The 27th Raindance Film Festival announced this year’s Festival Award winners at its awards ceremony at Planet Hollywood on September 27th.
This year, Raindance Film Festival presented a highly anticipated line up of 90 feature films, 113 short films, 19 music videos, 18 webseries and 29 virtual reality experiences. The submissions included 61 world premieres, 32 international, 18 European and 102 UK Premieres.
Rather than having a guest country, this year we chose to have a guest continent, Europe. In the face of Brexit we wanted to show how the world is united through film, and to give a platform to film makers challenging adversity. Our amazing jury consisted of 31 industry professionals and some of the best British talent including director David Yates, musician Emeli Sande and actor Tom Felton. Read on to see the full list of winners.
Features
Film of the Festival
The Planters
WINNER: The Planters (Dir. Alexandra Kotcheff, Hannah Leder)
Best UK Feature
On The President’s Orders
WINNER: On The President’s Orders (Dir. Olivier Sarbil, James Jones)
Hurt By Paradise (Dir. Greta Bellamacina)
My View: Clem Burke (Dir. Philip Sansom)
Schemers (Dir. Dave Mclean)
Thirst For Justice (Dir. Leana Hosea)
Best International Feature
By The Name of Tania
WINNER: By The Name of Tania (Dir. Mary Jimenez, Benedicte Lienard)
7 Reasons To Run Away (From Society) (Dir. Gerard Quinto, Esteve Soler, David Torras)
Aurora (Dir. Miia Tervo)
Greener Grass (Dir. Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe)
Jirga (Dir. Benjamin Gilmour)
The Man Who Surprised Everyone (Dir. Natasha Merkulova & Aleksey Chupov)
Best Documentary Feature
Who Made You?
WINNER: Who Made You? (Dir. Iiris Härmä)
Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy (Dir. Elizabeth Carroll)
Driven to Abstraction (Dir. Daria Price)
Family In Transition (Dir. Ofir Trainin)
Thirst For Justice (Dir. Leana Hosea)
Why Are We Creative: The Centipede’s Dilemma (Dir. Hermann Vaske)
The Discovery Award
Platform
WINNER: Platform (Dir. Sahar Mosayebi)
A Dobugawa Dream (Dir. Asato Watanabe)
Alice (Dir. Josephine Mackerras)
Miguelito (Dir. Sam Zubrycki)
Oray (Dir. Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay)
The Waiter (Dir. Steve Krikris)
Best Director
The Waiter
WINNER: The Waiter (Dir. Steve Krikris)
7 Reasons To Run Away (Dir. Gerard Quinto, Esteve Soler, David Torras)
By The Name Of Tania (Dir. Mary Jiménez, Bénédicte Liénard)
Chicuarotes (Dir. Gael Garcia Bernal)
Greener Grass (Dir. Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe)
Best Screenplay
WINNER: Erased (Screenwriter Miha Mazzini)
A Regular Woman (Screenwriter Florian Oller)
Dark, Almost Night Screenwriters Borys Lankosz & Magdalena Lankosv)
Luna (Screenwriters Elsa Diringer & Claude Mouriéras)
The Man Who Surprised Everyone (Screenwriters Aleksey Chupov & Natalya Merkulova)
Best Cinematography
The Real Thing: Real Life in Fake Cities
WINNER: The Real Thing: Real Life in Fake Cities (Cinematography by Bastian Esser)
Beyond The Bolex (Cinematography by Camilo Lara Jr, Joe Areddy)
By The Name Of Tania (Cinematography by Virginie Surdej)
Kifaru (Cinematography by David Hambridge)
The Waiter (Cinematography by Giorgos Karvelas)
Best Performance
The Man Who Surprised Everyone
WINNER: The Man Who Surprised Everyone – Evgeniy Tsyganov
By The Name Of Tania – Tanit Lidia Coquiche Cenepo
Emma Peeters – Monica Chokri
Matthew Mark Luke John – Rebeca-Nicoleta Cobzaru
The Waiter – Aris Servetali
Spirit of The Festival Award
Alice
WINNER: Alice (Dir. Josephine Mackerras)
Shorts
Best Short of the Festival
Brotherhood
WINNER: Brotherhood (Dir. Meryam Joobeur)
Feathers (Dir. Meryam Joobeur)
Pearl (Dir. Yuchao Feng)
New Land Broken Road (Dir. Kavich Neang)
Milton (Dir. Tim Wilkime)
Best UK Short
[box] 
The Devil’s Harmony [/box]
WINNER: The Devil’s Harmony
November 1st (Dir. Charlie Manton)
Pagans (Dir. Lucy Luscombe)
Strange Days (Dir. Alice Seabright)
This is the Winter (Dir. Peter King)
Best Documentary Short
Kamali
WINNER: Kamali (Dir. Sasha Rainbow)
Inferno (Dir. Patrick Fileti)
Heroin Hearse (Dir. Ryan Buckley)
99 Problems (Dir. Ross Killeen)
Here We Are (Dir. Viviana Zuñiga)
Best Animation Short
The Opposites Game
WINNER: The Opposites Game
The Mystical Journey of Jimmy Page’s 59 Telecaster
The Woman Who Turns into a Castle
My Generation
Brexicuted
Best Music Video
Feet
WINNER: Feet (Dir. CC Wade)
Fukk Sleep (Dir. Diana Kunst)
Monophobia (Dir. Nick DenBoer, Kenny Hotz)
Ghosts (Dir. Michael Hughes)
Sissy Fatigue (Dir. Olivia Norris, Oscar Oldershaw, Jackie Pratt, Joseph Campbell, Gonnerheous Reese)
Check out the Raindance Immersive Award Winners here.
Did You Know?
- Raindance Film Festival is considered one of the top fifteen film festivals in the world?
- Raindance has a Higher Education programme offering HND, BA and MA in Filmmaking and Screenwriting?
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- Let Raindance guide you on your filmmaking pathway. call +44 (0) 207 930 3412 or email filmschool@raindance.ac.uk
