Jun 17, 2026
The 2026 Raindance Film Festival opens this week. The year-round streaming home behind it has been open for a month. Both are powered by the same mission: bringing independence back to independent filmmakers.
David Orman
Co-Founder & CEO
The festival starts opens tonight!
For ten days, London becomes the centre of the independent film world. The 2026 Raindance Film Festival runs from 17 to 28 June.
Thirty-four years on from Elliot Grove pitching the first edition out of a Soho flat, Raindance has grown into the UK’s largest independent film festival and one of the most respected indie showcases in the world.
This year’s programme delivers what Raindance always has. World premieres of features and shorts from filmmakers you haven’t heard of yet but will. Documentaries, fiction, animation, experimental work. Panel rooms that fill up. Masterclasses that overrun. The Filmmakers Party. The awards ceremony. And the kind of late-night conversations that change a career.
It’s the festival the industry pretends to be too cool for, then quietly admits is where most of the actual deals get done. Maybe even over a few glasses of the bubbly.
We’ll be there for the full ten days.
What’s on, and where to find us.
The full Raindance programme is at raindance.org/festival. A few moments we’re particularly excited about:
Opening night, Wednesday 17 June. The festival kicks off with the world premiere of the year’s most-talked-about indie feature.
Immersive World Ecosystem panel. Saturday 20 June, 15:30. David Orman, Hiway CEO, on stage with the people building the next layer of media infrastructure.
Creative HQ Panel. Thursday 25 June, 16:30. Zach Rothwell on what’s actually working for independent filmmakers right now.
Filmmaker onboarding clinics. Every day at the Hub. Bring your film, leave with it live on Raindance Releasing.
The Filmmakers Party. No commentary needed.
Awards ceremony, Saturday 27 June. The closing-weekend showcase of the year’s best independent voices.
If you’re attending: come and find us.
We’re the team behind the tech that’s powering Raindance Releasing. We’d love to meet you.
Release on Raindance?
Raindance Releasing is the year-round home for your film.
Most festivals are ten days a year. Raindance has spent thirty-four years championing independent filmmakers. The challenge has always been the same. Once the festival ends, the relationship with the filmmaker effectively pauses until next year.
That changes now.
Raindance Releasing is a new streaming platform built into the festival. Films stay live, year-round, available to global audiences from the moment they’re approved. The filmmaker keeps the rights. The festival keeps the curation. Everyone wins.
It’s the first time a major film festival has stood up a global, year-round streaming service of this kind.
And it’s powered by Hiway.
How it actually works.
There’s a piece of technology underneath this that’s worth understanding, because it’s never been done before.
Most streaming platforms work one way. The platform takes your file. The platform transcodes it. The platform stores it. The platform owns the audience data. The content owner gets a quarterly statement, if they’re lucky.
Raindance Releasing flips that. The filmmaker keeps the master file inside their own Hiway Content Library. With one click, they syndicate that title to Raindance. The metadata, artwork, licensing period, territories and commercial terms travel with it automatically. Nothing is re-uploaded. Nothing is transcoded twice. Nothing leaves the filmmaker’s control.
All you need to do is follow the steps in the Raindance-Hiway onboarding guide.
Raindance gets a curated, year-round catalogue without paying a single CDN bill. Filmmakers get a global shop window without giving up their IP, their data or their margin. Both sides see the same numbers, in real time, on their own private, secure Hiway dashboard.
This is what direct-to-fan infrastructure looks like when it’s built properly.
Six firsts. One platform.
Raindance Releasing shipped six mediatech innovations at Cannes 2026. Every one of them is now available to every filmmaker who signs up:
Zero streaming cost for the platform. Films stream from the filmmaker’s library. No streaming bill on either side.
Full IP control. Master files never leave the rights holder. Remove a film with one click.
The filmmaker sets the terms. Splits, territories, windows, data sharing. Per title. Per partner.
Real-time revenue, both sides. Automatic splits at the moment of sale. No royalty reports.
Both sides capture the audience. Two CRMs, one source of truth. The filmmaker owns their fans.
Onboard in minutes. A filmmaker can be live on Raindance Releasing in under thirty minutes.
The platform receives and screens content without ever ingesting it. The media never leaves the content owner’s library. That has never existed before.
User Guide
How to get your film on Raindance Releasing.
If you’re a filmmaker, the whole thing takes about half an hour.
Sign up to Hiway at raindance.s.onthehiway.com.
Upload your film once into your own Hiway Content Library.
Add your metadata, artwork, subtitles, audio versions.
Set your terms: territories, pricing, windows, what you want to share with Raindance.
Send the syndication request to Ed at Raindance.
Once approved, your film goes live on the platform.
Your master file never moves. You keep the rights. You set the terms. You get paid the moment someone watches.
It works on a Tuesday morning in Lagos. It works at 11pm on a Sunday in Manchester. It works wherever you make your work.
Discover. Be Discovered.
That’s the line under everything Raindance Releasing does. It works two ways.
For viewers, it’s a curated home for independent films you won’t find anywhere else. Films selected by the festival that’s championed indie filmmaking since 1992. Year-round. Watched on any device.
For filmmakers, it’s a year-round shop window with the festival’s audience behind it. Without giving up your IP, your data, or your margin.
That alignment is what’s new. And it’s why every content owner now has a real seat at the table.
If you’re at the festival.
Find us at the Hub. David’s joining the Immersive World (Ecosystem) panel on Saturday 20th June at 15:30. And Zach’s on the Creative HQ Panel on Thursday 25th June at 16:30. We’ll be there to help run filmmaker onboarding sessions across the week.
If you’ve got a film, bring it. The whole onboarding takes about thirty minutes. By the time the festival closes on 28 June, your film could already be live on Raindance Releasing.
If you’re not at the festival, that’s fine too. The whole thing happens online.
Useful links
Raindance Film Festival 2026 - schedule, tickets, venue
Raindance Releasing - take a peek at what’s on
Raindance Releasing - sign up for filmmakers, the onboarding flow
Hiway - the infrastructure layer
David Orman on the Immersive World (Ecosystem) panel - Saturday 20 June, 15:30
Zach Rothwell on the Creative HQ Panel - Thursday 25 June, 16:30
When does the Raindance Film Festival 2026 take place?
The 2026 Raindance Film Festival runs from 18 to 28 June in London. It's the UK's largest independent film festival, BAFTA qualifying for shorts and BIFA qualifying for features. Full programme and tickets at raindance.org/festival.
What is Raindance Releasing?
Raindance Releasing is the festival's new year-round streaming platform, built so independent films stay watchable globally long after the festival ends. It launched in spring 2026 with founding films from the Raindance roster. It's curated by Raindance and powered by Hiway, the infrastructure layer behind it. Browse the catalogue at raindance.onthehiway.com.
How do I get my film on Raindance Releasing?
https://raindance.s.onthehiway.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=RaindanceReleasing raindance.s.onthehiway.com, upload your film once into your own Hiway Content Library, set your commercial terms, then send the syndication request to Raindance. Once approved, your film goes live. The full onboarding usually takes about thirty minutes. Features and shorts both qualify.
Do I keep the rights to my film?
Yes. Your master file stays in your own Hiway library. Your IP stays with you. You set the territories, pricing, windows and data sharing. You can remove a film with one click. Your share of every viewer transaction lands in your bank account the same day the film is watched.
About the Author
David Orman
Co-Founder & CEO
With a career that has taken me through venture capital, media, sport and digital content, I’ve picked up more stories than I can count, and too many I can't tell....