Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) has announced its full programme for its 19th annual edition. From 1 - 12 March, the festival will host over 250 screenings and events at Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) and other venues across the city.
The festival will open with the UK premiere of Glasgow writer-director Adura Onashile’s feature film debut Girl. Grace (Déborah Lukumuena) and her 11-year-old daughter Ama (Le'Shantey Bonsu) are trying to build a new life in Glasgow, a city where everything feels strange and hostile. Traumatised by her past, Grace just wants to keep her daughter safe from harm. Ama is told to trust nobody. When Ama makes friends with a classmate, it only adds to Grace’s anxiety and fear that their special bond is under threat. This atmospheric and poignant tale of what it takes to escape the legacy of violence and trust in the future marks Glasgow-based writer-director Onashile as an exciting new voice in Scottish cinema.
With the Opening Gala completely sold out, an extra screening has been added on Thursday 2 March due to phenomenal demand.
Still from Girl, courtesy of GFF
GFF23 will close on 12 March with the UK premiere of We Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor’s feature debut Polite Society. Following terrific buzz at Sundance Film Festival 2023, this riotous action-comedy will provide the perfect ending to the 2023 Festival, filled with hi-jinks, high kicks and some Bollywood style razzle-dazzle.
British Pakistani schoolgirl Ria (Priya Kansara) is an expert martial arts fighter and dreams of a career as a stuntwoman. Her big sister Lena (Ritu Arya) has dropped out of art school and is drifting in limbo until a whirlwind romance threatens to carry her off. What is the possible appeal of handsome, sensitive, wealthy, geneticist Salim (Akshay Khanna)? Now Lena is abandoning all her dreams to become his wife and move to Singapore. Something doesn’t add up and a distraught Ria is determined to uncover the truth. Is plotting to kidnap Lena from her own wedding a step too far? Fast-paced, funny and brimming with eye-popping Crouching Tiger-like fights, Polite Society is played to the hilt by a fantastic cast. Priya Kansara is a force of nature as Ria but may just have met her match in Nimra Bucha’s formidable matriarch, a woman who will let nothing stand in the way of her son’s nuptials. Let battle commence!
Tickets for the Closing Gala go on sale at noon on Wednesday 25 January. Tickets for the full GFF23 programme go on sale at 12 noon on Monday 30 January from GFT Box Office, online at www.glasgowfilm.org/festival and via telephone: 0141 332 6535.
Glasgow Film Festival is the festival for audiences and the 2023 festival aims to be affordable for all, with a range of free, Pay What You Can and £6.50 tickets for select events. Audiences can start their day with daily free morning showings of big screen classics, get Pay What You Can tickets for the World premieres of new Scottish feature Dog Days and archive documentary The Freedom Machine, and pay just £6.50 for tickets to the retrospectives of Oscar-winning Hollywood siren Gloria Grahame and Looking For America: The Films of Lee Grant
Programme highlights
World and European Premieres
GFF23 boasts 22 World, International and European premieres.
World premiere highlights include I Am Weekender, Chloé Raunet’s exploration of Wiz’s controversial and banned 1992 film about the UK acid house scene, featuring a host of talking heads including Bobby Gillespie and Irvine Welsh who says ‘without Weekender there would have been no Trainspotting’; the return of ‘the Springburn Scorsese’ James Price with Dog Days, a big-hearted look at a musically gifted homeless Dundee man (played by Neds star Conor McCarron) trying to turn his life around; Scottish film curator Jo Reid using archive footage to explore how women used the bicycle as a means to emancipation, in The Freedom Machine; and Stuart Cosgrove’s book tracing Muhammed Ali from confident teenager to heavyweight champion getting the big screen treatment in feature documentary Cassius X: Becoming Ali, featuring stunning archive footage and comment from those who knew him including girlfriend Dee Dee Sharp and Malcolm X’s daughter Attallah Shabazz.
