April 4, 1992.
This date was one of the most significant dates in my life – and still is today. It was the launch of the very first Raindance training event. And it was the 2-Day Film School presented by the legendary Dov S-S Simens.
And it was the birth of Raindance.
Over the next 9 months I organised training events, and in May 1993, I recall I had £100 left over from a filmmaking class. I got a copy of the May 1993 Variety listing of all the films in that year’s Cannes Film Festival, and I circled 68 of them I thought was suitable. I sent a one-page fax to everyone on that list for £1 a fax until the money ran out. And 38 of them showed up to the first Raindance Film Festival in October 1993.
I remember thinking. “This is it! This is the moment we’ have all been waiting for. No more waiting for someone else to decide which films get seen. If Raindance is going to succeed or fail, Raindance is going to do it on our its own terms with our own ideas and our own brand.”
And just like that, Raindance was born.
Five years later, one of our remarkable volunteers, Fred Hogge, suggested we throw party. So, in October 1998 we did, and the British Independent Film Awards was born. Remarkably, that first year’s event only cost Raindance £150. And something creatives have in abundance – a thousand hours of time. But we had a dream, our love for film, a ton of ambition, shelves full of scripts and VHS cassettes, and a big “R” on all of them. The rest is history. Our history.
That day, when we started, we were three people around a table. Looking back, we were far away from the dream team we have today. But we are visionaries, creators, and filmmakers. And we do what visionaries, creators and filmmakers do best. We got better.
Every day, every festival, and every BIFA we got better. With every new idea we got better. With every mistake we got better. And because of that, every filmmaker and everyone taking our courses got better.
From Day One, everything we did – and still do – was to unleash the potential of every visual content creator around the world. To make you stronger, more exciting and more entertaining. And to help you reach new audiences. To help you do things you never knew you could do. And it is because of you that we are who we are today.
Yours in filmmaking,
Elliot Grove
Did You Know?
- Raindance Film Festival is considered one of the top fifteen film festivals in the world?
- Raindance Film School London offers HND, BA and MA in Filmmaking and Screenwriting?
- Let Raindance guide you on your filmmaking pathway. call +44 (0) 207 930 3412 or email filmschool@raindance.ac.uk
- Raindance members support indie film, and enjoy a range of benefits
Photo Credit: Bertie Watson
I founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993 because the British film industry was closed, polite, and congratulating itself while shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 because British indie film deserved more than a shrug, a pat on the head, and a Tuesday night screening.
Raindance didn’t start as a brand. It started as a rebellion: film training without gatekeepers, a festival without permission, and a community built by filmmakers who weren’t waiting to be invited in.
Later, we took it global: Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, and Brussels, because independent film doesn’t belong to one city, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ short films and seven features, including Deadly Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) not because someone “discovered” us, but because the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books used by filmmakers worldwide because too many courses taught compliance instead of survival.
In 2009, I was awarded a PhD for services to film education, ironic, given that most of my career has been about tearing down the rules that education insisted you follow.
I don’t believe in waiting for permission.I believe in making work, building systems, and forcing the industry to catch up.
Specialties: Independent Film (the real kind) · Producing · Writing · Film Education · Festivals · Breaking Broken Systems
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