Glasgow Prepares for Film Festival

The European premiere of Ben Stiller's new film While We're Young will open this year's Glasgow Film Festival (GFF). Naomi Watts also stars in the Noah Baumbach-directed movie about a forty-something couple whose lives are turned upside down by a pair of young hipsters played by Amanda Seyfried and Adam Driver. The film will mark the opening of the 11th GFF which this year celebrates Glasgow's reputation as "Cinema City''. The festival runs from February 18 to March 1 and includes the UK premieres of Wim Wenders's Oscar-nominated documentary Salt of the Earth and Still Alice, starring Julianne Moore. Once the city with the UK's highest ratio of cinemas per head, Glasgow has recently enjoyed a cinema renaissance, playing backdrop to films like World War Z, Cloud Atlas and Under The Skin, and welcoming stars like Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson and Halle Berry. Twenty "pop-up'' venues including a Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed church and a craft brewery will host new and old releases. The closing gala features the UK premier of Force Majeure, the Cannes Jury Prize-winner directed by Ruben Ostlund, which explores the cracks that can develop in a happy marriage. GFF co-director Allan Hunter said: "Glasgow's love affair with the movies is a passion that never fades and one that lies at the heart of this year's Glasgow Film Festival, and our Cinema City strand celebrates the love affair in special screenings, talks and an exhibition. "Some amazing pop-up events in stunning locations across Glasgow help put the city centre stage, too. "It is a festival filled with people and places close to home but also one that embraces a diverse, wonderful world of cinema, perfectly illustrated by our opening and closing galas. "It's a huge honour for GFF to be chosen for the European premiere of Noah Baumbach's bittersweet delight While We're Young, and Ruben Ostlund's Force Majeure is an utterly brilliant film. Home and away, this is a festival for everyone who loves the movies.'' Queen's Cross Church, designed by world-renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, will host the Scottish premiere of Love is All, a history of love in the movies by documentary-maker Kim Longinotto. The city's Drygate Brewery will be transformed into a 1970s roller disco for a screening of Dazed and Confused, the 1993 coming of age film written and directed by Richard Linklater, whose 2014 work Boyhood is an Oscar contender. The full programme is online at www.glasgowfilm.org/festival and tickets go on sale from 10am on Monday. Scotland's Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "This year the festival feels both international and distinctly home-grown, showcasing dynamic Scottish film, music and visual art talent, and some of Glasgow's most beautiful historic buildings, whilst also bringing some of the most exciting new films in the world to Scotland.''