Raindance Festival: where to spot the DiCaprios and Tarantinos of tomorrow

Since its 1993 launch, Raindance has had a formidable rate of picking winners, and the audience is as diverse as the programme
Gregor
Gregor

You always hope when you attend a film festival that you are going to learn something, to discover a movie or a talent that will shake up the world of cinema in some small way. At the Raindance Film Festival, the London-based boutique showcase for the world’s best independent cinema, there’s a fair chance you will.

Raindance has a formidable hit rate for picking winners. Its launch, in 1993, featured the world premiere of Lasse Hallström’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, starring Johnny Depp and an 18-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio. The following year, Raindance gave UK audiences their first opportunity to watch Pulp Fiction. In 2000, Christopher Nolan, who was supported by Raindance founder Elliot Grove as a young film-maker, showed Memento at the festival.