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| The launch of the 2024 Glasgow Film Festival Photo: Eoin Carey |
The full programme for this year’s Glasgow Film Festival has now been revealed. The festival will open on 28 February with twisted romance Love Lies Bleeding, directed by Rose Glass, and close on 10 March with Janey, a documentary which follows comedian Janey Godley on her final tour following her terminal cancer diagnosis.
The 20th edition of the festival, this year’s event also celebrates the 50th anniversary of its principal venue, the GFT, and the 85th anniversary of the opening of the Cosmo Cinema with transformed into it. A special strand includes key films from each of these years, all of them free to watch.
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| Love Lies Bleeding Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
With films from 44 countries, including several world premières, the festival has plenty in store to keep audiences happy. It includes Glasgow Frightfest, whose line-up was announced last week, and a special focus on Czech cinema.
“I think if you're a distributor, you should be at this film festival picking up films because you're watching them with an audience and you can see people's reactions in real time,” said festival director Allison Gardner. “It'd be really great to see at least two or three of the Audience Award films, or those with first and second time directors, get some distribution.”
As usual, the festival punches well above its weight in terms of inclusivity, bringing a wide range of voices to the screen.
“I’m mixed-raced with Malaysian,” said Programme Coordinator Chris Kumar. “From my point of view, I really take great pride in being able to look at Southeast Asian cinema and trying to incorporate that into the film festival. It's obviously harder just in terms of the availability of things, so it's not always that easy. But I look at what we're doing as a team and we are definitely trying to use everyone's expertise in the team to delve into the different areas that they're really interested in. I think we'll obviously not be not there yet, but we're definitely in the right step, so I'm very happy with where we're at just now.”
Programmer Tomiwa Folorunso agreed. “It's also about letting filmmakers from these communities know that this is a place that their film is more than welcome. Making those connections and forging those relationships takes time, like any good thing. But I do think there's a team here that is committed to making the time and doing the work so that our programme continues to represent the best.”
