Big Screen Education

Uni is the perfect place to refine your cinema tastes: join a film society, raid the uni library's DVD collection and seek out your local art-house theatre. And for those who want to go deeper into film culture, look towards Scotland's many film festivals

Feature by Jamie Dunn | 03 Sep 2013

The Old One

I’ll say one thing about Edinburgh International Film Festival (June): it has stamina. Held in Auld Reekie each year since 1947, it’s the longest continually running celebration of cinema in the world. Don’t assume that means EIFF is stuck in its ways, though. Under the stewardship of its current artistic director, Chris Fujiwara, Edinburgh can lay claim to some of the most exciting film curation happening in the UK at them moment, with a particular focus on filmmakers emerging from Asia. 

What to expect: American indie, documentary, world cinema, British cinema, red carpets and awards, short films, artists’ films, a director focus, genre cinema, director and cast Q&As, industry events
Don’t miss: its world class retrospectives

The up-and-coming one

The Scottish press love to pit young whippersnapper Glasgow Film Festival (20 Feb-2 Mar) against the grand old dame in Edinburgh, but the truth is they’re quite different. Firstly, Glasgow’s curation is more crowd-pleasing – the majority of its programme is made up of the highlights from other international festivals and films soon to be released. The imaginative form the festival’s screenings take more than compensates for any predictability of the programming, with venues as varied as an underground station, a 19th century cargo ship and a swimming baths playing host to events in recent years.

What to expect: European cinema, American indie, the best of the festival circuit, Scottish cinema, classic hollywood, artists’ films, documentary
Don’t miss: its eclectic music and film strand

The horizons-broadening one

If you’re under the impression that great cinema doesn’t come out of Africa than I put it to you that you simply haven’t seen enough films from the continent. And the reason you haven’t seen enough is that distributors in the UK seem blind to the excellent cinema emerging from the African nations. Africa in Motion (24 Oct-1 Nov) offers you one of the few arenas in which to watch cinema from the youngest filmmaking continent.

What to expect: contemporary and revival cinema from Africa, African art and music
Don’t miss: Africa in Motion’s always excellent opening night party

The youthful one

Glasgow Youth Film Festival (2-12 Feb) is Scotland’s most innovative film festival. Each year the trusting folks over at Glasgow Film Theatre’s learning department take a group of local teens, aged 15-17, and hand then the keys to the cinema for two weeks to programme a festival aimed at young people, leaving them to curate, coordinate and hosts its events.

What to expect: coming-of-age movies, animations, family screenings, comedies, late night cult movies
Don’t miss: the sometimes awkward post-screening Q&As where the greenhorn programmers ask their interviewees exactly what’s on their mind

The right-on ones

Take One Action (27 Sep-12 Oct) and Document (Oct) are festivals with a social conscience. Rather than placate their audiences, they ask them to get angry and ask “How can I make a difference?” Both festivals bring together the best documentary and narrative films that tackle the various political, social, economic, and environmental problems facing the world.

What to expect: films exposing injustices, post screenings discussions and debates
Don’t miss: TOA’s annual bike-powered screening

The short film one

Some of the most exciting cinema being made in the UK today is happening in short form, and Glasgow Short Film Festival (13-16 Feb) gives short film lovers a rare chance to see these small films on the big screen. The meat of the festival is its two competitions, one looking at local talent, the other open to the best short filmmakers from across the globe, while the rest of the festival is an eclectic mix of short film retrospectives, parties, and industry events.

What to expect: short films from Scottish and international talent
Don’t miss: Its late-night music and film mashups

The scary ones

Gorehounds are spoiled for choice in Scotland. Not only does Frightfest take over the final weekend of Glasgow Film Festival for two days of blood soaked cinema, we’ve two excellent homegrown horror festivals as well: Dead by Dawn (Apr) and Dundead (May). 

What to expect: horror, blood, gore, scares, classic scary movies
Don’t miss: Dead by Dawn’s all-nighter Spawn of the Dead or Dundead’s lovingly programmed double-bills

The Queer one

Thanks to great distributors like Pecadillo Pictures, the odd film concerned with LGBT themes make it into cinemas, but there are still many gay films that struggle to make it to the big screen, even in cosmopolitan cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh. Praise be, then, for Glasgay! (9 Oct-9 Nov), Glasgow’s annual celebration of gay culture, which offers a strand of LGBT cinema.

What to expect: contemporary queer cinema and camp classics
Don’t miss: its wild late night cult film screenings

THE ANIMATED ONE

Scotland has a surprisingly dedicated anime following. Seriously, they’re intense. And Scotland Loves Anime (11-13 Oct) has, for the last three years, been sating these anime-nuts with a whole host of UK and International premières of the latest animations coming from Japan.

What to expect: contemporary and classic Anime; Studio Ghibli
Don't miss: its epic back-to-back screenings of animated television series on the big screen

THE LOCAL ONE

The Southside of Glasgow is a bit of a cultural hub, what with Tramway, Citizen’s Theatre and The Burrell Collection among its arts venues. If cinema is your art form of choice, however, you’re stuffed. The recently founded Southside Film Festival, however, does give some respite to cinephiles south of the clyde, with a programme focus on local filmmakers and the local south-side community.

What to expect: Scottish cinema, short films, local talent
Don’t miss: its site specific screenings (eg. a programme of short films about swimming in a dilapidated swimming pool)