Here Comes The Devil to open 20th Raindance festival

Adrián García Bogliano’s Here Comes The Devil will receive its international premiere as the opening film of the 20th Raindance Film Festival, which takes place at the Apollo Cinema in London’s West End.

Bogliano’s fantasy-horror is one of 13 international premieres at this year’s edition, which will also host 19 world premieres, five European premieres and 64 UK Premieres. 105 features and over 138 shorts will screen, including 24 directorial debuts from 38 countries.

The UK premiere of Juan Carlos Maneglia & Tana Schembori’s 7 Cajas will close the festival on Oct 7. Both Here Comes The Devil and 7 Cajas are also screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Among the strands at this year’s edition are UK Homegrown featuring world premieres of Christopher Payne’s Love Tomorrow and Tobias Tobbell’s Confine, American Indie featuring the world premiere of former Raindance winner Rudol Buitendach’s Dark Hearts, and a documentary section which includes a screening of Candida Brady’s Trashed, with Jeremy Irons and composer Vangelis in attendance.

The festival will also hold retrospectives devoted to Chris Marker, with screenings of three of his films never seen before in the UK including Sunless, and Trent Harris who will be in attendance to launch the retropspective which will screen the likes of Rubin And Ed and The Beaver Trilogy.

Outside of the films screening, the festival will also welcome Chuck Palahniuk who will introduce his short film Romance and will host a fundraising dinner for the UK charity Independent Film Trust.

Sitting on this year’s Raindance Jury panel are Karel Och (Artistic Director, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), French actress Agathe Bonitzer, Gaia Meucci (Short Film Programmer, Encounters Film Festival), Karel Spesny (Program Director, Prague Short Film Festival), Kate Tancred (Managing Director, The Smalls), producer Sarah Radclyffe, screenwriter William C. Martell, filmmaker Nicolangelo Gelormini, Oli Harbottle (Head of Distribution, Dogwoof), film critic Nic Baisley, journalist Virginie Selavy and Helen Cowley (Head of Editorial and Digital Content, LoveFilm).

Raindance Film Festival Founder Elliot Grove said: “Raindance: 20 years on and the independent film spirit is stronger than ever - as this year’s outstanding selection proves. This year’s collection of outstanding films proves that despite the difficult international economic climate, independent filmmakers continue to amaze, impress and entertain.”

For the full lineup, visit Raindance’s website.