Twenty years ago when Raindance founder Elliot Grove proposed the name for a festival he had in mind that would be devoted to indie films to take place in his adopted city of London, little did he realize how the organization would grow in the past two decades to become one of the pre-eminent festivals and filmmaker training programs on the continent. In a clear nod to the successful profile of the Sundance Film Festival (although with a specifically British nod to the drizzly UK weathe...

  Well, no one ever accused London of hogging too much of the world's great weather. In fact, it can be said that one of the reasons for the imperialistic urges of the British Empire was to find sunny climes and get out of the fucking rain. Well, rain is not a bad thing when it is a celluloid downpour, and that is what is on tap when the 18th edition of the Raindance Film Festival begins in London on Wednesday evening. This year’s lineup, which includes 69 UK Premieres, is a co...