Big names will descend on Glasgow for film festival

A full programme has been announced for Glasgow Film Festival 2019.

Across 12 days, the city-wide celebration of cinema will feature 337 individual screenings, talks and events – showcasing seven world premieres, 102 UK premieres and 49 Scottish premieres from 54 countries.

From 20 February to 3 March, guests including Sir Michael Palin, Carol Morley, Matt Bomer, Carlos Acosta, Josh O’Connor, Alice Lowe, Simon Amstell and legendary music video director Lance Bangs will attend the 15th annual festival

Six out of the ten nominees for the prestigious Glasgow Film Festival Audience Award are new features directed by women.

Glasgow Film Festival is thrilled to give the first big screen outings of seven new features. Many were made right here in Scotland and look set to follow in the success of last year’s world premiere closing gala, the smash-hit BAFTA-winning Scottish documentary Nae Pasaran.

World premieres from home-grown talents include: BAFTA-winning director Matt Pinder’s new feature documentary Harry Birrell: Films of Love and War, which plunders the treasure trove archives of Scottish amateur filmmaker Harry Birrell to present one man’s view of the 20th century; debut feature director Marilyn Edmond’s Connect, an ambitious attempt to confront the issue of suicide amongst young men in Scotland, featuring a deeply affecting performance by Kevin Guthrie; Do No Harm is director Stephen Bennett’s compelling exploration of the legacy of Scottish-born psychiatrist Dr Ewen Cameron and the experiments that contributed to systems of modern-day torture across the globe; Mackintosh Redux is the painstakingly remastered new version of Murray Grigor’s 1969 film made to complement the Mackintosh Centenary Exhibition, with a brand new score by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; and, Alberta Whittle, the recipient of the 2018/19 Margaret Tait Award will present the first ever screening of her newly-commissioned film between a whisper and a cry. Returning crowd favourite FrightFest will also offer up two spine-tingling world premieres, with Automata, a bold and original work from Scottish auteur Lawrie Brewster and ‘Downton Abbey meets The Evil Dead’ in Jack McHenry’s pitch-perfect Here Comes Hell!

Scots actress Karen Gillan, from Inverness, stars in US drama All Creatures Here Below

Festival favourite Karen Gillan delivers another star turn in the international premiere of wrenching US drama All Creatures Here Below; director Andrew Peat returns to Scotland for the European premiere of Scotch – The Golden Dram, a handsomely crafted documentary charting the story of the Scottish whisky industry through its most famous distillers and ardent enthusiasts; The Science of Ghosts (from director Niall McCann whose Lost in France documentary had its premiere at GFF17) is an imaginative and humorous riff on the musical biopic featuring Irish singer-songwriter Adrian Crowley, whilst theatre director Simon Sharkey will introduce Run Free, the story of his working in a ghetto in Kingston, Jamaica, teaching young boys parkour and physical theatre over a period of four years for the National Theatre of Scotland, Manifesto Jamaica and the British Council.

GFF will host over 100 UK premieres, making Glasgow audiences the first in the country to see this wide selection of new films.

UK Premiere highlights include: Gerard Butler and Peter Mullan in the eerie re-telling of the real-life Flannan Isle mystery, The Vanishing; Stephen Merchant’s solo feature film directorial debut, Fighting With My Family, a warm-hearted true story about wrestling and family bonds starring The Rock and Florence Pugh; Yuli, the dazzling, rags-to-riches life of ballet superstar Carlos Acosta, beautifully captured by director Icíar Bollaín and I, Daniel Blake writer Paul Laverty; Annabel Jankel’s Tell It To The Bees starring Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger as two young women falling in love and causing scandal in their 1950s Scottish small town; Glasgow director Robbie Fraser’s Final Ascent, about the life of legendary Scottish mountaineer Hamish MacInnes, featuring testimonies from Sir Michael Palin and Sir Chris Bonnington; Patrick Wang’s Altman-esque Midwest epic across two parts, A Bread Factory; Emilio Estevez’s The Public, a moving, thought-provoking, state-of-the-nation drama starring Alec Baldwin; two nNew films starring Dev Patel – Hotel Mumbai, a gripping dramatisation of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, and Michael Winterbottom’s eagerly-awaited thriller The Wedding Guest; Sacha Polak’s Dirty God, screening fresh from Sundance and featuring astounding newcomer Vicky Knight as a young mother rebuilding her life following an acid attack; She’s Missing, a haunting thriller set in the deserts of the American deep south starring Josh Hartnett; and Tyrel, a jet black comedy and razor-sharp analysis of racial divides in America starring Jason Mitchell, Michael Cera, and Caleb Landry Jones.

49 must-see films make their Scottish debut at this year’s Festival. Scottish premieres include: US stand-up comedian Bo Burnham’s eagerly awaited directorial debut, Eighth Grade; fellow comic Simon Amstell’s feature directorial debut, the fresh and endearing rom-com Benjamin; Only You, charting a beautiful romance that begins on Hogmanay on the streets of Glasgow, featuring rising stars Josh O’Connor and Laia Costa; Papi Chulo, the new feature from John Butler (director of GFF17 opening film Handsome Devil) that sees a heartbroken weatherman (played by Magic Mike star Matt Bomer) strike up a friendship with an elderly Mexican labourer; The Merger, starring top Australian stand-up Damian Callinan as a former professional Aussie Rules footballer returning home to help his hapless local team; Prophecy, an unprecedented insight into the mind of acclaimed Scottish artist Peter Howson as he works on his latest masterpiece; and the astonishing immersive documentary about the raw power of water, Aquarela (supported by Creative Scotland), screened on Dolby Atmos at Cineworld for full, jaw-dropping effect.

A host of famous faces and rising talent are coming to GFF19. Sir Michael Palin will attend the UK premiere of Final Ascent and also discuss his varied and fascinating career in a special live Empire podcast, while Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and The Pastel’s Stephen McRobbie with join Daydream Nation director Lance Bangs for a post-screening Q&A and Magic Mike, American Horror Story and White Collar star Matt Bomer treds the red carpet at the Scottish premiere of Papi Chulo. Other guests include: one of the world’s greatest dancers Carlos Acosta alongside his Yuli director Icíar Bollaín and writer Paul Laverty; stand-up comics-turned directors Bo Burnham and Simon Amstell; actor and disability campaigner Adam Pearson; Irish musician Adrian Crowley; director Carol Morley; actors including Swedish horror icon Christina Lindberg, award-winning Belgian director and actor Bouli Lanners who stars in two Festival titles (Real Love, The Third Marriage), the star of Netflix’s latest hit Sex Education Connor Swindells; and rising star of Dirty God, Vicky Knight.

Tickets for the full programme are on sale now for GFF members, and on general sale on Monday 28 January at 10am.