Raindance has always aimed to champion independent filmmakers regardless of if they are veterans or new to the industry. Our goal is to amplify voices and provide an avenue for independent cinema to be celebrated. Over the last 30 years, we have seen many of our alumni go on to do incredible work on the big screen and receive the recognition they deserve. Our alumni work so hard to get to where they are, and as proud supporters, Raindance wants to continue celebrating their successes.
One of our most recent inspirational success stories is Nadira Murray.
Having grown up in Central Asia, Nadira, the daughter of two theatre actresses, began her career in the UK 20 years ago on stage. She trained at the Drama Studio in London before soon finding her passion as a producer during her studies at the Media Business School in Spain.
In 2015, Nadira chanced upon Raindance, becoming a member and attending her first British Independent Film Awards (BIFA). An active member, Nadira attended several Raindance events and courses including “Budgeting and Scheduling for Your Movie”, which helped to further her educational and networking opportunities. In 2014, Nadira established her production company Sylph Productions, where she produced multiple acclaimed short films including “Baku, I Love You”, “Locked In” and “Stuk”. Since her humble start, Nadira has gone on to produce Winners (2022), directed by Hassan Nazer, which won “Best UK Feature” at the 30th Raindance Film Festival, and has been selected as the official UK entry for the Oscars. The film, set in a small provincial town in Iran, follows nine-year-old Yahya, a quick-witted film fanatic, and his friend Leyla as they find a prestigious international trophy. Sharing a passion for cinema, Yahya’s boss Naser Khan (Reza Naji) decides to help them find the owner. Winners will be screened in theatres all over the UK and Ireland.
In an Instagram Live interview with Raindance Artistic Director Malaika Bova, Nadira was asked about her experience putting a film together with people of several different nationalities. Nadira spoke on how being an outsider, and not from the UK, she wanted her company and the project to focus on involving people from outside the UK of different backgrounds, as with her platform, she wants to work towards providing opportunities and representation.
Nadira shared that despite her team not being UK locals, she believes that Winners is a British film, because she hatched visually and creatively in the UK, having begun her educational filmmaking journey in London. Winners has a sense of internationality that creates a sense of belonging for all those watching.
Another question posed by Malaika was how does one behave in the middle of an Oscar race. Nadira responded with a simple “stay humble”. During the process, the team didn’t think of the successes of the films, they just wanted to create the best film they could, Nadira shared. She added that they didn’t expect anything, and just went in blind, submitting to festivals to see how far it could go, but didn’t think anything big could happen. “Of course we have little dreams inside of us, but we stay humble and see what happens”.
Since completion of Winners, the film has been screened at several festivals, including the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Raindance Film Festival (where they won Best UK Feature). Winners also won the Breakthrough Producer Award and The Raindance Discovery Award at BIFA 2022, and is in the race for the Oscars, and will be in theatres, with help from UK and Ireland distributors from early March 2023.
Raindance is eternally proud of Nadira and her achievements. We cannot wait to continue to marvel at accomplishments.
You can follow Nadira’s career here:
Twitter – @NadiraMurray69
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nadira.murray or Nadira Murray
Instagram – @nadira.murray
If you would like to sign up for a Raindance Course, click here.
Raindance promotes and supports independent filmmaking and filmmakers.
From new and emerging to industry pros, Raindance connects, trains, supports, and promotes visual storytellers through every step of their career.
The Raindance Film Festival runs each Autumn in London’s Leicester Square.
Raindance has been delivering film training since 1992. A wide range of Open Classes to a 2 year HND Level 5 BTEC in Moving Images to a Postgraduate Film Degree are delivered to students on five continents, both in person and online.
