Sunny Dancer | Watch the Bella Ramsey coming of age comedy for free

Coming-of-age comedy drama Sunny Dancer, starring Bella Ramsey, will screen for free at over 120 independent UK cinemas as part of Escapes ahead of its release on 14 August.

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Cinema to all

Escapes is a nationwide free cinema initiative on a mission to bring cinema to all by hosting more than 100 free film screenings every month.

A group of misfits

Sunny Dancer follows 17-year-old Ivy. After Ivy beats cancer she can’t think of anything worse than becoming a Make-A-Wish kid. When her parents send her to a summer camp in Scotland for kids affected by cancer, Ivy has a hard time adjusting to the rules. But as the weeks progress, she manages to find unexpected friends in a group of misfits and has a summer she’ll never forget at ‘Chemo Camp.’

Ensemble cast

Sunny Dancer comes from 26-year-old writer-director George Jaques, starring a beloved ensemble cast including Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones, The Last of Us) as Ivy, as well as James Norton (Happy Valley, House of Guinness) and Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer) as Ivy’s parents. Also starring is Neil Patrick Harris alongside rising stars Ruby Stokes, Earl Cave, Conrad Khan, Daniel Quinn-Toye, and Jasmine Elcock. You’re Beautiful singer James Blunt even makes a cameo as himself.

Sunny Dancer’s soundtrack comes from Haim sister Este Haim and Zachary Dawes, best known as a regular Lana Del Rey collaborator and member of the British supergroup The Last Shadow Puppets.

“…this was something I absolutely needed to do.”

Bella Ramsey said after reading the script, they were convinced: “There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that this was something I absolutely needed to do.”

“I wanted to tell a cancer story”

For Sunny Dancer’s writer and director George Jaques, the film’s inspiration was personal: “My mum had cancer for a long time when I was growing up. I think it was part of why I got into writing. Having that background as a teenager, and her getting diagnosed massively impacted the way I saw the world. So I knew I wanted to tell a cancer story.”

Sunny Dancer Bella Ramsey and Neil Patrick Harris. Photo by Colin J Smith © SUNNY DANCER Distribution Limited

Jaques remembers saying, “I want to make a film about cancer but I don’t want to make it depressing. I want to do a film with no hospital scenes.” Jaques wanted to reflect the teenage cancer patients he met as an ambassador for the Teenage Cancer Trust. “I wanted to make a film where cancer was the least interesting thing about the characters. They have these skills, this whole life, because they are still teenagers.”

Sunny Dancer screens for free at over 120 UK independent cinemas on 27-28 July 2026. Tickets are available now at escapetothecinema.co.uk.

Devon and Cornwall cinemas offering free tickets include Plymouth Arts Centre, Phoenix Cinema (Falmouth), Scott Cinema (Barnstaple), Savoy Cinema (Penzance), Newlyn Filmhouse, Regal Cinema (Redruth), New Carlton Cinema (Okehampton), Capitol Cinema (Bodmin), Kings Cinema (Kingsbridge), New Central Cinema (Torquay), and The Plough Arts Centre (Torrington).