Scotland Film Event Highlights – February 2014

Writer-director-producer-actor Tommy Wiseau, with co-star Greg Sestero, will be at the Cameo in Edinburgh for a special screening of The Room (14 and 15 Feb). Wiseau's melodrama, now widely acknowledged as one of the worst films of all time, has gained a substantial cult audience – tickets will sell fast. Bring some friends (or your Valentine) and some plastic spoons, and enjoy a cinematic experience like no other.

The DCA in Dundee is showing Victim (9 Feb), a groundbreaking, award-winning 1961 thriller starring Dirk Bogarde as a secretly gay lawyer in a time when homosexuality was still illegal. Praised for its tolerant, sympathetic approach towards its subject, the film has garnered a spot in the history books for being the first English language film to feature the term'“homosexual' and was influential in the UK's subsequent legalisation of relationships between consenting males.

There are a number of Hollywood classics showing at the GFT this month. Frank Capra's patriotic masterpiece Mr Smith Goes to Washington (21 Feb) stars a young James Stewart as a young senator whose plans for a good ol' American boys' camp are threatened by his corrupt mentor (Claude Rains) – the Oscar-winning film features powerful performances by all involved, and one of the greatest filibusters in cinema history. Also included in the programme are Ninotchka (25 Feb), and Of Mice and Men (22 and 28 Feb), both of which include roles by acclaimed horror stars – Bela Lugosi in the former, and Lon Chaney Jr in the latter.

Three films are showing as part of the Filmhouse's Screening Irish History season, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh. Screenwriter Colin Carberry will be attending a screening of Good Vibrations (1 Feb), charting the success of Terri Hooley's iconic record label. Steve McQueen's debut feature Hunger, starring Michael Fassbender as IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands, screens on 15 Feb, followed by Kings (1 Mar), featuring Colm Meaney. A special Q&A session will feature after each film; guests yet to be confirmed.

Glasgow Short Film Festival returns to the CCA this month, from 13-16 Feb. Now in its seventh year, the festival has grown to be Scotland’s leading short film festival. As well as the usual short film competitions, workshops, and parties, the programme also promises to explore 'the slippery relationship between music and film'. We're particularly looking forward to the focus on Miami’s anarchic filmmaking collective The Borscht Corporation (see our interview with Borscht's 'Minister of the Interior' Lucas Leyva on page 15) and a major discussion on the potential impacts of independence on the Scottish film industry. Visit www.glasgowfilm.org/gsff for more details.