Scottish Film Event Highlights – July 2016

Bill Forsyth turns 70

Bill Forsyth, Scotland’s greatest living filmmaker, turns 70 on 29 July, and GFT are throwing him a little do in the form of a three-film retrospective. There’s Local Hero (29&30 Jul), his loosy-goosy fable about an American executive (Peter Riegert) who falls for the kooky residents of a Scottish fishing village he’s trying to buy up; Comfort and Joy (31 Jul), which sees a cheesy DJ (Bill Paterson) get embroiled in a Glasgow turf war… between ice cream vendors; and his whimsical coming-of-age film Gregory’s Girl (6 Aug), about a gangly teen (Gordon John Sinclair)'s romantic imbroglios. As ever, there are no big screen outings for his equally brilliant but hard-to-find American films (Homecoming, Breaking In, Being Human) – maybe for his 80th.

POUTfest tour

Closet Monster

POUTfest returns to cinemas across Scotland this summer with a wide-ranging series of queer features and shorts. Highlights look to be the witty and wise heartbreaker Holding the Man (GFT, 6 Jul), which follows two lovers coming of age during the burgeoning AIDS crisis of the 80s, and Stephen Dunn’s stylish and tender Closet Monster (GFT, 4 Aug), which curiously features a talking hamster played by Isabella Rossellini. Add to this Andrew Steggall's promising debut Departure (Filmhouse, 29 Jul), The Girl King (GFT, 21 Jul; Filmhouse, 22 Jul), a true-life Scandinavian royal lesbian love story and the return of queer shorts series Boys on Film (GFT, 28 Jul). See poutfest.co.uk for full details.

Matchbox Cineclub present Long Shot

Matchbox Cineclub kick off their new residency at CCA Glasgow with a super rare screening of Maurice Hatton’s Long Shot (21 Jul), from 1978. Filmed during the 1977 Edinburgh International Film Festival, it’s a sharp satire on the movie business following filmmaker Charles Gormley as he tries to get financing for his Aberdeen-set western. Cameos come from the likes of Wim Wenders, Susannah York, Stephen Frears, Alan Bennett and John Boorman. Long Shot has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray in the UK. This 35mm screening should be cherished.

Richard Fleischer double-bill

Mr Majestyk

Richard Fleischer was one of Hollywood’s most dependable genre filmmakers, responsible for classics like train-bound noir The Narrow Margin and dystopian sci-fi Soylent Green. He also made some less-than-classic movies, and Edinburgh Zombie Club are celebrating two of them with a Richard Fleischer double-bill (The Banshee Labyrinth, 29 Jul): haunted house schlock Amityville 3 (the 3D one) and action-revenge flick Mr Majestyk, which has Charles Bronson at his gruff best.

Wee Green Cinema

Finally, Southside Film Festival are telling you to get on your bike with Wee Green Cinema, a bicycle and solar powered cinema event taking place at Pollokshields Playhouse 2-3 Jul. Expect films on food, community gardening, sustainable transport, cycling, recycling, upcycling and more.