We just returned from the press launch for the 18th Raindance Film Festival, where the programme for this year’s festival was released. The 2010 festival promises attendees more controversial and provocative independent films exemplifying extreme stories and filmmaking.

The festival will open 29th September with Jackboots on Whitehall, an animation that gives a satirical alternate ending to WWII with voiceovers by the likes of Ewan McGregor and Alan Cumming. The after-party will feature sets from The Airborne Toxic Event, an indie band from the US, and prominent DJ Andrew Weatherall. Raindance will come to an end this year on 10th October with the London premiere of Son of Babylon. The award-winning Iraqi film follows a young boy and his grandmother as they search for his father who never returned from war.

Other festival highlights include Bedways, which explores the dangerous borderline between acting and reality when a man and two women begin living together while filming an erotic film; an uncut, private showing of A Serbian Film, which has been banned from a public screening due to its sexually contentious and explicit content; and the documentary Stolen, which tells the story of human slavery in a UN refugee camp through two survivors and has consequently been censored out of several festivals. With 77 features and 133 shorts, this year’s films range from UK premieres to a US documentary about tattooing, from a Belgium faux documentary about vampires to a showcase of Japanese cinema, with a film sure to interest every taste.

Beyond film screenings, the festival will host live events, with lectures, Q&As, and master classes. On the 5th of October Mike Newell, who has directed films such as Four Weddings & a Funeral and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, will be interviewed before a live audience before the screening of his latest film, Into the West.

The Raindance Film Festival Award winners will be announced on the evening of the 10th of October. Jurors include influential British film critic Derek Malcom; Julian Barratt, star of The Mighty Boosh; Lemmy, the founder of Motorhead; and Alison Owen, who has produced films such as Shaun of the Dead, Elizabeth, and Tamara Drew.

For further information on the festival, and to read the press release in its entirety please click here.