The 34th Raindance Film Festival has unveiled the opening and closing gala films for its 2026 edition, set to take place from 17–26 June in London.
Opening the festival on 17 June at Vue West End in Leicester Square will be the UK premiere of April X, the debut feature from filmmaker Michel K. Parandi. The near-future sci-fi thriller stars Connor Storrie and Lilly Krug as twins Bax and April, whose lives spiral into chaos after April mysteriously disappears in a post-Soviet cityscape.
Producer Lavinia Postolache said the team was “honored” to open Raindance, describing the festival as “the perfect home for a story rooted in identity, guilt, and the complexity of human connection.”
The opening gala will also include the first and exclusive festival screening of The Mountain, The Moon Cave And The Sad God, a new animated short film created by virtual band Gorillaz. The short is directed by Jamie Hewlett, Timothy McCourt and Jonathan Djob Nkondo.
Closing the festival on 26 June will be the European premiere of Eddie Cochran: Don’t Forget Me, an authorized documentary directed by Kirsty Bell about rock & roll pioneer Eddie Cochran.
Produced by the Academy Award-winning team behind acclaimed documentaries including Quant and Ronnie’s, the film explores Cochran’s enduring influence on artists ranging from David Bowie and The Sex Pistols to The Beatles, Rod Stewart and Yungblud.
Director Kirsty Bell said she was “incredibly honoured” to bring the documentary to Raindance, adding that the film was made “with enormous love and respect for Eddie, his family and the generations of artists he inspired.”
As part of the closing gala, Eddie Cochran will receive a posthumous Raindance Icon Award, which will later be displayed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
Raindance founder Elliot Grove said the festival was “thrilled” to open with “a bold and brilliant indie sci-fi” from debut director Michel K. Parandi, while also celebrating Kirsty Bell’s return to the festival following the world premiere of her first feature A Bird Flew In at Raindance in 2021.
Further programme highlights for the festival will be announced during Raindance’s villa party in Cannes on 17 May, ahead of the full programme reveal on 18 May.
For more information, visit www.raindance.org/festival.