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| Nell Barlow and Ella-Rae Smith in Sweetheart Photo: courtesy of Glasgow Film Festival |
This year's Glasgow Film Festival has now officially drawn to a close, and the organisers have revealed that it reached an impressive 37,733 viewers (just over 5,000 fewer than last year) despite being forced by the Covid-19 pandemic to operate entirely online. More than 70 filmmakers participated in Q&As and further 1,500 people attended online events such as a music session presented by Nightwave, one of the DJs who features in Underplayed.
Several of the films featured in the festival line-up will remain available for UK viewers to watch via Glasgow Film At home until 10 March, with the festival team planning to arrange additional online screenings through the platform throughout the year to come.
As is traditional, the Audience Award was also announced tonight, going to Marley Morrison's whimsical take on teenage holiday romance, Sweetheart. "This is totally unexpected," said Morrison. "It’s been an emotional and wild journey making this film and to get this recognition from such an amazing festival, I'm hugely grateful... This award belongs to all the cast and crew who worked so hard to make the film what it is."
"We have all been overwhelmed by the response to this year’s festival," said GFF co-director Allan Hunter. Audiences old and new have embraced the wide-ranging, carefully curated programme, allowing GFF to spread its wings across the whole of the United Kingdom. It has been fantastic to see the results of a great team effort rewarded in this way. It has been a real thrill for filmmakers to witness all the love and support for their work. It has all felt like some bright, warming sun amidst the global gloom and has underlined once again that Glasgow audiences are simply the best."
