The Raindance Film Festival returns to London from 17–26 June for its 34th edition, presenting one of its most wide-ranging programmes to date. This year’s programme includes 85 narrative and documentary features alongside 112 short films, with more than half of the feature selection coming from first-time directors. The festival also expands its immersive strand, Raindance Immersive, which presents 27 XR projects across both in-person installations and an online VRChat showcase.

Screenings will take place primarily at Vue Piccadilly, with additional events at Vue West End and the Waldorf Hilton. The industry hub returns to 194 Piccadilly as the Canon Lounge, supported by Canon Europe, which also plays a central role in masterclasses, equipment showcases, and filmmaker workshops aimed at developing the next generation of cinematographers and creators.

Festival founder Elliot Grove describes the selection as a space for “films that can’t wait,” reflecting Raindance’s focus on stories that respond quickly and directly to the world around them, whether through political conflict, environmental crisis, or intimate personal struggle, as well as genre films designed to entertain through horror, science fiction and dark comedy.

The festival opens with the UK premiere of April X, a near-future thriller set in a fractured post-Soviet city, following a man searching for his missing twin as reality unravels around him. The opening night also features The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God, a new animated short from Gorillaz, adding a surreal musical element to the programme.

Across the narrative selection, films explore themes of identity and survival in different settings. Lost Land, an award-winning drama, follows two young Rohingya siblings on a dangerous journey from a refugee camp in Bangladesh towards Malaysia. Silent Rebellion is set in 1940s Switzerland, where a teenage girl begins to question her village’s rejection of French refugees during the Second World War. In Summer School, 2001, a teenager returns to Czechia after years abroad and is forced to confront a fractured family life and cultural displacement.

Other films in the programme include Born to Lose, a US debut about a young biker trying to rebuild his life while facing his father’s legacy and criminal debt, and Fränk, an Estonian first feature exploring violence and moral collapse in the aftermath of a domestic incident. Mexican debut Jardines del Bosque tells a story of three friends who revisit a childhood disappearance that continues to haunt them years later. No Lastname examines a family living in poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, while The Janitor follows an ageing school worker under pressure when a disturbing incident forces him into a moral investigation.

The programme also features Pescador, a surreal story of siblings drifting through Costa Rica’s landscapes, and Tramp, in which an MMA fighter faces an unexpected pregnancy that threatens her career and identity. In Thanks for Nothing, teenagers living in a group home create their own fragile sense of family while confronting trauma and mental health struggles.

The documentary strand covers similarly wide ground. Gaslit, executive produced by Jane Fonda, follows communities in the United States affected by fracking, while Ghost in the Machine traces the early ideological roots of artificial intelligence beyond its modern technological framing. Child of Dust tells the story of a Vietnamese man confronting his past as the son of an American soldier, and Copeland profiles musician Stewart Copeland and his creative legacy with The Police.

Other documentaries include Higher Calling, a Himalayan motorcycle journey following personal grief and questions of mortality, The Issue with Tissue, exploring Indigenous communities and deforestation in Canada’s Boreal Forest, and Let Us Be, which presents intimate portraits of intersex individuals across three continents. Rescue focuses on animal evacuation efforts during the war in Ukraine, while The Last Dive follows an ageing biker revisiting a long-lost connection with a manta ray.

Raindance’s horror strand brings a strong genre presence with films such as Corporate Retreat, where a corporate getaway turns into violent chaos, Pinocchio: Unstrung, a dark reimagining of the classic tale, and Serena, which blurs the line between artificial intelligence and manipulation. Broken Beak explores myth and ancestral trauma in New Zealand, while Child builds psychological tension around a couple attempting to save their dying child. Friday the 69th delivers horror-comedy nostalgia, and The Devil Whispered My Name turns to supernatural forces and past trauma in Argentina.

The festival also continues its Oscar-qualifying short film programme, featuring notable works such as Psychopomp, directed by Kit Harington, Joke, which pays tribute to Barry Cryer with appearances from Judi Dench and Stephen Fry, and Life Goes On, a dark comedy about an infinite time loop in end-of-life care. Other shorts include Something Wild, Pankaja, Ali, and Free Fish, which was filmed in Gaza during the ongoing conflict.

This year’s Raindance Film Festival will present a broad snapshot of global independent cinema that should not be missed.

For tickets, visit here.

Featured image courtesy of Raindance Film Festival

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