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| The launch of the 19th Glasgow Short Film Festival Photo: Andrew Robertson |
Glasgow's 19th Short Film Festival opened with the, by now traditional, screening of a film that was not a short. Festival supremo Matt Lloyd talked about how after "moving out of mum's house" the Short and Film Festival had an unwritten agreement that one wouldn't show shorts, and the other wouldn't show features. He did note that at least one of them was sticking to it.
Introduced as a "very special UK première", Downriver A Tiger would be both the opening gala of the 2026 Short Film Festival and one of the first screenings of the Catalan Film Festival. The film's director, Victor Diago, and much of his cast and crew were in attendance, as the filmmaker is based in Barcelona while his film was shot in Glasgow. Adding to the various moguls in attendance was Tom Wood, the CFF's Festival Coordinator, who would introduce the film.
Before then Matt extended effusive thanks to the festivals' supporters, including Estrella. He talked about how GSFF's support for the Catalan Film Festival was in part due to the "devastating news" about the closure of Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts. The CCA had been a key location for previous festivals, hosting screenings, the awards, and more. He continued talking about the closure being a "hammerblow" to the city, and paid tribute to its past contributions to the vital work of cultural production. He mentioned Glasgow Media Access Centre, Project Ability, and others affected by their short notice eviction from arts hub Trongate 103. He talked about the failures to protect culture, with multiple venues in Glasgow caught up in a vicious market-led cycle.
Talking about the consequences of that kind of thinking, he gave the example of a vape-shop burning down a historic building. Walking to Glasgow Film Theatre, I passed several other gap sites - ignoring the unoccupied buildings there was the empty space that had held Victoria's nightclub, and had before that been the Salon cinema, and then the wreckage of the ABC, another former cinema, which had been a casualty of the fires at Glasgow's School of Art. Finance, and not fire, has closed down even more of Glasgow's Art venues, but it's no less painful for being a product of profit-seeking.
It was hard not to consider parallels with the damage done elsewhere as a consequence of violence, as Lloyd made mention of friends, colleagues, and former featured festival guests in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran.
Venues across Glasgow had "bent over backwards" to help the festivals after the CCA closed. Arts, culture, are an area where Glasgow, Scotland, contributes meaningfully, and beyond (Amazon) MGM's motto of 'Ars Gratia Artis' it has other weight. Announcing that the festival had secured additional National Lottery Community Fund support for their work with inmates at HMP Polmont, they will be building on an ongoing animation project which involves Ross Hogg with more film-making. As the first film of the festival, Framed: A Director's Commentary was screened. A delightful mixed-media animation, it talked in places about charcoal and the "faint outline of where it used to be." A standout was the use of sketchbooks as something akin to flick-books, caught by the camera with hands holding the pages open and the frame-flicker of life.
After this Matt gave way to Tom, who introduced Downriver A Tiger. He explained that the film "unites Glasgow and Catalonia" in a way that would be perfectly familiar "if you live in Glasgow at least." He explained that as soon as they heard about the project they knew they had to screen it. He then introduced director Victor Diago who gave further effusive thanks to the others involved in the film.
Glasgow Short Film Festival have long been champions of inclusivity, and they've built upon past efforts again. This year's screenings have content warnings, are subtitled as has been the (welcome) case for a while now, and this (and other) live events are signed. Victor joked that this was his first time with "translation for the non-hearing" and that it would have been "useful for [several] ex-boyfriends." He advised the audience to let ourselves go, that at an hour and 15 minutes the film was "not that much." He said he was "excited to see [reviews]" and that as a masochist he will read them all. It becomes a logic puzzle to determine if he'd be disappointed by how much the audience (and your reviewer) enjoyed it.
