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Raindance Film Festival turns 20!

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Last week, Mill London's scheduler and  film fanatic Ben Burdock packed his brolly (the London weather definitely was festival-fitting) and headed down to take in the sights and sounds of Raindance Film Festival

For the last twenty years the festival has been discovering emerging film talent from around the globe, whilst also offering a wide range of seminars and workshops presented by leading figures in the film industry. The festival has launched the career of many well known writers and directors, which include the likes of Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher, Drive) and Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace, Kill List).

This year saw the presentation of over 250 films, which included features, documentaries and shorts from all over the UK and around the world. Mexican film making took prominence this year, with "Here Comes the Devil" selected for the all-important opening film slot. Eight major awards were given out over the festival, with the Buzkashi Boys deservedly winning 'Short Film Of The Festival' and shortlisted for the 2013 Oscar Nomination for Best Short Film.

The Mill London and LA offices worked on two of this year's entries, both of which I had the opportunity to see on the big screen at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus, which is where most of the screenings were held.

The first film that I saw was Candida Brady's 'Trashed', an environmental documentary presented by world famous actor and activist, Jeremy Irons. Candida and Jeremy take us to various corners of the globe to highlight what really happens to our rubbish. Though rubbish tips in westernised countries are highly developed and regulated, they also have their own flaws highlighted in the film. However there are many locations around the world in which rubbish is simply piled high until literal mountains are formed, with the excess waste often drifting out to sea and ending up on the beaches of other countries. This one of the many issues highlighted in the film, which are of course getting worse as our planets population rapidly rises every year. What I particularly enjoyed about this documentary was the fact that as well as highlighting many issues, it spent an equal amount of time promoting solutions in practice, solutions which often create jobs as well as saving governments millions every year. Full festival Q&A here 

Another film that I got the chance to see was Peyton Wilson's 'The Bronzer'. This short documentary examines the life of Stu Larkin, the charismatic self-proclaimed  "last travelling salesman in America", who travels the country all year round to promote his family owned bronzing company. As well as portraying Stu as an extremely likable human being who everyone wanted to meet, what I feel the film really highlighted was the fact that family owned businesses with this level of commitment and contact with their customers are becoming rarer by the day in this day and age.

A film that I feel is also worth a mention is Rob Savage's debut feature, 'Strings'. Incredibly, Rob wrote, directed and shot the film between the ages of 17 & 18. With a small cast and crew and a modest budget (to say the least!) mainly raised through minimum wage jobs, Rob made a film that I think far surpasses his age when it comes to quality artistically and technically. I think this film is a great example to those out there pondering whether to take the leap and make a feature or not. A lesson learnt from Rob's film - just go out and do it! Full festival Q&A here.