farahmand and features well known Iranian thespian and frequent Asghar Farhadi collaborator Shahab Hosseini. There will be a Q&A following the first screening on Saturday June 20th at 11.30 a.m..
Another Iranian narrative feature is Mehrnoush Alia's 1001 Frames which recently won top prizes — The Grand Chameleon as well as Best Narrative Feature Award — at the Brooklyn Film festival. Taking place inside the studio of a well-known director, female actors audition for the role of Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights. But come to gradually realize that the director has more in mind than just casting the leading role. The film was shot in hiding in Iran, making its setting even more haunting. Join for a screening followed by a Q&A with Mehrnoush Alia on Monday, June 22nd at 8 p.m..
The documentary Occupy Cannes is directed and co-produced by Lily-Hayes Kaufman, the daughter of legendary American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor Lloyd Kaufman, and EP’d by another legend in our cinematic history, Roger Corman. As the festival’s synopsis perfectly describes it “This cheerful, charming documentary follows the makers of the Nuke ‘Em High franchise, The Toxic Avenger, and Surf Nazis Must Die as they ‘assemble an army’ to descend on the Cannes Film Festival, abetted by a motley assortment of relatives and cast members who double as Troma Films’ camera and marketing departments.” There will be a Q&A with Lily-Hayes Kaufman following the screening on Thursday, June 18th, at 6.30 p.m..
The Troll is a short feature narrative film, clocking in at just over an hour, packing a big punch. It is directed, written, edited and produced by American TikToker and comedian Brianna Lee, who also stars in it as Bethany, AKA Killa B, a pop star slash influencer who one day falls prey to the one thing that social media instills in us all — insecurity. Just who the troll is you’ll have to find out for yourselves.
Directed by Leonardo Malaguti, the Italian hybrid doc Your Mum features writer Dania Rendano playing herself, or rather enlisting the filmmaker to help her document becoming a mother — something she feels some ambivalence about. As Rendano says at one point in the film, “I’m starting to think that ‘mum’ is not a harmless word at all. You say it without thinking and suddenly you’re discussing politics, culture and the structure of society.” The film is another short feature packing a large set of ideas and emotions and I’ll be hosting a Q&A following the first screening of it at Raindance, featuring Dania Rendano and producer Giovanni Toni, on Saturday June 20th at 7.45 p.m..
Silent Rebellion is a Swiss title in the festival, and is the narrative feature debut of writer and director Marie-Elsa Sgualdo. The film takes place in the Swiss countryside, during the Second World War, which holds a special kind of struggle for the Swiss, although their country remained neutral during the conflict. At the core of the film is 15-year-old Emma, who has become pregnant following being raped and will defy her rural conservative Protestant community with her decision. The cinematography by Benoit Dervaux uplifts the script by Sgualdo and Nadine Lamari script to another dimension and the central performance by Lila Gueneau seals the film with the word “masterpiece”.
The world premiere narrative title Jardines del Bosque by the brothers duo Álex Barragán and Diego Barragán starts out as a charming coming of age story which is interrupted by the disappearance of a neighborhood girl. As three friends investigate what could have happened to the older neighbor they all admired, in different ways, they also discover things about each other which bring about that dreaded idea — growing up.
Another world premiere rounds out the list of features introduced by ENinaRothe.com and we are again in Iran for Mohammed Reza Sattari’s No Lastname. A narrative feature that feels like a fly-on-the-wall documentary and tells the story of an undocumented family living in a poverty-stricken area of Iran, the combination of realistic cinematography, beautiful score and powerful performances make this a tremendous piece of cinema. Join the filmmaker and his large delegation attending, for a special Q&A on Wednesday, June 24th at 5.30 p.m. and be prepared to pack your own questions as I’m sure this will be a lively debate.
Last but not least, is the ‘Short Programme: Documentaries 2’, which screens five films on both the 19th and the 20th of June. One of the shorts featured in this very cool program is titled FABRIC, which features African American model turned entrepreneur Maya Persaud and her Paris-based Espero Atelier which employs refugees and trains them in couture fashion work. And it’s a film near and dear to my heart, for more reasons than one. Come watch and stay for the Q&A featuring FABRIC director Anabelle Marshall and all the other talented filmmakers on Friday, June 19th starting at 3.45 p.m.. And I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
See you at Raindance! And don’t forget to use your code “nina20” for a hefty discount on your ticket purchase at checkout.
Images courtesy of Raindance, used with permission.