Scottish Film Events: November 2026

It’s that time of year when you can’t move for film festivals. One of our faves is Scotland Loves Anime, back again in Glasgow (GFT, 6-8 Nov) and Edinburgh (Filmhouse and Cameo, 16-22 Nov) with a lineup of anime premieres (our pick of the new films is Kohei Kadowaki’s We Are Aliens, a compelling study of boyhood from two perspectives) and classics (think Ninja Scroll, A Silent Voice, Akira). French Film Festival UK (various venues, 6 Nov-14 Dec) has a cracking lineup, too, with Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden and Lukas Dhont’s Coward among our highlights – find more of our FFF picks here. 

Inverness Film Festival (Eden Court, 13-19 Nov) is back with a typically stacked selection. Mike Leigh’s swansong Tender Loving Care and James Gray’s family drama Paper Tiger are among the embarrassment of riches. Festival favourites and Oscar hopefuls also abound at International Film Festival Glasgow (Grosvenor Picture Theatre, 10-15 Nov): Rose with Sandra Hüller, The Debut with Julianne Moore and Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner Fjord all screen.

Havana Glasgow Film Festival showcase Cuban cinema (various venues, 19-23 Nov); the brilliant Discovery Film Festival, specially programmed for young audiences, continues at DCA until 8 November; and the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival also runs until 8 November, with film screenings at various venues, including John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence at GFT on the festival’s final day.

There’s plenty more film events to get excited about in November. The unmissable All Night Horror Madness returns to its spiritual home at the Cameo on 7 November for a night of horror classics, including A Nightmare on Elm Street, Fright Night and the little-seen 1982 supernatural slasher Boardinghouse. 

Filmhouse dig out their dark sunglasses and trench coat for their annual Noirvember, where they’ll be screening film noir double-bills every Sunday throughout the month. Each pairing is sharply programmed and worth your time, but we’re particularly keen for the Patricia Highsmith double on 22 November featuring Plein Soleil (1960) and Strangers on a Train (1951). This aligns nicely with the release of A Talent for Murder (at Filmhouse 20-26 Nov), a psychological thriller starring Helen Mirren as Highsmith as she grapples with her final Tom Ripley story. 

Another must-attend this month are some 35mm roadshow screenings of Robert Altman’s Short Cuts, his 1993 epic that stitches together various Raymond Carver short stories into a sprawling tapestry of LA. Despite being an electric film and featuring one of Altman's greatest ensembles (Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Frances McDormand, Tim Robbins, Robert Downey Jr and Andie MacDowell, to name just a handful), Short Cuts remains under-seen, so be sure to catch it at GFT 20 to 22 November and Filmhouse on the 28th and 29th.

And, finally, we’re intrigued to check out GFT’s season of Márta Mészáros films this month. Hungarian filmmaker Mészáros was the first woman to win the Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlinale, for her 1975 film The Adoption. That masterpiece screens at GFT alongside four other films curated by Invisible Women as part of the cinema's CineMasters strand.