European and International premieres include Schitt’s Creek and The Rig star Emily Hampshire’s new romcom The End of Sex, written by and co-starring GFF favourite Jonas Chernick (Ashgrove, James vs His Future Self); Mister Organ, the latest jaw-dropping documentary from Tickled director David Farrier following his three-year entanglement with ‘New Zealand’s most annoying man’; Oklahoma auteur Mickey Reece’s new black and white Lynchian odyssey about country music, legacy and cryogenics Country Gold; and Therapy Dogs, an incredible feat of guerilla filmmaking by US teenager Ethan Eng as he documents his last year at high school that blurs the line between fact and fiction to joyfully chaotic ends.
There’s a double dose of Jena Malone as she stars in two European premieres, as a young woman investigating the mysterious death of her priest brother at a convent on the Isle of Skye in Christopher Smith’s chiller Consecration; and as a single, unemployed drifter who seeks to re-set her life by being adopted in Adopting Audrey.
The End of Sex, courtesy of GFF
UK Premieres
GFF23 will offer UK audiences the first chance to see 70 new feature films. In a special International Women’s Day Gala UK premiere, Kelly Macdonald and Monica Dolan star in Carol Morley’s fantastical road movie Typist Artist Pirate King, telling the story of real-life outsider artist Audrey Amiss whose extraordinary body of work was only discovered after her death. Other highlights include Paul Mescal and Emily Watson in God’s Creatures, set in a close-knit Irish community ripped apart by allegations of sexual assault; Nicolas Cage as a seasoned buffalo hunter in Gabe Polsky’s vividly-realised Western Butcher’s Crossing; It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Glenn Howerton and How To Train Your Dragon’s Jay Baruchel in Blackberry, the story of the spectacular rise and fall of a tech giant; Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott displaying electrifying chemistry as a dominatrix and her longtime client in Zach Wigon’s twisty thriller Sanctuary; Benedetta star Virginie Efira shining in Rebecca Zolotowski’s beguiling melodrama Other People’s Children; A Cooler Climate, where 94-year-old filmmaker James Ivory revisits the footage he took during a nine-month trip to Afghanistan in the 1960s, revealing a lost paradise before decades of invasion and destruction; Glasgow artist Stephen Skrynka and his decades long ambition to create his very own Wall of Death in a listed warehouse on the Clyde in The Artist and the Wall of Death; Scottish favourite James Cosmo as a stubborn and reclusive widower who finds he may just give love a final chance in My Sailor, My Love and mockumentary Band, which deftly blurs the lines between fact and fictitious fun as it charts bandmates Álfrún, Saga and Hrefna giving themselves one year to make it big.
Audiences all across the UK will get a chance to enjoy two Glasgow Film Festival UK premieres, as Danial Goldhaber’s explosive climate crisis activism thriller How to Blow Up a Pipeline and Léa Mysius's elegantly intriguing French family drama The Five Devils screen at both GFT and cinemas in Belfast, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Cardiff and more.
The Artist and the Wall of Death, courtesy of GFF
Scottish Premieres
GFF23 will showcase two new documentaries by prodigious Scotland-based polymath Mark Cousins, with the Scottish premiere of The March on Rome, using archive footage to examine the roots of European fascism, and the UK premiere of the impish and insightful My Name is Alfred Hitchcock, which sees the legendary and notorious director rewatch his own films and question how they stand up in today’s society, courtesy of a pitch-perfect Hitchcock voiceover by impressionist Alistair McGowan.
Other Scottish premieres at the festival include Glasgow director Andrew Cumming’s buzzworthy debut feature The Origin, an innovative horror set in the Stone Age and shot during the pandemic in the Scottish Highlands; Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, an elegant adaptation of short stories by the great Haruki Murakami from composer-turned-director Pierre Földes; Mia Hansen-Løve’s deeply personal new film One Fine Morning, inspired by the death of her father and featuring a luminous central performance from Léa Seydoux; Ellie Foumbi’s raw and intense debut feature Our Father, the Devil, a psychological thriller about an African immigrant’s quiet life in small-town France upended by the arrival of a charismatic Catholic priest; and Raine Allen Miller’s joyful romcom Rye Lane, following two 20-something Londoners as they embark on an impulsive day of mayhem in the city.
