FABULOUS FILMS PRESENTS: THE WIZ and THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN: TWO BONKERS FILMS REVIEWED BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Classic Hollywood To Get Spotlight At 2014 Glasgow Film Festival

After enjoying its most successful year ever in 2013, Glasgow Film Festival is delighted to announce some very special developments along with the programme strands for the tenth annual festival.

Opening in 2005 with 68 films over ten days, GFF has grown into the third-biggest film festival in the UK, with over 39,000 admissions to 368 events at the 2013 Festival, fifty-seven UK premiere screenings and seven world premieres, and guests including major names like Joss Whedon, John C Reilly, Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan.

2014 is also a significant anniversary for Glasgow Film Theatre, the art deco cinema in which the Festival originated and which remains its headquarters. The Cosmo, which was only the second purpose-built arthouse cinema in the UK, opened its doors seventy five years ago in 1939, undergoing a makeover and reopening as Glasgow Film Theatre forty years ago in 1974. The full 2014 programme, which will include a number of anniversary celebrations, will be revealed on Tuesday 21 January 2014.

NEW PROGRAMME STRANDS FOR 2014

1939: Hooray for Hollywood!

As well as birthing The Cosmo, 1939 was also a very significant year for Hollywood cinema, widely regarded as Hollywood’s greatest year ever. 365 films were released, 80 million tickets a week were sold, and the Best Picture award nominees at the 1939 Oscars were Gone With The Wind, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, Dark Victory, Love Affair, Goodbye Mr Chips, Ninotchka, Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Of Mice and Men, and The Wizard of Oz. Rather than celebrating the achievement of an individual actor in the popular retrospective programme strand, this year GFF will be screening all of those films, beginning with a palette-whettening advance screening of Gone With The Wind at GFT in December, and bringing a touch of Old Hollywood glamour to a Glasgow winter.

CineChile

The Festival’s country focus this year is on Chile, where filmmaking has recently been energised by two large international successes, No (starring Gael Garcia Bernal) and Gloria (for which Paulina Garcia won Best Actress at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival). GFFis delighted to be able to draw attention to the breadth of excellent, innovative work coming from the skinniest of countries.

Pop-Up Cinema

GFF’s audience-focused programmes are designed to bring cinema to the whole city, with boutique screenings and cinematic experiences in a huge variety of unusual locations. At GFF13, audiences went underground to watch The Warriors in the bowels of the Glasgow Subway system, witnessed Jaws and Dead Calm from the cargo hold of the Tall Ship Glenlee, encountered the silent classic The Passion of Joan of Arc, with live soprano soundtrack, in the vaulted surroundings of Glasgow Cathedral, and donned Stetsons for a barn dance and screening of Calamity Jane at the Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow’s long-running country and western saloon. This year, there will be a themed pop-up event on every night of the Festival apart from the opening and closing galas, taking in more venues across the city than ever before. Selected events will be announced in December 2013.

COMPLETE LIST OF PROGRAMME STRANDS AT GFF14

·     1939: Hooray For Hollywood! All the Best Picture Oscar nominees from Hollywood’s Greatest Year.

·     Best of British Brand new films and much-loved classics from all over the UK.

·     CineChile  Recent releases from a country bursting with exciting new cinema talent. INCLUDES The Illiterate (Las Analfabetas), Crystal Fairy, The Quispe Sisters (Las Ninas Quispe), The Summer of Flying Fish (El Verano de los Peces Voladores), Things the Way They Are (La Cosas Como Son), Violet Went to Heaven (Violeta Se Fue a los Cielos)

·     Crossing the Line Open your mind to experimental and artist films from Glasgow and across the world. 2014’s programme will include the world premiere of Happy and Glorious, a new film commission by upcoming video artist and recent Jarman Award nominee, Rachel Maclean, the winner of GFF13’s prestigious Margaret Tait Award.

·     Eurovisions Romcoms from Romania, Swedish sci fi or noir from the Netherlands? Could be, as we take a gander at the best new cinema from the continent.

·     FrightFest The horror institution takes over Screen 1 at GFT for the final weekend of the Festival for back-to-back screenings and an advance wallow in the gore of the finest, freakiest new horror movies.

·     Gala The big ones. Gala screenings, red carpet events and premieres. Are you ready for your closeup?

·     Game Cats Go Miaow! As computer games now regularly beat the biggest Hollywood box office takings, is video set to kill the movie star too?  Ace gamer Robert Florence, best known from BBC comedy sketch show Burnistoun, is back with irreverent events, screenings and probably a house party to celebrate the rise of the pixel.

·     Glasgow Music and Film Festival An inspired programme of live music events, features and rockumentaries celebrating the special relationships between film and music, co-curated with The Arches.

·     Glasgow Short Film Festival (13-16 February 2014) Scotland’s leading short film showcase returns for four days of screenings, events and parties dedicated to emerging film talent here and around the globe.  Four awards are up for grabs, including the prestigious Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film, and this year's programme includes a focus on emerging Irish talent, avant-garde 16mm films from Japan, explorations of sound and cinema and much more. www.glasgowfilm.org/gsff 

·     Glasgow Youth Film Festival (2-12 February 2014) Showcasing the best contemporary international cinema for and by young people alongside workshops, masterclasses, competitions and special events. Our Youth Film Festival is the only festival of its kind in Europe to be curated and programmed entirely by 15-17 year olds, with films representing issues faced by young people alongside events and workshops for those thinking about getting into the movie business. www.glasgowfilm.org/gyff

·     Great Scots A celebration of native talent and local heroes with screenings of the best new productions from Scottish filmmakers and Scottish production companies.

·     It’s a Wonderful World Globetrotting without a passport – brilliant titles from all over the world.

·     Kapow! Biff! Bang! Kapow! Comic book legend and Fox creative consultant Mark Millar, creator of Kick-Ass, is back to curate our strand dedicated to cult movies and the rise of the superhero.

·     Out of the Past Classic movies in peak condition back on the big screen, where they come alive all over again.

·     Pop Up Cinema and Special Events Cinema experiences in strange and unusual locations, and distinguished guests in conversation.

·     Stranger than Fiction An exceptional selection of the best new documentary releases.

Allan Hunter, Co-Director of Glasgow Film Festival:‘The Festival has grown and developed in ways that we couldn't have imagined in 2005. It has been nurtured and sustained by the enthusiasm and passionate dedication of audiences from near and far who have come to regard Glasgow as their Festival and an event they can trust to bring them the best cinematic experiences, the most accessible guests and the most affordable prices. We take the bond of trust with our audiences very seriously and look forward to presenting them with a 2014 programme that matches their expectations of what a Film Festival should be and how a special anniversary should be celebrated.’

As ever expect Cinehouse to cover this festival with it been our local festival and if you enjoyed this years festival 2014 will be something special with it been 10th Anniversary as well as the 75th for the festival's main and grandest venue GFT.

Update 29th November 2013
The festival's official trailer trailer has been check it out below