The opening and closing films have also been announced.
Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) will host screenings in cinemas across the UK, it was announced today. The 22 independent cinemas partnered with the festival will show a selection of cinema-only screenings for the programme, as well as the festival’s opening and closing films. These films will also be available to watch on Glasgow Film At Home, the festival’s new online platform.
This mirrors the model used by the BFI London Film Festival in October, as well as by other festivals around the world. At GFF this year, over 40,000 people attended screenings; the festival provides an undeniable boost to Glasgow in normal times, but travel restrictions and public safety mean that traditional festival setups are untenable for the moment.
The festival will open on 24 February with Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari, a semi-autobiographical film about a Korean-American family chasing the American dream in rural Arkansas, hailed by many critics as the best film of the year. It will close on 7 March with Suzanne Lindon’s Spring Blossom, a romantic coming of age story set in the beautiful Montmartre district of Paris.
Allison Gardner, Glasgow Film CEO and Co-Director of Glasgow Film Festival, said: “Working in partnership with cinemas all around the UK means we can bring fantastic films and premieres to audiences across the four nations and still give that big screen experience that makes cinema so exciting. We are delighted to be opening the 17th Glasgow film Festival with Minari, a heart-warming, affecting portrait of a family set against the beautiful Arkansas countryside. Steven Yeun gives a powerful portrayal in Lee Isaac Chung’s autobiographical drama, with scene-stealing performances from Yuh-Jung Youn and Alan Kim as a grandmother and grandson at cultural odds.”
The full programme will be announced on 14 January.
The following cinemas are partnering with GFF:
Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen
Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast
The Hippodrome, Bo’Ness
Watershed, Bristol
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee
Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Keswick Film Festival, Keswick
Eden Court, Inverness
Ipswich Film Theatre, Ipswich
Phoenix, Leicester
BFI Southbank, London
Barbican, London
Curzon Soho, London
Home, Manchester
Broadway, Nottingham
Northampton Filmhouse, Northampton
Forum Cinema Hexham, Northumberland
Curzon, Oxford
Showroom Workstation, Sheffield
MacRobert Arts Centre, Stirling
An Lanntair, Stornoway
