At this year’s Raindance Film Festival, Darryl Chase’s Macbeth won Best British Feature, Marie-Elsa Sguardo’s The Silent Rebellion won Best International Feature, Katie Camosy’s Gaslit won Best Documentary Feature, and Rob Alicia’s Serena won the festival’s first ever Best Horror Feature. The winners of the 34th festival were announced this Friday ahead of the closing night screening of Eddie Cochran: Don’t Forget Me, for which director Kirsty Bell won the Best British Director award.
Macbeth, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, weaves the famous story of the titular king into a film “brought to life by creating a social enterprise that challenges the barriers to filmmaking,” while the World War II drama The Silent Rebellion “follows a good-hearted teenager in 1943 Switzerland who questions the ethics of a village turning away French refugees.” Camosy’s “Gas Lit” follows the journey of icon Jane Fonda across the oil fields of West Texas’ Permian Basin and through the Louisiana Gulf Coast, visiting communities affected by oil and gas production. Horror movie winner Selina confronts the anxieties of AI through the story of a down-on-his-luck musician assigned to test an increasingly dangerous chatbot.
Anuja Swamy’s Pankaja, Rhian Aviram and Lewis Hollis’ The Vow, and Jocelyn Charles’ God is Shy will be considered for Academy Awards after winning Oscar-nominated awards for Raindance (Best Live-Action Short, Best Documentary Short, and Best Animated Short). In the short film category, Roisin Burns’ Wonderwall won the Best British Short Award. The festival also holds BIFA status for UK Featured Works.
The 34th Raindance opened on June 17th with the UK premiere of Michelle K. Parandi’s sci-fi thriller April X, starring Conor Storie, who broke out in Rivals. In addition to the highly competitive awards, the festival presented a series of Icon Awards to renowned actors Brian Cox and Miriam Margolyes, American film director and Troma Entertainment film studio co-founder Lloyd Kaufman, and a posthumous award to American rock legend Eddie Cochran. The Icon Award, presented to Eddie’s sister and niece, will be displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, along with Eddie’s original Gretsch guitar and other trophies. Cochrane is the subject of the festival’s closing film, Kirsty Bell’s Eddie Cochrane: Remember Me.
“Gaslit” (Courtesy of Raindance Film Festival)
Provided by Raindance Film Festival
This year’s judges include actors Adriana Paz (“Emilia Perez”), Charlotte Hope (“The Nun”), Jacob Anderson (“Game of Thrones”), and Sope Diris (“My Father”). The cast included Eva Birthistle (Bad Sisters), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors), and director Lee Knight (A Friends of Thrones). Dorothy’), Chris Overton (‘The Silent Child’), and Jamie Donoghue (‘Shock’). Other members of the jury include BAFTA-winning producer Fiona Lamptey, Zynga Films founder Julian Richards, Tigerlily Productions co-founder Natasha Duck-Ojumu and Marauder Pictures head of development Maxine Gordon.
Raindance announced 85 narrative and documentary features, as well as 112 short films and 27 immersive projects for the 2026 edition. 48 of the features (56% of the total) are by first-time directors.
The full list of winners is below:
Best International Feature: Marie-Elsa Sguardo, director of “The Silent Rebellion”
Best Documentary: Director of “Gaslit.” Katie Camosy
Discovery Award for Best Debut Film (Elizar Cabrera Award): “Thanks for Nothing” Stella Marie Marquardt
Best Debut Director: Nina Paninczak-Skaysbjorg, Sophie Rodham “Walls – Akinni Inuk”
Best Performance in a Debut Feature: Lila Gounod, “Silent Rebellion”
Best Horror Feature (Roger Corman Award): Director of “Serena.” rob alicia
British Feature Film Award: Director of Macbeth. Darryl Chase
Best British Feature Director: Kirsty Bell, “Eddie Cochrane: Remember Me”
Best Performance in a British Feature Film: Izabela Marewska, “The Tramp”
Best British Cinematography: Dan Poole, “Section 1591 – Child Sex Trafficking in the United States”
Spirit of Raindance Award (Philip Gambrill Award): Director of “So What.” blake inniss
Best Live-Action Short Award: Directed by “Pankajya”. Anuja Swamy
Best Short Documentary: Director of “The Oath.” Leanne Avirum Lewis Hollis
Best Animated Short Film Award: “God is Shy” Director. Jocelyn Charles
Best British Short: Director of Wonderwall. roisin burns
