If it’s February it must be raining and it must be the
Glasgow Film Festival, surely a marriage made in heaven. Running from 17th – 28th February, it’s a festival which, geographical bias aside, has become one of the very best, and this year’s programme shows a swagger and confidence that befits an event moving comfortably into its second decade.
Here’s just a taste of what’s on offer:
As ever, there are various categories to guide you to what may be your cup of tea. This year they include Dream Teams On The Silver Scream, Roads To The South: Argentinian Cinema, Window On The World, Local Heroes, Modern Familes, Nerdvana, Sound & Vision and the always popular FrightFest.
Add to those some very special events at appropriate venues, an opening and closing Gala, celebrations of cinematic anniversaries, a series of talks about the industry, the Glasgow Short Film Festival, the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, and you’ll begin to realise the breadth and depth of what’s on offer, and you should take time to peruse the full programme at your leisure as it offers different potential ‘must sees’ with every read. So much so that you may fear you’ll have to break the bank to enjoy yourself, but there are free showings on offer, as well as a great selection which come under the Festival for a Fiver category.
You can keep updated throughout the festival on Facebook and on Twitter @glasgowfilmfest #GFF16 as well as with the excellent GFF Blog.
But before you explore all of that, here is a personal selection of 11 films I’m looking forward to, and which will hopefully offer up some suggestions for you. All life is here, from big-budget star vehicles, to low-budget social commentaries. There’s classic cinema (including one of my top ten all-time favourite cinematic moments), Patrick Stewart in hardcore horror, a documentary of a Scottish literary legend, Miles Davis, an underrated Woody Allen, a bravura and moving performance from Tommy Flanagan, a 1980’s coming-of-age movie with a wonderful soundtrack (if you like that type of thing), a timely showing of one of Bowie’s great on-screen roles, a film where I am but one in a cast of hundreds, the welcome return of Michael Caton-Jones, and, by chance, lots and lots of great music.
To buy tickets, click on the films’ titles.
Hamish – (This is not a trailer from the film, but will tell you more about it’s subject)
Thanks for watching, and maybe I’ll see you in the cheap seats…
