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Boxing Drama ‘Heavyweight’ Opens Raindance, Art School Tale ‘The Academy’ Closes 33rd Edition

London's Raindance Film Festival will kick off its 33rd edition with the world premiere of Christopher M. Anthony's boxing drama 'Heavyweight.'

Documentary selections include “Beam Me Up, Sulu” (Timour Gregory, Sasha Schneider, U.S.), exploring the life of “Star Trek” actor George Takei; “Children in the Fire” (Evgeny Afineevsky, Ukraine), featuring war-wounded Ukrainian children sharing their stories; “God As My Witness” (Lindsay Q. Pitre, U.S.), exposing secrets within the Archdiocese of New Orleans; “I Hope This Helps!” (Daniel M. Freed, U.S.), exploring AI through Google’s first chatbot; “Saint Damian” (Gregorio Sassoli, Alejandro Cifuentes, Italy), an uncompromising look at homelessness and mental illness; and “The Social Trap: 5 Women vs The Big 5” (Elisa Jadot, France), examining social media’s impact on mental health. U.K. selections feature “Breakwater” (Max Morgan), a romance between a young Oxford student and a retired angler; “Dali” (Mickey Angelov), about a Bulgarian-born American-raised rapper; “Emma: One Last Dance” (Maya Amin-Smith), documenting Emma Hayes’ final months at Chelsea Football Club; “In Symbiosis” (Helena Berndl, Francesco Maria Gallo), examining the food system; “Poised” (Toby Robson), following MMA in northeast England; “Row” (Matthew Losasso), a thriller about a failed trans-Atlantic rowing record attempt; and “The Rendlesham UFO: The British Roswell” (Roderick Godman, Mark Christopher Lee), an investigation into the 1980 UFO incident. The horror strand includes “Deformelody: An American Nightmare” (Joshua Rivera, U.S.), “Dirty Boy” (Doug Rao, U.K.) starring Graham McTavish, “Dui Shaw” (Nuhash Humayun, Bangladesh), “The Run” (Paul Raschid, U.S./Italy), an interactive film where audiences vote on choices, “White Guilt” (Marcus Flemmings, U.K.), and “Zhaza” (Darkhan Tulegenov, Kazakhstan).

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