The Raindance Film Festival , Europe’s largest independent film festival, enters its 21st year supporting and promoting independent filmmakers not just in the UK  but around the world. Established by Elliot Grove in 1992 as a unique new voice in British filmmaking, Raindance has grown in reputation and stature  with establishments opening in New York, Paris, Berlin, Toronto and many more cities around the globe. The festival has become a staple of the international film community and has seen the UK premieres of the likes of Pulp Fiction, Memento, The Blair Witch Project, Ghost World and Down Terrace. As Grove puts it, ‘There are two kinds of filmmakers in the world. There are those who are allowed into the sacred halls of film funding institutions and allowed to make their movies and then there is everyone else.’ Raindance has served as a platform for this second group for the past two decades. Grove recently took the podium at the Vue Cinema in Piccadilly to announce the the festival’s launch and give the press a taste of what’s on offering this year. Vue Entertainment are the official partners for the festival and are serving as the host venue this year. This year’s festival promises a bulging line up not just in the amount of entrants, but also in the diverse range of cultural background and formats.

The full lineup is comprised of over 300 films submitted from over 50 countries which span a multitude of genres from black comedy, romantic drama, science fiction and documentary. The opening night gala film is the documentary feature How To Make Money Selling Drugs while the closing night  is the homegrown sci-fi thriller The Machine starring Toby Stephens. Rather than forcing the submitted films into a main competition against one another, the festival has broken screenings into specific international strands highlighting filmmaking from around the world. These strands include the likes of Reel Britannia, Way Out East, North American Indies and La Dolce Italia. One that has major focus in this years festival is the Mexican Revolution strand. Often overlooked as a country of rich cinematic culture, Mexico has seven feature films and a collection of shorts on offer for its second year at Raindance and is so far the only Mexican strand in a UK film festival. It includes the international premiere of Sugar Kisses by director Carlos Cuarón (brother of Alfonso) and the Cannes Award nominee Fable of A Blood Drained Girl by Alejandro Iglesias Mendizabal. There are also several short documentary films from Syria in competition that cover the ongoing conflict in the region. Grove revealed during the press launch that the director behind one of these films had only just recently escaped from captivity and was in hiding for fear of recapture. As well as a bountiful international selection, there will be a wide variety in the Documentary and Raindance Symphony Orchestra strands, with subject matter covering Youtube sensations, small town Basketball teams and 80’s rock band Skum Rocks.

As well as the main festival, Raindance will  be hosting the UK’s first ever Web Fest, a ‘micro-festival’ (running on the 28th and 29th of September)  that celebrates the emergence of user generated content online and will feature audience panels covering technical specifications, audience development and the future of web television and crowdfunding.  There will also be world premiere screenings of several new web series including Producing Juliet, the new project from Tina Cesa Ward whose previous project, Anyone But Me, got over 35 million views online. It marks a major development in the way that the film industry can approach distribution and audience interaction as well as a thorough indicator of how far technology and accessibility have come in a consumer market, giving more and more people the opportunity to make the projects they want to make. As Grove explains, ‘Filmmakers need to adapt to how everyone consumes media today…we wanted Web Fest to offer guidance as to how to generate and manage your content as well as showcase emerging talent.’

The penultimate day of the festival will see The Raindance Awards Ceremony, where a selected jury hand out awards for categories such as International, U.K. , short, documentary and animation. The jurors come from a varied background of cinema, criticism and interactive media. They include the film critic Robbie Collin, actor Jason Flemyng, author Robert Rankin, singer Beth Gibbons and the journalist and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The later will have DVD’s of the films in competition delivered to him at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. As well as the major awards, one short film will be named

‘Film Of The Festival’ and will be awarded and shortlist position for Academy Award nominees.

During the festival attendants will be able to pick up The Raindance Popcorn Pass, which allows for unlimited access to Raindance screenings at Vue Piccadilly. It costs £100 and comes with £20 pre-loaded for use at the foyer (not on alcohol though!) and also allows for 20% off retail items in the foyer. It is available to purchase until the 25th of September via 08712240242.

The 21st Raindance Film Festival runs from the 25th of September to the 6th of October at the Vue cinema, Piccadilly. For more information visit www.raindancefestival.org or www.myvue.com/raindance