GFF 2010: The Scottish Connection

The Premieres

Opening the festival this year is one of many Scottish premieres: MicMacs (18 Feb 19.30, 20.15) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. His distinguished style, full of charm and idiosyncrasies, has gained devoted fans ever since the surprise hit of Amélie in 2001. Jeunet’s latest is an uplifting story of Bazil (Dany Boon) a man who is convinced that the arms industry has a personal vendetta against him after he is hit by a stray bullet. Having been taken in by a group of eccentrics living on the margins of society he begins to plot his revenge. Expect comedy heist antics galore with a distinct Gallic flavour.

Also hotly tipped (and a UK premiere) is I am Love (Io Sono L’Amore) (24 Feb 20.15, 25 Feb 18.00) starring the ever-enigmatic Scottish actor Tilda Swinton. It was heralded as one of the finest films of the year at Toronto Film Festival and gained comparisons to the works of the greatest Italian directors such as Antonioni and Visconti. Luca Guadagnino explores the gradual implosion of an Italian aristocratic family, where surface splendour hides a disordered tangle of emotions.

Look out too for the Scottish premiere of The First Movie (24 Feb 18.00) by Edinburgh filmmaker Mark Cousins who has created a playful and poignant documentary that entwines ideas of childhood, the impact of war and the magic of cinema [see our interview with Cousins overleaf].

If you loved Napoleon Dynamite make sure you don’t miss Gentlemen Broncos (15 Feb 20.15) (from the same creators) which is showing as part of the Glasgow Youth Film Festival (7-15 Feb). Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Concords) plays a fantasy novelist who steals the ideas of young writer Benjamin who is a pupil in one of his classes. Like its predecessor, it’s a film destined to be quoted in school playgrounds (and workplaces) for years to come and what’s more this is the first time an audience will see the film in the UK.

An intriguing offering from Glasgow production company Black Camel Pictures will bring the festival to a close. Legacy (28 Feb, 20.30), directed by Thomas Ikimi (Limbo, 2004), stars The Wire’s Idris Elba playing a Black Ops soldier who has returned from a mission in Eastern Europe that went badly wrong. You can look forward to a sophisticated psychological thriller inspired by the American films of the 70s, and whilst set in New York it was predominantly shot in Glasgow – who’d have thought it! The screening will also be a world premiere.

The Sounds

The Glasgow Music and Film Festival takes on a new prominence this year. Local boys Mogwai will be in attendance at a secret venue in the city for a DJ set which will follow the screening of Burning (28 Feb 18.30). This stylish black and white documentary was shot over three days in Brooklyn and creates a visually striking portrait of the band, set against the backdrop of their mesmerising sounds.

It’s not all documentaries though; Brit flick 1,2,3,4 (24 Feb, 20.30) is a delightful comedy about the trials and tribulations of setting up a band. It might seem like familiar territory but the film avoids the potential pitfalls and is a genuine and funny slice of indiedom. It also features performances from Comet Gain and Betty and the Werewolves plus more mentions of Scottish indiepop bands than you’d care to shake a stick at.

As part of Glasgow Shorts Film Festival (19-21 Feb) Radio Magnetic have trawled through 30 years’ worth of music videos to create an audio-visual trip through the city’s recent music history. Images from the Independent Music Scene in Glasgow (20 Feb 21.00) starts with Postcard Records and finishes with the recent success of Hudson Mohawke while also featuring the city’s most loved bands (Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, Mogwai) as well as artists from local labels Chemikal Underground and Soma Recordings.

Another unique event of GFF 2010 is Thomas Truax: Songs from the Films of David Lynch (23 Feb 20.00). Truax is signed to Edinburgh label SL Records but lives in London and hails from New York where he was an active member of the city’s burgeoning anti-folk scene during the nineties. Truax will be performing tracks from his latest album, which, as you might have guessed, are covers of songs from Lynch’s films. His performances are wildly inventive and incorporate curious homemade instruments to memorable effect.

The Experimental

The close relationship between visual art and film can be seen in several events at this year’s Festival. Tying in with Tramway’s exhibition by Glasgow-based artist Duncan Campbell is a mini-programme that explores the nature of truth and fiction in film. Peter Watkin’s controversial piece from 1971, Punishment Park (26 Feb, 19.00), will be shown and there’s also the opportunity to see the rarely screened Samuel Beckett short film Comedie (24 Feb 19.00) which has been described as a ‘masterpiece of modernity’.

GSA Mutual present a day of film events and screenings in the CCA on 25 Feb centred around the topic of heroism (which nicely links to the Festival’s retrospective on Cary Grant). Included in the programme is a mystery film as voted for by Central Station (15.30) and a panel discussion from 6pm (which includes The Skinny's Film Editor, yep that's me, talking about the day's theme).

Scottish painter and illustrator William McLaren was greatly under appreciated during his lifetime. William McLaren: An Artist of our Time (23 Feb 18.30, 25 Feb 15.30) aims to correct this a little by showing two documentaries that explore his life and work including his illustrations for the Radio Times and the commissions he undertook at Hopetoun House.

Glasgow Shorts Film Festival (GSFF) is packed with experimental offerings and boasts some of the most exciting new voices in the film world. Opening the weekend of events are two films by Cynthia Beatt: Cycling the Frame was filmed in 1988 shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall and was a recording of a trip made by the director, Tilda Swinton and sound artist Simon Fisher Turner as the three cycled along the Wall. In 2009 the three returned to retrace the route and capture the transformed landscape in The Invisible Frame (both will screen on 19 Feb at 19.30).

A particularly exciting addition to GSFF this year is This is not a Boat: The improbable story of the Court 13 Collective (20 Feb 19.00). This boundary-breaking, myth-creating film collective have been declared the new emerging talent of the American independent scene. Ray Tintori, one of the group’s founders, will be introducing the event.