[title]
The UK’s biggest independent film festival kicks off next week at the Prince Charles, Genesis, and the Soho and Mayfair branches of Curzon, with a tonne of cutting-edge indies to catch over the ten-day bonanza.
Not sure what to see? Here are some excellent-sounding titles to look out for, all of which still have tickets on sale.
1. The Man With a Thousand Faces
Like ‘The Tinder Swindler’ with even more air miles, the mysterious cad at the heart of this knotty French-language doc spanned the globe duping and ripping off unsuspecting women. Is his name Alexandre, Ricardo, or Daniel? Is he a surgeon or an engineer? Brazilian or Argentinian? All of the above? Fans of true-crime documentaries will want to pull the thread that leads to the four separate women he’d simultaneously been living with, all of whom are now hot on his heels.
Prince Charles Cinema. Wed Jun 26. £15.
2. Smiling Georgia
In his 2012 election campaign, the Georgian president made the eccentric promise to replace the rotten teeth of anyone who voted for him. As this enthralling documentary charts, what happened next was a dental disaster to match that bit where Dustin Hoffman gets his gnashers yanked out in ‘Marathon Man’: the president lost and the implants never arrived. A timely dive into the shady world of electioneering, it’s capped with a sure-to-be-compelling Q&A with director Babak Jalali.
Prince Charles Cinema. Sat Jun 22. £15.
3. Cat Call
Raindance is a great place for making discoveries, and this cheese-dream of a romcom leaps out on a programme full of distinctive voices and enticing narratives. A young Hungarian architect is haunted by visions of the death of every man she finds attractive. Enter a talking cat, occult oddities, and some head-spinning horror weirdness. Director Rozalia Szeleczki will be at the Prince Charles to field questions too.
Prince Charles Cinema. Tue Jun 25. £15.
4. The Heirloom
Expect lots of offbeat laughs as a nebbish filmmaker and his partner gain a pooch but lose traction on their relationship in a comedy-drama with shades of early Woody Allen. Featuring real-life couple Ben Petrie (the writer-director) and Grace Glowicki as the two leads, it’s billed as ‘part rescue-dog romcom, part auto-fiction psychodrama, and part family scrapbook’. Which sounds like a new genre we can all get behind.
Prince Charles Cinema. Mon Jun 24. £15.
5. Something’s More Than One Thing
This sideways look at modern dating comes with some powerhouse backers in Joe and Anthony Russo. The ‘Avengers: Endgame’ directors are champions of indie filmmaker Jay Alvarez, whose new movie should connect with anyone who’s suffered through spells on dating apps. It stars Devan Costa, the host of the New York Times-endorsed ‘Lemon Party’ podcast, and is a world premiere well worth swiping right on.
Sun Jun 23. Genesis Cinema. £10.50.
Head to the official Raindance site for all the programme info and to book tickets.
The best cult classic movies of all time.
The best movies of 2024 (so far).