The Origin, courtesy of GFF
Audience Award, Sponsored by Belhaven Brewery
The only award handed out at Glasgow Film Festival is given to an outstanding feature film by a first or second time director, and is chosen by our most important people – our audience. Sponsored by Belhaven Brewery, Scotland’s Oldest Working Brewery, the shortlist for the GFF23 Audience Award includes Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s sweeping Spanish debut feature Lullaby, an authentic portrayal of motherhood and sacrifice; Chandler Levack’s I Like Movies, a semi-autobiographical tale of a hyper-ambitious but socially inept teenage cinephile who gets a job at his local video store; Marianne Blicher’s multi-award winning Miss Viborg exploring love, loss, friendship and new hope; Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney’s unpicking of macho culture and vulnerability in Irish football in Lakelands featuring rising star Éanna Hardwicke (Normal People, Vivarium); Sophie Linnenbaum’s inventive social satire The Ordinaries set in a parallel cinematic world where everyone is divided into three classes - Main Characters, Extras and Outtakes (the lowest of the low); Andrea Bagney’s Spanish comedy Ramona whose titular character is hoping for a fresh start yet torn between head, heart, ambition and fidelity; actor and filmmaker Anthony Shim with his TIFF Platform Prize-winning drama about a Korean single mother trying to raise her son in 1990s suburban Canada, Riceboy Sleeps; Welby Ings’ Punch, starring Tim Roth as the alcoholic father of a young New Zealand boxer who is developing a friendship with a gay Māori teen; director and star Nicolas Giraud’s The Astronaut following a man determined to build his own rocket and pilot in into space; and Student Oscar Winner Alex Schaad’s Skin Deep, a provocative body-swap film exploring identity, gender fluidity, sexuality and the pursuit of happiness.
FrightFest
We are delighted to welcome back FrightFest for three days, 13 films and thousands of thrills from 9 - 11 March. This year’s programme features UK Premiere Sisu from Finnish director Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports) following its World Premiere success at TIFF. Prepare for a gore-filled Second World War action epic that pits one hard-to-kill Finn against Nazi soldiers in Lapland. Little Bone Lodge is another World Premiere from Matthias Hoene’s (Cockneys Vs Zombies) and the producers behind 47 Metres Down. The thriller, starring Joely Richardson (Colour Out Of Space), follows two criminals on the run who seek refuge in a desolate farmhouse in the Scottish Highlands before taking the resident family captive until they realise the house holds darker secrets of its own. Winnie the Pooh and Piglet are sent on a murderous scavenger hunt for human flesh in Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s UK premiere Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. As ever, expect the unexpected. These are just some of the highlights before FrightFest closes with International Premiere 13 Exorcisms wherein Jacobo Martínez brings dark presences, terrifying visions and ominous voices, with a local priest offering only one answer for freedom: a series of exorcisms, each more violent than the last.
2023 Country Focus: Viva el cine español!
GFF23 celebrates vitality with its 2023 Country Focus: Viva el cine español! showcasing a collection of eight contemporary films from Spain. Following success at Cannes Film Festival, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts will make its UK Premiere. Antoine (Denis Ménochet) and Olga (Marina Foïs) hanker for the land and plan to live at one with nature before psychological warfare bubbles in this gripping thriller. Themes of family, motherhood and solidarity emerge in La Maternal and Lullaby. Questions on the price of romance surface in The Water and Ramona. Continuing on the wave of sacrifice is melodrama Wild Flowers that draws a portrait of young single mother, Julia (Anna Castillo) navigating love, drive and stability. Juan Diego Botto‘s On The Fringe weaves three stories into a reflection on the human casualties of economic chaos, starring the brilliant Penélope Cruz. Finally, Spain is beginning to emerge from the shadows of the Franco dictatorship in agonising, justice-driven drama, Prison 77, based on true events.
