Scottish Film Events: November 2022

The Scottish film community mourns the loss of the Filmhouse, not least because of its role as a vital community space for myriad smaller organisations such as the French Film Festival and Africa in Motion, which both return this month and have thankfully found alternative screens in Edinburgh.

The French Film Festival (2 Nov-15 Dec) has a fantastic lineup fitting of its 30th-anniversary milestone. It's got new films from Michel Hazanavicius (Final Cut), the Dardennes (Tori and Lokita) and François Ozon (Peter von Kant) as well as classics like Marcel Carné’s Children of Paradise, Jacques Demy’s A Room in Town and Claude Chabrol’s Madame Bovary, which screen at Edinburgh's Institut Français d'Ecosse. Also look out for the propulsive Full Time, blistering drama Rodeo and Hitchcockian whodunit The Green Perfume.

Africa in Motion (11-20 Nov) is smaller in scale this year but still remains one of the most vital events on Scotland’s festival calendar. The event kicks off with Tug of War, Amil Shivji’s political love story set in the final years of British colonial Zanzibar. Frequency Adjustment is a new strand celebrating the influence that African and Black diaspora artists have had on the punk and metal scenes. And there’s an unmissable double bill of Ousmane Sembène’s classic Mandabi with Nana Mensah’s debut feature film Queen of Glory.

Tug of War

Havana Glasgow Film Festival (8-13 Nov) returns with a spotlight on Black Cuban filmmaking with a particular focus on Black women directors. Highlights include a mini-retrospective dedicated to Sara Gòmez, an Afro-Cuban documentarian who explored the position of women and Afro-Cubans within Cuban society. On 12 November, the festival hosts a party at Saramago Café, where Cuban DJ Cami Layé Okún comes fresh from Havana.

The popular Doc’n Roll (2-6 Nov, GFT; 5-12 Nov, Cameo, Edinburgh) is also back with a hand-picked selection of music documentaries. The festival kicks off with A Film about Studio Electrophonique, which is a warm tribute to the studio in a Sheffield council house that helped launch legendary bands like The Human League, Heaven 17 and Pulp. There’s also a rare screening of Rewind And Play: Thelonius Monk (GFT, 3 Nov), where the jazz genius takes down an arrogant journalist in an infamous 1969 French TV interview.

Elsewhere, you’ll find Summerhall screening a stellar collection of cult LGBTQ films: But I’m a Cheerleader (3 Nov), Tomboy (20 Nov) and Beautiful Thing (10 Nov). The GFT bring their now annual Noirvember featuring a brace of silky neo-noir from the 90s: Bound (6 Nov) and Devil in a Blue Dress (13 Nov). Also at GFT, there’s another unmissable Scorsese screening, with the Scotsman's Alistair Harkness introducing The Last Waltz (21 Nov), the near-peerless doc capturing the farewell tour from The Band, featuring electric and, let’s face it, often drugged-fueled performances from Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.