Populaire to open ninth Glasgow Film Festival

Opening night gala film Populaire.

French romantic comedy Populaire will open this year's Glasgow Film Festival on Valentine's Day, it was announced today. Arbitrage, Cloud Atlas, Robot And Frank, Compliance, The Paperboy and John Dies At The End are among the big name films in an impressive line-up that also includes cutting edge independent work and classics from the archives.

Preceded by the dedicated three day Short Film Festival and ten day Youth Film Festival, which includes Oscar nominated animation Wreck-It Ralph, the main slate features a strand dedicated to new Brazilian cinema and another looking at original tough guy James Cagney. The Frightfest weekend returns with another selection of shockers, including eagerly anticipated Barry Levinson movie The Bay, Scottish treat Sawney: Flesh Of Man and grindhouse delight Bring Me The Head Of The Machine Gun Woman. Mark Millar's popular Kapow! strand includes a special appearance by First Minister Alex Salmond, who has chosen his favourite geeks film for the audience to enjoy - one of four surprise movies showing at the festival. And there's also a brand new strand dedicated to the crossover between films and computer games, hosted by Burnistoun's Robert Florence.

As always, the festival is packed full of special events and parties. There are mystery tours of the city, secret goings-on in the subway and even a cinema-themed treasure hunt. You can also see films in some unusual locations, but if you fancy watching Jaws while floating on the Clyde, be sure to get your ticket early, or they'll need a bigger boat.

The Youth Film Festival will run from 3-13 February, the Short Film Festival from 7-10 February and the main event from 14-24 February. You can see the full line-up and our coverage so far here.