Retrospectives
GFF is the film festival for audiences and nothing reflects this more than the wildly popular free morning retrospectives. For 2023, In the Driving Seat offers a time capsule to a different era on the big screen. These screenings are free to attend and will feature women taking charge of their lives, setting off into the unknown, seeking adventure, freedom and self-discovery. Titles include Bonnie and Clyde, It Happened One Night, Julia, Pierrot Le Fou, The Sugarland Express, Thelma & Louise and Vagabond. Roman Holiday will also celebrate its 70th anniversary with a new 4K restoration. Each free retrospective is given a special introduction by Festival Co-Director Allan Hunter where he shares anecdotes and filmmaking insights related to that day’s screening, unsurprisingly a firm favourite among GFF audiences. The 2023 selection of free retrospectives will conclude with Widows and thus Festival Co-Director Allan Hunter’s final film introduction at the festival. GFF23 will sadly be the final edition for Allan following 17 successful years in the role.
GFF23 will also shine a light on the documentaries of a Hollywood legend with Looking for America: The Films of Lee Grant. An Oscar-winning actor in Shampoo, The Heat of the Night and more, Grant turned her talents to documentary-making in the 1980s creating an extraordinary body of work that gave a unique insight into the female experience. Battered presents an exploration of men’s violence against women; When Women Kill evokes questions around justice, inequality and rehabilitation as it unveils seven women’s stories who were serving sentences for murder and manslaughter in the early 1980s; The Willmar 8 presents a cogent account of women fighting an institution on the Gender Pay Gap; What Sex Am I? Is marked by the attitudes and ignorance of the time but provides an authentic account of trans lives, giving visibility to those seeking ways to be true to themselves. Down and Out in America, displaying a poignant portrait of farming and unemployment in Reagan’s America, won the Oscar for Best Documentary and will also be screened at the festival.
GFF23’s programme will also include Gloria Grahame: Just Drawn That Way presenting the Academy Award-winning talent’s work spanning the 1950s. Titles include the magnificent melodrama and Oscar-winning The Bad and The Beautiful; atmospheric thrillers Odds Against Tomorrow and In a Lonely Place; and the epitome of film noir brutality in The Big Heat and Human Desire.
Special Events
Movie milestones celebrated with special screenings at this year’s festival include the 60th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and the 30th anniversary of Michael Myers’ cult classic So I Married an Axe Murderer. A Song In Three Parts is a programme of shorts and features focusing on Black physical and mental health across the World, from a pregnant farmer in rural Ethiopia to a young New Jersey man living wit depression. To coincide with the screening of Matt Johnson’s latest film Blackberry, GFF revisits his award-winning thriller The Dirties, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, as does Jonathan Glazer’s otherworldly modern classic Under The Skin, which gets a special festival screening accompanied with a live performance of Mica Levi’s BAFTA-nominated score by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Berman with soundscape by Sound Intermedia. An extra performance of this event on 4 March.
Under the Skin, courtesy of GFF
Allison Gardner, Co-Director of GFF, said: “I’m always so excited to share the hard work of the team here at Glasgow Film and let our audiences and film colleagues across the UK and beyond know about the great range of films we have on offer. I’m delighted that audiences across the country can watch How To Blow Up a Pipeline and The Five Devils at our partner venues. We can’t wait for UK audiences to be the first to see films such as My Name is Alfred Hitchcock, with a 60th anniversary screening of The Birds on the first Sunday, Sanctuary and some fabulous Icelandic films, Driving Mum, A Letter from Helga and Band. Whilst I will sorely miss my co-director Allan as this is his last year, I think he would agree that this programme is a fabulous testament to the power of cinema.”
Allan Hunter, Co-Director of GFF, said: “It is always a thrill to raise the curtain on the GFF programme. The string of hand-picked gems for 2023 stretches from glorious new work by home grown talent to the very best that world cinema has to offer. Spanish cinema is a blazing beacon of creativity right now and I can’t wait for audiences to watch a stunning selection of premieres that includes the nail biting, award-winning thriller The Beasts, the irresistible family drama Lullaby and Prison 77, a jail story to rival The Shawshank Redemption. There are so many things I want to recommend from the tense Turkish thriller Burning Days to the magical, eye-popping The Ordinaries, to the latest Lav Diaz epic When The Waves Have Gone. All that plus a free retrospective that allows audiences to see undisputed classics like Bonnie and Clyde and The Piano on the big screen and absolutely free. If you love movies then where else would you want to be in March?”
