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| Departing festival co-director Allan Hunter receives a standing ovation Photo: Eoin Carey |
The Glasgow Film Festival has announced attendance figures of 33,667 for this year's event, taking it back to pre-pandemic levels. Over 12 days, a total of 295 film screenings, plus assorted workshops and special events, saw a 25% improvement on 2022 in a city which once had more cinemas than anywhere else in the world.
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| Riceboy Sleeps Photo: courtesy of Glasgow Film Festival |
The opening and closing gala presentations - Adura Onashile’s Glasgow-shot Girl and Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society - both sold out, and guests, as well as audience members, were enthusiastic about their experience at the festival. “It feels so cool to be having the UK premiere of this movie, which is so special to me, here in this festival where it feels like there’s a young, modern, fresh feeling about interesting films, said Emily Watson, star of God's Creatures. "It’s places like this, where people come out arguing and talking about movies and having a communal experience, that are giving film life.”
“I love the festival, because the festival is for people, it is for audiences, they believe in people. And I feel like with Glasgow, everyone here loves film," said Typist Artist Pirate King director Carol Morley.
As the event came to a close, there was good news for director Anthony Shim, whose film Riceboy Sleeps won the Audience Award.
This festival was the last one for Allan Hunter as co-director. He has been with the event for 17 years, choosing every other Surprise Film and arranging free screenings of classic films in the mornings which proved popular with cinemagoers of all ages. The audience thanked him for his work with a standing ovation.
Eye For Film understands that the future organisation of the festival is still under discussion but its return in 2024 has been confirmed, with dates to be announced soon.
