The Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) announced January 14 the full programme for its 2021 edition running 24 February to 7 March, with screenings hosted on Glasgow Film’s new online viewing platform Glasgow Film At Home. Originally planned as a hybrid event, GFF21 will now take place online due to the lockdown restrictions affecting most of Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Documentaries receiving their world prems at the online Glasgow FF (24 February to 7 March) include Anthony Baxter’s Eye of the Storm and Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché. With strong emphasis placed on local stories, the overall festival programme contains six world, two European and 49 UK premieres.
Scottish documentary highlights
Glasgow 2021 sees the return of Scottish filmmaker Anthony Baxter (Flint, GFF 2020) for the world premiere of Eye of the Storm, which follows one of Scotland’s most gifted painters, James Morrison, through the last two years of his life. With animation from Catriona Black and a soundtrack from Karine Polwart, the result is a fond, affectionate portrait of the man and his legacy.
Yer Old Faither by Adelaide Fringe director Heather Croall receives its UK premiere. Narrated by playwright and actor Gary McNair, it explores the life of the director’s father, Glaswegian John Croall, who moved to Australia in 1970 and bought hundreds of children into the world as a local obstetrician. Stacey Lee’s documentary Underplayed is an intimate and revealing look at gender inequality in the electronic dance music scene, which features the city of Glasgow and local DJ Nightwave.
David Whitney’s Killing Escobar reconstructs Scottish mercenary and ex-SAS operative Peter McAleese’s mission to assassinate Pablo Escobar. Bridging the Gap – Turbulence will showcase four shorts from the Scottish Documentary Institute’s emerging talent initiative including: Against the Tide; Harmonic Spectrum; Racing Stock and Venus & Mars.
World and European Premieres
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché brings to screen the life of ‘one of the least conventional front-persons in rock history’: Poly Styrene, founder of acclaimed punk band X-Ray Spex. The film is co-directed by her daughter Celeste Bell and Paul Sng. In Luke White’s documentary Handsome, Nicholas Bourne and his brother Alex set off on a journey to meet other siblings with Down’s Syndrome, as Nicholas prepares to become Alex’s full-time, dedicated carer.
In 2010, former member of the Air National Guard and hacktivist Matt DeHart claimed the FBI had fabricated charges to silence him, later seeking political asylum in Canada. Sonia Kennebeck’s documentary Enemies of the State receives its European premiere at GFF, using expert testimony, hard evidence and dramatised reconstructions to uncover a truth that is ‘rarely pure and never simple’.
UK Premieres
UK premieres include Fred Wiseman’s City Hall, described as a love letter to civic responsibility and democratic values set in the heard of Boston’s city government. Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation is a poignant look at the complex relationship between two literary giants with Jim Parsons (Capote) and Zachary Quinto (Williams) giving voice to their words.
Minna Dufton’s BIG vs SMALL profiles Portugal’s first female big wave surfer, Joana Andrade (aka Tiny Fighter), while My Favourite War by Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen is a fascinating coming-of-age story set against her childhood during Latvia’s Soviet rule at the height of the Cold War. Twenty-five years on, Steelers follows the fortunes of the world’s first gay rugby team, The Kings Cross Steelers.
The six-title shortlist for the festival’s Audience Awards includes the documentary Castro’s Spies by directors Ollie Aslin and Gary Lennon, which features in-depth interviews with the Cuban Five, an elite group of undercover agents operating out of Florida and hailed as the last soldiers of the Cold War.
This year’s Industry programme will run online 1 March to and 6 March. The full programme of Industry events will be announced on Tuesday 9 February.
Glasgow Film Festival Co-director Allan Hunter comments: “Everyone is staying indoors and keeping safe and we are really excited that the 2021 Glasgow Film Festival can play its part in the home viewing landscape. A terrific selection of new features honours the Glasgow tradition of discovering gems from around the world and showcasing the very finest home-grown productions. Among the many highlights I would single out are an exceptional selection of documentaries led by Frederick Wiseman’s majestic City Hall and Sonia Kenneback’s riveting Enemies Of The State.”
Sambrooke Scott, Screen Scotland’s Head of Audience Development adds: “Glasgow Film Festival is a beacon of light at the start of this new year. Despite the restrictions in place, the beating heart of what makes it great is a fantastic programme of film from around the world, with a particularly strong selection of great new Scottish work, put together by a passionate team which will excite and thrill audiences. The motto of the city is Let Glasgow Flourish and this great programme – which will now reach audiences far and wide – will ensure GFF flourishes in new and exciting ways.”
