Scottish Film Events: January 2024

The cinema has such sights to show you in early 2024! With the Oscars on the horizon, many of the Best Picture contenders arrive in cinemas over the next few weeks: we’re talking Priscilla (1 Jan), Poor Things (12 Jan), The Holdovers (19 Jan) and All of Us Strangers (26 Jan) to name a few. But there is a smattering of one-off events for those less concerned with awards season.

The wonderful Fokus (9-31 Jan), from the Goethe-Institut Glasgow, returns with another celebration of German cinema, screening at seven venues across Scotland. In the Fokus programme you’ll find mint-fresh premieres like the opening film Sisi & I (GFT, 9 Jan) rubbing shoulders with recent gems of contemporary German cinema and cult classics like Run Lola Run (DCA, 14 Jan; University of St Andrews, 23 Jan). We run down some of the highlights in our preview – read it here.

GFT have a great selection of guests coming to the cinema across January. Among them is Jeanie Finlay, who brings Your Fat Friend, her documentary about writer and activist Aubrey Gordon – Gordon will join Finlay on stage for a Q&A on 20 January. Also in town for a chat is Jane Giles for Scala!!! (17 Jan). Giles was a programmer at the Scala, London’s much-missed grindhouse, and she’s co-directed a knockout documentary celebrating its wild sensibility and the community of misfits who flocked to the cinema in its 70s and 80s heyday. 

And let’s make Freedom to Run (GFT, 21 Jan) a sell-out. The film follows a Palestinian running group called Right to Movement and a group from Glasgow, as they train for and run both the Palestine and Edinburgh marathons. Co-directors Cairsti Russell and Stephen Sheriff will give a Q&A after this ‘Pay What You Can’ screening, with all profits going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. 

Fans of short films and short film directors will be in heaven with this month’s Scorsese of the Month at GFT, which takes the form of a programme of Scorsese’s early short films (15 Jan). Glasgow Short Film Director Matt Lloyd will provide an expert introduction. 

And with Jonathan Glazer's The Zone Of Interest (another Oscar contender) hitting cinemas next month (2 Feb), Cameo in Edinburgh are gearing up for it with the hilariously-titled season Double Glazer, which features potty-mouthed crime flick Sexy Beast (7 Jan) and existential sci-fi Under the Skin (14 Jan).