World premieres of Stephen Moyer’s A Bit Of Light and Dishad Husain’s Banglatown headline the programme of the 30th Raindance Film Festival, which runs from October 26-November 5 in London cinemas and online throughout the UK.
One of nine feature world premieres in the selection, A Bit Of Light is the second directorial feature of UK actor Moyer, who is best known for his lead role in long-running vampire TV series True Blood.
Starring Ray Winstone and Moyer’s wife Anna Paquin, the film follows a nearly-forty-year-old woman who is forced to move back in with her father, which is a potential obstacle to her newfound sobriety and attempts to regain custody of her young daughters.
Set in east London, Husain’s Banglatown follows a struggling actor facing house eviction who uses his acting skills to fall in with a local gangster.
Both films are playing as special screenings at the festival. The further programme consists of eight feature strands: Debut, International, Documentaries, Homegrown, Queer, Sonica, Screamdance and An Immigrant’s Tale, the latter of which was curated by the New Black Film Collective in celebration of Black History Month.
World premieres among the thematic strands include Finn Bruce and Brook Driver’s Swede Caroline – a comedy set in the world of competitive vegetable growers; and Elisabeth Felson’s video essay Night Burns Like Cigarettes, narrated by Lily Cole with singer-songwriter Kwaye, about light pollution in London at night. Both are in the Homegrown strand.
Pinball wizard
The festival will open with the international premiere of Joachim Back’s Canadian feature Corner Office, an absurdist comedy starring Jon Hamm about a corporate drone who discovers a secret room.
The festival will close with Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg’s Pinball – The Man Who Saved The Game, starring West Side Story’s Mike Faist as Roger Sharpe, the young journalist who helped overturn New York City’s 35-year ban on pinball machines in 1976.
The festival gives eight awards across its eight categories – best international film, UK film, director, performance, screenplay, cinematography, discovery and documentary.
The 27-person jury includes actors Damian Lewis, Naomi Scott, Naomie Harris, Lucy Boynton and Daniel Bruhl; plus Modern Films’ founder and CEO Eve Gabereau, producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, and Bifa-winning filmmaker Celeste Bell.
For the 30th anniversary, the low-budget festival will be screening titles from its previous editions, including The Blair Witch Project, Memento and Oldboy.
The festival also has an immersive programme, divided into experiences for social impact; games; live performances; and immersive worlds; and a shorts programme.
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