Raindance winners announced

The Blue Tower named best of British.

by Amber Wilkinson

The 16th Raindance Film Festival came to a close on Sunday after attracting record breaking crowds. The festival went out with a bang by announcing the winners of its various jury prizes.

Debut-helmer Smita Bhide's cross-cultural drama The Blue Tower about a dreamer who embarks on an affair with his bed-ridden aunt's nurse, was named the best British feature film, while short film Red Sands - about beauty and pain of bullfighting - was named best British short.

Brazilian film Estomago, directed by Marcos Jorge was named best international feature, while the international short prize was scooped by Benoit Amell's A Juicy Turkey.

Production Office was named best debut. The Canadian feature, directed by Deborah Marks and Steve Solomos, is set entirely within one room and gives an insight into the high-tension world of film production.

Ben Byer's personal document of his own battle against a fatal neurodegenerative disease, Indestructible, was named best documentary, while the audience award went to Samuel Holland's Zebra Crossing - exploring loneliness in London.

The SAE digital short film award went to US filmmaker Carolyn London's A Letter To Colleen.

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