Raindance Launches U.K.'s First Major Vertical Film Festival

By Daniel Okafor

Raindance will launch the U.K.'s first major vertical festival and market on Dec. 4 in London. The one-day event, Raindance Vertical, takes place at Soho's Karma Sanctum Hotel — neatly sandwiched between Content London and the British Independent Film Awards. Submissions opened today via FilmFreeway and run until November, open to U.K. and international filmmakers.

The vertical market is big money. Short-form vertical media is projected to generate $150 billion in revenue this year in markets outside China. The U.K. has been slower than most to catch on. Raindance, the British indie film stalwart, has decided to stop waiting.

What's on the programme?

The festival runs two competitive categories: Vertical Short Film and Vertical Series. Filmmakers working in the format will jury the awards. Everything screens in 9:16 — the portrait aspect ratio native to phones. Panels and workshops round out the day.

The commercial core is what Raindance calls a "vertical mini-market," run with Charlotte Knowles' Creative HQ. It will match pre-vetted producers with financiers, platforms, commissioners and brands. That's the part the U.K. scene actually lacks. According to Raindance, British filmmakers already produce vertical work to a professional standard but have "few routes to the financiers, studios, streamers and brands who could back it."

What are the founders saying?

Raindance founder Elliot Grove did not mince words. "The British film industry needs to stop sneering at the shape of the screen and start watching what's on it," he said. "We started Raindance to give filmmakers a chance when the industry wouldn't. Raindance Vertical carries that forward: discover the talent, take the work seriously and put filmmakers in the room with people who can finance their next project."

The advisory group includes director Dan Löwenstein, founder of House of Create, who has directed 36 vertical dramas for broadcasters, streamers and dedicated microdrama platforms. Jen Cooper of Vertical Drama Love and Christine Hartland, co-founder and COO of My Smash Media, complete the line-up.

Löwenstein defended the craft side of the format. "Vertical takes the same directing discipline, the same crews and the same storytelling rigour, just with a different structure and pace," he said. "It's fast, data-informed and, yes, low budget, but within those constraints you find real invention. This festival is a chance to show the best U.K. and international vertical drama alongside outstanding features and shorts, and I'm excited to see what the U.K. brings to the format."

Does the format deserve a festival?

Grove's sneering line lands because the sneering is real. Vertical drama has mostly been treated as a phone-native curiosity, somewhere between advertising and content. Löwenstein's 36 credits suggest otherwise — broadcasters and streamers are already commissioning the work. The constraints are tight, the budgets are low, and the invention, he argues, comes precisely from that squeeze.

Raindance has a track record here. It built its name giving platforms to filmmakers the industry ignored in the 1990s. Vertical is the same bet, three decades later, with a different screen ratio.

The December date gives the event a natural audience: industry attendees already in London for Content London, plus BIFA-season filmmakers. If the mini-market connects producers with real financing, the festival becomes more than a curiosity showcase. If not, it's a well-juried screening day in Soho. Either way, submissions close in November — the 9:16 crowd now has a deadline.