Glasgow Film Festival kicks off with several Scottish premieres

THE Glasgow Film Festival has officially kicked off, with more than 120 films set to show across the next 12 days.

The packed programme includes 13 world premieres, 67 UK premieres and 12 Scottish premieres from 39 different countries.

The Glasgow Film Festival began on Wednesday and will end on March 9.

Glasgow Film Theatre The festival's opening and closing films are both world premieres and are both made by Scottish directors.

Several Scottish stars are set to appear on the red carpet over the next two weeks, including James McAvoy, Jack Lowden and Martin Compston.

Here are some of the biggest Scottish films which will premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival.

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Tornado

Glasgow Film Festival will open on Wednesday with the world premiere of Tornado, the hotly anticipated survival thriller from Scottish director John Maclean (known for Slow West).

Set in the rugged landscape of 1790’s Britain – and shot on location in Scotland – Tornado (played by model-songwriter Kōki,) finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father’s travelling puppet show crosses paths with a ruthless criminal gang led by Sugarman (Pulp Fiction star Tim Roth) and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden).

(Image: GFF) (Image: GFF) In an attempt to create a new life, Tornado seizes the opportunity to steal the gold from the gang’s most recent heist before fighting to escape a violent demise.

The film will release across the UK on May 23.

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Fear

Although it isn't a film, Glasgow Film Festival will host a world premiere screening of the first episode of Fear, a major new thriller produced by Amazon Studios and shot in Glasgow's west end.

The show stars Martin Compston, Solly Macleod and James Cosmo.

(Image: GFF) Fear is a three-part psychological thriller series which follows a family who have moved into a new house in Glasgow.

The series will be released later this year.

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James McAvoy

Scottish actor James McAvoy will attend the festival on Sunday – although not for a film premiere.

McAvoy will receive the Cinema City Honorary Award, which recognises his outstanding contribution to cinema.

James McAvoy (Image: PA) He will also take part in a special In Conversation event, where he will look back at his career.

The talk will be followed by a special screening of his breakthrough role in film as Dr Nicolas Garrigan in Kevin McDonald’s compelling fiction debut The Last King of Scotland (2006), introduced by McAvoy. 

Tickets for the event are sold out.

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Make It To Munich

The festival will close on March 9 with the world premiere of award-winning Scottish documentary-maker Martyn Robertson’s Make It To Munich.

Shot in the run-up to Euro 2024, Make It To Munich follows Ethan Walker, a promising teenage footballer from Aberdeenshire who, just months into a football scholarship at a USA University, suffers life-threatening injuries in a road traffic accident.

(Image: GFF) (Image: GFF) Aided in his recovery by Glasgow surgeon (and former Rangers footballer who trained alongside Graeme Souness and Ally McCoist) Professor Gordon Mackay, Ethan decides to cycle from Hampden to Munich for Scotland’s opening match against Germany in Euro 2024 – just nine months after his accident.

Entrusted by the Scotland National team to carry the match pennant on his back for the whole 1200 kilometre journey and deliver it in time for kick off, Ethan is accompanied in by Gordon, Tartan Army fan Stephen Collie and Martyn himself.

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Harvest

The Scottish premiere of Athina Rachel Tsangari's Middle Ages folk horror Harvest will also take place at the festival.

The film was shot entirely on location in Argyll and stars Caleb Landry Jones and Harry Melling.

(Image: GFF) It is set in a medieval village in England and follows the local villagers' reaction to three newcomers, who become scapegoats in a time of economic turmoil.

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On Falling

The film festival will host the Scottish premiere of new Scotland-based filmmaker Laura Carreira’s On Falling, which picked up the prestigious Sutherland Award for Best Debut at BFI London Film Festival 2024.

(Image: GFF) Shot on location in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and produced by Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, On Falling is an honest and raw depiction of loneliness and the instability of the gig economy through the eyes of Portuguese warehouse picker Aurora.

Alongside the Scottish premiere on February 28, Glasgow Film Festival is also hosting special screenings of the film at partner cinemas across the UK, including Barbican London, BFI Southbank London, Cameo Edinburgh, Chapter Cardiff, DCA Dundee, MacRobert Art Centre Stirling, Queens Film Theatre Belfast, Showroom Sheffield, Tyneside Newcastle and Watershed Bristol.

Click HERE to see the full programme for Glasgow Film Festival.