Ben Luxford, Head of UK Audiences for BFI, said: “We are incredibly proud to support Glasgow Film Festival with BFI National Lottery funding, and are aware how much the festival cares about its audiences, both in Glasgow and across the UK. This year’s programme offers an exciting selection, from home-grown gems such as opening film Girl to international premieres with a focus on Spain. The BFI would like to say thank you to Allan Hunter for everything he’s done to create and curate this wonderful festival, and wish him all the best for the future.”
Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “EventScotland is a long-term supporter of Glasgow Film Festival, and we are delighted to be continuing our support of this year’s festival through our International Programme. Each year the festival continues to expand, innovate and adapt while ensuring its ethos of ‘cinema for all’ remains steadfast. By programming films set in Scotland alongside the best that world cinema has to offer, the festival plays a key part in inspiring both visitors and locals to explore beyond the film set, helping drive screen tourism which offers a fantastic opportunity to make a real connection with Scotland, our places, our people and our culture. Congratulations to Allison, Allan and all the GFF team on another fantastic programme – we wish Allan a wonderful final edition.”
Bailie Annette Christie, Glasgow Life Chair, said: “Glasgow Film Festival is one of the most anticipated and best-loved highlights of our city’s rich cultural events programme. This 19th edition of the internationally renowned festival will offer an exciting, extensive and wonderfully diverse programme showcasing some of the very best in contemporary and retrospective film. The quality and breadth of screenings and other events planned will attract audiences and industry professionals from near and far. We look forward to welcoming everyone to what I’ve no doubt will be another hugely successful festival that will reinforce Glasgow’s passion for and expertise in the film, TV and creative industries, reflecting our reputation as a leading cinema city and filming destination.”
Sambrooke Scott, Head of Audience Development at Screen Scotland, said: “We’re proud and excited to support this year’s edition of the Glasgow Film Festival. The festival distils and amplifies all that makes Glasgow Film Theatre the beating heart of film culture in the city; great cinema from around the world, community at its heart, accessible to all and an unsurpassed welcome. This year’s edition encapsulates these principles and offers new and familiar audiences the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of cinema and find new favourite films to cherish. 2023 promises a Festival to savour and remember.”
Fiona Matheson, Belhaven Brand Manager, said: “We're very proud to be supporting this year's festival, and in particular to be teaming up with film fans to shine a light on some of the best new directing talent emerging in cinema today. And as a brewery that has been refreshing Scotland's get togethers for over 300 years, we can't wait to join in the fun and share a few beers and brilliant films in Glasgow this March.”
Ticket information
Tickets for the full GFF23 programme go on sale at 12 noon on Monday 30 January from GFT Box Office, online at www.glasgowfilm.org/festival and via telephone: 0141 332 6535 (£1.50 fee per transaction, voice-mail available during peak business periods).
Glasgow Film Theatre Cinecard members get 4 days early-access to individual films from Thursday 26 January at noon, as well as discounted tickets for each performance. Memberships available from: https://glasgowfilm.org/what-we-do/plan-your-visit/memberships
Tickets can be purchased in person within normal GFT Box Office opening hours: Friday and Sunday to Thursday from 30 minutes before that day’s first screening, until 15 minutes after the last performance starts. Saturday from 11am to 15 minutes after the last performance starts.
Online booking closes 15 minutes before the advertised start time of each film. All performances will start at the advertised start time with no adverts or trailers. Late ticket-holders will not be admitted.
During the festival, tickets can also be bought in person (2-12 March) at the GFF Pop-Up Box Office located at Edward House, 199 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3EX.
Box Office Opening Times: 2-11 March 12:00-20:00, 12 March 12:00-16:00
GFF is one of the leading film festivals in the UK and run by Glasgow Film, a charity which also runs Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT). GFF is made possible by support from Screen Scotland, the BFI (awarding funds from the National Lottery), Glasgow Life and EventScotland.
