Raindance Releasing launches on Hiway: the first streaming service where filmmakers keep the IP, the money and the audience.
The UK’s largest independent film festival becomes the first to run its own OTT platform on Hiway infrastructure, with effectively zero streaming costs. And the filmmakers are the real winners.
🎬 Raindance × Hiway
Press Release
CANNES, FRANCE, 17 MAY 2026
Raindance, the UK’s largest independent film festival, today launched its own OTT streaming service, powered by Hiway. The platform lets Raindance monetise its community’s catalogue year-round, hold on to full audience ownership, and operate with effectively zero streaming infrastructure costs.
The launch was announced live at the Raindance Filmmakers Party at the Marché du Film, Cannes 2026. The service is live globally from launch.
Raindance chose Hiway for one reason. The same things the festival gets, the filmmakers get too. Every producer on the platform keeps their IP, captures their own fan data, and takes their share of revenue in real time. That alignment is the whole point.
How it works
Content always stays inside the producer’s own Hiway Content Library. Through Hiway, producers syndicate their content directly to Raindance, without moving the media. The metadata, artwork, licensing period and commercial terms carry through automatically.
Audiences book and watch through a Raindance-branded platform. Filmmakers track every view and every sale in real time. Revenue splits land automatically, for both Raindance and the Filmmakers, with no royalty report lag and no surprise reconciliations.
It is the first time a major film festival has launched a fully branded OTT service in days, with no streaming-cost burden, no multi-quarter buildout, and the kind of transparency content owners have been asking for.
“This is the future of festivals. We are no longer just a 10-day event. Our films, our filmmakers and our audience are on Raindance year-round.” Elliot Grove, Raindance Founder
What’s included
The Raindance OTT service offers year-round access to the festival catalogue, with TVOD (PPV and rentals) and branded collections. Filmmakers and rights holders keep full control of their content and IP. Revenue splits are automated and trackable in real time.
The platform also opens up new commercial models for the festival, including premiere bundles, alumni passes and partner co-productions. Raindance can syndicate selected films to partner platforms without losing the audience relationship.
Why it matters
Festivals mostly operate on a 10-day window of intense activity. A Hiway-powered Raindance OTT changes that. The festival now has a year-round revenue line, a year-round audience relationship and a year-round content business. The platform keeps the Raindance community in front of audiences every month of the calendar, not just the ten days of the festival.
The point is the model works both ways. The festival wins. The filmmakers win on exactly the same terms. The audience stays close to both. Nobody is trading control for distribution.
“Raindance picked Hiway because what works for the festival also works for the filmmaker. We’ve changed the economics of streaming, giving creators the control and transparency they’ve been calling for.”
David Orman, CEO and Co-Founder, Hiway
About Raindance
Raindance is the UK’s largest independent film festival, founded in 1992. It champions independent voices in cinema and runs year-round programmes for filmmakers including the Raindance Film School.
About Hiway
Hiway is the direct-to-fan infrastructure layer for the creator economy. It gives content owners one control panel to store, share, distribute, monetise and track their content. Founded by Zach Rothwell, Adam Greenwood and David Orman. Powering independent film, creators, festivals, film schools and enterprise content libraries. www.onthehiway.com
Media contact
Hiway: hello@onthehiway.com
Raindance: press@raindance.org (to confirm)
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