The 19th annual Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) is set to return to the city in March next year. Running from the 1st until the 12th, the organisers behind the exciting event have given a glimpse of what people can expect when it launches next year.
With the full programme set to be unveiled to the public on January 25, a host of screenings and events have already been announced with plenty of highlights for film fans to look forward to.
Speaking about the announcement, Chair of Glasgow Life, Bailie Annette Christie, said: "The first titles announced for GFF23 set the tone for what promises to be another superb festival offering a hugely varied choice of contemporary and retrospective screenings across a great range of genres and other exciting events."
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First up is a special tenth-anniversary screening of Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin, with a live performance of Mica Levi’s BAFTA-nominated score by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Berman.
Starring Scarlett Johansson as a sleek alien temptress stalking the streets of a very raucous and real Glasgow, this is a chance to revisit this otherworldly modern classic on the big screen.
There will also be a celebration of the documentary work of extraordinary actor/director Lee Grant. Looking for America: The Films of Lee Grant, will highlight her works from her Oscar-nominated film debut in Detective Story (1951) to a string of iconic movies including In the Heat of the Night, Valley of the Dolls, The Landlord and Shampoo, for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
While five of her documentaries, which she began directing in the 80s; Battered, Down and Out in America, What Sex Am I?, When Women Kill and The Willmar 8 will also be screened..
The Festival has also announced its 2023 Country Focus: Viva el cine Español! A new generation of Spanish filmmakers have been making waves around the world and the organisers of the Festival say they are proudly celebrating that vitality.
A collection of premieres will provide a window into a modern Spain dealing with the legacy of the Franco years, caught between urban living and a hankering for a return to the land, and still confronting eternal questions of love, family and loss.
The titles screening include the heart-breaking social drama On The Fringe with Penélope Cruz and Luis Tosar, gripping true-life tale Prison 77 and Lullaby, a film championed by Pedro Almodóvar as ‘undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years’.
Other highlights include the return of GFF’s ever-popular Retrospective strand, which will screen 10 top free films during the festival.
Festival co-director Allison Gardner stated that GFF23 will sadly be the final edition with highly-regarded journalist and film programmer Allan Hunter as Festival co-director, a role he has held since 2007.
She said: "We are excited and delighted to share some of the upcoming treats we have for GFF23 with our audiences, however as it is Allan’s last festival the moment is tinged with sadness for me. I cannot properly articulate how much I have loved working with alongside him, his knowledge, enthusiasm and patience are legendary, and I will be bereft without him.
"However, I am looking forward to guiding GFF to a new phase that will continue to delight audiences and be a beacon of film light to our burgeoning film industry.’
GFF Co-director Allan Hunter added: "It has been one of the great privileges of my career to be part of the Glasgow Film Festival for the past 15 years. It has been humbling to witness how the Festival has grown and to discover just how much is it cherished by our incredible audiences.
"Everything has its season and it is time to move along. Time for someone with fresh ideas and energy to assist the Festival on the next stage of its journey. I will miss wonderful colleagues and the best audiences in the world but I look forward to watching the Festival continue to grow and prosper."
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