Raindance announces Jury for Festival Awards for 19th Raindance Film Festival
28 Sep – 9 Oct
Raindance is delighted to announce the jury for this year’s Festival Awards. The panel, which includes
actors, directors, presenters, journalists and members of the film and photograph industry, will judge
the films nominated in each of the eight categories, with the winners to be announced on Saturday 8th
October, 8pm at the Festival venue, the Apollo Cinema in Piccadilly Circus.
The eight categories are:
Best International Feature, Best UK Feature, Best Debut Feature, Best Documentary, Best Microbudget
Feature, Best UK Short, Best International Short and the Film of the Festival.
“Our jury represents the spectrum of the film industry – from actors to directors and critics to
programmers – they bring an in-depth knowledge of film to the judging panel and will have the
difficult job of choosing winners from the outstanding titles nominated this year,” said Elliot Grove,
Festival Director.
The jury is as follows:
Sally Bibawy
Sally Bibawy joined analogue photography company, Lomography, in 1995 and took over the art direction
and product development in 2000. She is a board member, together with Matthias Fiegl and Wolfgang
Stranzinger, since 2004 and is based in Vienna.
Dexter Fletcher
Best known for his role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Dexter Fletcher has grown up on screen,
beginning with his role as Baby Face in Bugsy Malone and on the British TV series Press Gang. His many
credits include The Elephant Man, Layer Cake and Kick Ass. Dexter also appeared in the 2009 Raindance Film Festival Trailer.
Gillies MacKinnon
Scottish Director Gillies MacKinnon has assembled one of the most impressive bodies of work in
recent British cinema with directing credits including Small Faces, Trojan Eddie starring Richard Harris
and Stephen Rea, A Simple Twist of Fate with Steve Martin, Regeneration starring Jonathan Pryce,
James Wilby and Jonny Lee Miller, Hideous Kinky with Kate Winslet, and the Golden Globe-winning
television Film, Last of the Blond Bombshells starring Judi Dench. His other work includes The Escapist,
Pure, historical drama Gunpowder Treason and Plot with Robert Carlyle, Tara Road , and The Snow
Goose starring Billy Connolly.
Céline Masset
Céline Masset is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Brussels Short Film Festival, which will
celebrate its 15th anniversary next year. Her company, Un Soir Un Grain, also distributes and produces short films.
Helen McCrory
Helen McCrory is a multi award-winning actress on stage, television and the silver screen. She played
Cherie Blair in The Queen and The Special Relationship and played Narcissa Malfoy in the last three Harry
Potter movies. She will appear in Martin Scorsese’s soon-to-be-released film, Hugo and We’ll take
Manhattan for the BBC.
Wendy Mitchell
Wendy Mitchell is head of news at Screen International and ScreenDaily.com. Before moving to London,
she worked on staff in New York for Entertainment Weekly, indieWIRE, Rolling Stone and CMJ, as well as
freelancing for the New York Daily News, Playboy, Variety, Billboard, Time Out New York and The Wall
Street Journal. She is also the author of New York City’s Best Dive Bars (published in 2003).
Alex Zane
Alex began his career hosting the film review show Screenplay and fronting MTV’s flagship show, TRL.
A talented radio broadcaster, Alex began working at Xfm in 2002, and hosted the station’s Breakfast
Show for two years. His TV credits include Popworld, Balls of Steel, 8 out of 10 Cats and he hosted this
year’s Red Carpet Live for the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Alex currently hosts Channel 4’s Rude
Tube, Alex Zane’s Guest List and is the lead film reviewer for The Sun.
Festival Awards – nominated films
Best International Feature
Just Between Us / Rajko Grlic – Croatia
No Return / Miguel Cohan – Spain / Argentina
After Fall, Winter/ Eric Schaeffer – USA
Youth H2 “Come As You Are” / Kota Yoshida – Japan
War Games / Cosimo Alemà – Italy
Best UK
Acts Of Godfrey / Johnny Daukes – UK
A Thousand Kisses Deep / Dana Lustig – UK
Flutter / Giles Borg – UK
Hollow/ Michael Axelgaard – UK
Seamonsters / Julian Kerridge – UK
Stranger Things / Eleanor Burke – UK
Best Debut
Tilt / Viktor Chouchkov Jr. – Bulgaria
Synchronicity / Joe Tanaka – Japan
Exteriors / Marie Kristiansen – Norway
Restive/ Jeremiah Jones – USA
Best Microbudget Feature
MONK3YS / Drew Cullingham – UK
Julius Caesar / Adam Lee Hamilton & John Montegrande – UK
Uspomene 677 / Mirko Pincelli – Bosnia Herzegovina / UK
Meso Cafe / Ja’far ‘Abd al-Hamid – UK
Black Pond / Tom Kingsley – UK
Best Documentary
White Button / Igor Stoimenov – Serbia
The Echo Of Astro Boy’s Footsteps / Masanori Tominaga – Japan
Where My Heart Beats / Khazar Fatemi – Sweden
How to Start A Revolution / Ruaridh Arrow – UK
Heaven + Earth + Joe Davis / Peter Sasowsky – USA
Best International Short
The Lady Paranorma / Vincent Marcone – Canada
Martyr Friday / Abu Bakr Shawky – Egypt
Words / Sven Vinge – Denmark
Zoltan- The Hungarian Gangster of Love / Justin Reardon – USA
Hemingway’s Pen / Renzo Carbonera – Italy
Best UK Short
This Side of the Afterlife / Adam Horton – England
God View / Billy Lumby – UK
The Girl Is Mime / Tim Bunn – UK
Love At First Sight / Michael Davies – UK
Rough Skin / Cathy Brady – UK
About Raindance Film Festival
Raindance Film Festival will run from 28 Sept – 9 Oct at the Apollo Cinema in London’s Piccadilly Circus, with the
Opening Night premiere of Another Earth at Cineworld Haymarket on 28 Sept.
For press accreditation visit: www.raindance.co.uk
Tickets and passes to the festival will be on sale from 6th September on www.raindance.co.uk
Now in its 19th year, Raindance Film Festival is Europe’s leading Independent Film Festival showcasing feature films, shorts and docs from around the world and specialising in independent films and directorial debuts. The
festival has a strong legacy of showing alternative, edgy films. Since 1993 Raindance Film Festival has uncovered
the hottest new filmmakers to hit the cinematic scene. Raindance-premiered hits include Pulp Fiction, Memento,
the Blair Witch Project, Ghost World and Love Exposure.
Raindance – The Voice of Independent Film
Raindance is dedicated to fostering and promoting independent film in the UK and around the world. Based in the heart of London, Raindance combines Raindance Film Festival, Training Courses, the prestigious British Independent Film Awards and Raindance.tv
Frost will be covering the Raindance Film Festival.
