From 18 February to 1 March, Glasgow will once again be playing host to its annual film festival.
Now in its tenth year, the Glasgow Film Festival celebrates some of cinema’s greatest films, while also acting as a premiere for new films from the industry’s best new talents.
The festival is set to open with the UK premiere of director Noah Baumbach’s latest bittersweet comedy, While We’re Young, which sports an ensemble cast, including Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts and Amanda Seyfried. Baumbach’s film tells a light-hearted story of intergenerational envy which soon takes a dark turn and borders on the autobiographical while also being described as the director’s best work.
However, While We’re Young is not the only new film that will be premiering at the festival. Each year, dozens of up and coming directors from around the world are given the opportunity to present their works in the Pioneer film strand, and this year is no different.
Pioneer films to look out for are: The Dark Horse, the second feature film written by James Napier Robertson, and It Follows, the first horror effort for director David Robert Mitchell, both of which opened to universal acclaim in New Zealand and at the Cannes Film Festival (respectively). The Argentinian black comedy, Wild Tales is also strongly recommended, having been described as “ideally structured and often wickedly dark” by Empire.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the Glasgow Film Festival without FrightFest, the UK’s leading genre festival, taking over on 27 and 28 February for two nights of the latest and best horror films. On show will be the Mad Max-esque zombie invasion film, Wyrmwood, along with documentary The Woods, which follows the production process behind the cult-horror classic, The Blair Witch Project.
On a more retrospective level, the festival will be honouring the late, great Ingrid Bergman. A century after her birth, Bergman is still regarded as one of cinema’s most influential leading ladies and an incredibly powerful feminist icon. In celebration, some of the actress’ greatest works will be on show including Casablanca, Anastasia and Murder on the Orient Express. There will also be a talk hosted by film critic Ulrika Knutson on Bergman’s life and the impact she had on Hollywood cinema.
Continuing the retrospective theme, the country focus for the festival this year will be Australia, featuring some of the country’s best films of yesteryear, such as Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Wake in Fright.
This strand of films will also allow audiences to discover a wealth of new films and talent emerging from Australia, like 52 Tuesdays, an award winning tour de force for director Sophie Hyde.
This is only a small selection of the huge number of great films on display at the Glasgow Film Festival later this month. So if one were to find themselves in Glasgow later this month, there are worse things to do than attend one of the numerous screenings taking place throughout the city.