More information
Information on GFF
Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) is firmly established as a key event in the UK's cultural calendar. Launched in 2005, GFF has grown greatly in significance and is now a key launching pad for films and one of the top film festivals in the UK. GFF continues to grow and develop its international reputation. Held annually, it presents a unique programme of feature film premieres, special events, live and interactive experiences, and an Industry Focus programme for filmmakers at every stage of their career.
GFF was named the Big Screen Event of the Year at Screen International’s Big Screen Awards in November 2022 for achieving a record high of 73% audience capacity at its first in-person edition post-Covid.
Previous GFF guests include Richard Gere, Alan Rickman, John C. Reilly, Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Richard Dreyfuss, Karen Gillan, Jessie Buckley, Sir. Michael Palin, Josh O'Connor, Ben Wheatley, Armando Iannucci, Jack O’Connell, Dexter Fletcher, Peter Mullan, George Sluizier, Peter Capaldi, Ty West, Richard Ayoade, David Dastmalchian, Eli Roth and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. www.glasgowfilm.org/festival
Information on GFF’s major funders:
About the BFI Audience Fund
The BFI Audience Fund invests £5.6m of National Lottery funding each year to expand access and encourage greater enjoyment of cinema by connecting audiences with great films - in venues, at events and online. We do this by supporting:
- leading exhibition organisations, including film festivals, to deliver culturally rich and nationally significant programmes and events on a year round basis
- projects which help exhibitors and distributors bring the best of UK and international cinema to audiences across the UK through events, distribution releases, multiplatform distribution proposals, touring film programmes and more
- initiatives that address under-representation and are innovating audience development
We are a cultural charity, a National Lottery distributor, and the UK’s lead organisation for film and the moving image. Our mission is:
- To support creativity and actively seek out the next generation of UK storytellers
- To grow and care for the BFI National Archive, the world’s largest film and television archive
- To offer the widest range of UK and international moving image culture through our programmes and festivals - delivered online and in venue
- To use our knowledge to educate and deepen public appreciation and understanding
- To work with Government and industry to ensure the continued growth of the UK’s screen industries.
Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter.
The BFI Board of Governors is chaired by Tim Richards.
Screen Scotland
Screen Scotland is the national body that drives development of all aspects of Scotland’s film and TV industry, through funding and strategic support. Screen Scotland is part of Creative Scotland and delivers these services and support with funding from Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Find out more at screen.scot and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Glasgow Life
Glasgow Life is a charity working for the benefit of the people of Glasgow. We believe everyone deserves a great Glasgow life and we find innovative ways to make this happen across the city’s diverse communities.
Our programmes, experiences and events range from grassroots community activities to large-scale cultural, artistic and sporting events which present Glasgow on an international stage. Our work is designed to promote inclusion, happiness and health, as well as support the city’s visitor economy, in order to enhance Glasgow’s mental, physical and economic wellbeing.
For more information, visit www.glasgowlife.org.uk
Event Scotland
EventScotland is the national events agency. EventScotland is working to make Scotland the perfect stage for events. By developing an exciting portfolio of sporting and cultural events EventScotland is helping to raise Scotland’s international profile and boost the economy by attracting more visitors. For further information about EventScotland, its funding programmes and latest event news visit www.EventScotland.org. Follow EventScotland on Twitter @EventScotNews. EventScotland is a team within VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, the national tourism organisation which markets Scotland as a tourism destination across the world, gives support to the tourism industry and brings sustainable tourism growth to Scotland. For more information about VisitScotland see www.visitscotland.org
Belhaven Brewery
Established in 1719, Belhaven Brewery is the oldest working brewery in Scotland. Situated on the coast in Dunbar, East Lothian, just 20 miles from Edinburgh, it has a proud brewing heritage and a dedicated team making beers the traditional way, bursting with Scottish character. As the home of Scottish brewing, Belhaven prides itself in producing the nation’s number 1 ale (Belhaven Best) and Number 1 Stout (Belhaven Black), alongside an award-winning range of craft beers and ales. All Belhaven beers use 100% Scottish malted barley, local well water and unique Belhaven yeast.