Glasgow Short Film Festival unveils online programme

Glasgow Short Film Festival (GSFF) is proud to announce its 2020 programme, the festival’s first as an independent charitable organisation, which will take place entirely online. This special online event – the 12th and a half edition – does not include the full programme the Festival intended to present back in March. Instead, GSFF are placing competition selections – the six programmes of the Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film and one of their strongest ever Scottish Short Film Competition lineups – under the spotlight.

Each programme includes exclusive filmmaker interviews, bringing context to GSFF's cross-section of the most vibrant new cinema from Scotland and across the world. The online festival will also include a focus on Thai filmmaker Sorayos Prapapan, thematic programmes Black Spatial Imaginaries and Urban Palimpsests, the early shorts of Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, and so much more.

GSFF are supplementing the programme with discussion events and a specially-curated opening programme showcasing the UK premiere of In the Company of Insects, a brand-new film by one of the Festival's favourite filmmakers, Duncan Cowles. GSFF are collaborating with Short Waves Festival in Poland on two industry panels and a spotlight on animator Tomasz Popakul, whose unique visions of alienation seem particularly well suited to our times.

This online edition provides the perfect opportunity for viewers unfamiliar with short film to get to grips with the format. The Skinny’s Best of the Decade programme is a great primer of contemporary Scottish filmmaking, whilst GSFF's selection of award-winning European Film Academy titles brings critically acclaimed titles from across Europe to UK audiences. Meanwhile, the comedy and horror programmes should satisfy your hunger for late-night thrills, and the ever-popular family animation programme will be accompanied by an exclusive online filmmaking workshop by Kate Burton.

GSFF is pleased to share that all its programmes, including Q&As, are captioned for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences. GSFF Online will implement a pay-what-you-can sliding scale for passes with the aim of improving access and inclusion.

RISE

'RISE.' Image courtesy of Glasgow Short Film Festival.

Registration

Public registration for the GSFF Online hub will open at midday on Monday 10 August and industry accreditation is available now at glasgowshort.org/online. Subscribe to GSFF’s newsletter for updates.

Programme highlights

To find out more about the Glasgow Short Film Festival programme for August, visit glasgowshort.org/programme/all.

Comment

Matt Lloyd, GSFF Director, said: “This year has been tough on everyone, but it has also been a time of great collaboration and support between colleagues and organisations, both at home and around the world. It has given us an opportunity to reflect on what we do, how to make it more sustainable, more accessible – how best to serve the filmmakers who comprise our programme and how to maintain, support and build an audience for short film.

"This online edition is not what we envisaged for our first event as an independent organisation, but it has compelled us to rethink what we do from the ground up, to focus on what’s important. Therefore the 12th and a half edition of GSFF offers more opportunities than ever before to hear directly from the selected filmmakers about their work. All our programmes are captioned for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing viewers, a nd with passes available on a pay-what-you-can scale, we have aimed to make the programme more accessible than ever before.”

Sanne Jehoul, GSFF Co-director, said: “We are immensely grateful to all filmmakers, distributors, festival partners and funders for supporting and working with us as we all learn to navigate these new circumstances. It takes something this big to pause and take note of the care, passion and aims we all have in common and it has been heartwarming to see the goodwill and efforts across the short film world in adapting to the current situation.

"We want to particularly thank Screen Scotland and Film Hub Scotland for their support; Dennis Pasveer at Filmchief, whose screening platform has been a godsend for bringing the festival online; the GSFF Board of Trustees for their valuable insights and advice; Matchbox Cineclub for their captioning work; Short Waves Festival in Poland for bringing our activities together across borders; and all partners who have confirmed continuing their support for GSFF in the future.”

More about Glasgow Short Film Festival

Glasgow Short Film Festival, the largest competitive short film festival in Scotland, champions new film talent by providing an annual showcase and meeting point for new and established Scottish and international filmmakers, industry delegates and the local audience. Their programme celebrates diverse forms of cinematic expression, and foregrounds disruptive, ground-breaking work that transgresses the boundaries of conventional narrative film. In 2019, the festival reconstituted as an independent Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), charity number SC049556.

Header Image: 'How the Earth Must See Itself' courtesy of Glasgow Short Film Festival.