Elliot Grove Raindance: Interview

Posted 10 years ago by myetvmedia

Elliot Grove talks film festivals, the industry today, branding, and social media.

Visionary Elliot Grove is the founder of Raindance, the independent international Film Festival and film school that he started in London, UK in 1992. He quickly coupled film training courses with a Raindance Film Festival in 1993 and added the British Independent Film Awards in 1998. Judi Dench and Tom Waits are just two of the many notable jurors for BIFA, which counts The UK Film Council as a major Funding Partner.

Elliot is Canadian and in 2005 he opened the first international office for Raindance, Raindance Canada, in Toronto. This year will mark the 4th Annual Raindance@TIFF Industry Party & Pitch Video Contest. Today, Raindance has a presence around the world and has seen the careers of some of the many young filmmakers coming through the doors soar to international heights including Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright, Guy Ritchie, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Elliot gets very excited about independent film and has currently resumed his own role as a filmmaker.

Elliot says that the power of Film Festivals is in helping an unknown independent filmmaker get discovered. Some indie films shown at the Raindance Film Festival 2012 include: Searching For Sugarman, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Rust and Bone, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Imposter and Amour. BIFA takes place in Central London (Piccadilly Circus) and will screen 100 feature films and 150 short films this year.

Raindance film training courses focus on everything an independent filmmaker needs from some marketing savvy to technical know how. Today you can apply through several universities to a graduate degree program that is teamed up with Raindance to provide Raindance’s unique independent certification and experience.

Elliot came to see us at the Pinewood Toronto Studios, to chat about his philosophy behind Raindance, independent film festivals and the importance of training for independent filmmakers.

Moira Romano

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