Glasgow Film Festival gets underway today, Wednesday 25 February. From hard hitting documentaries, to underdog Scottish rappers making it big in America to directorial drama debut there is a host of Scottish talent on offer at this year’s festival. This includes seven Screen Scotland-supported productions, here’s all you need to know.
Everybody to Kenmure Street
Opening the festival is feature documentary Everybody to Kenmure Street. Directed by Glasgow-based director Felipe Bustos Sierra and produced by Ciara Barry of Glasgow-based production company barry crerar.
In May 2021, a U.K. Home Office dawn raid triggers one of the most spontaneous and successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory. In Scotland’s most diverse neighbourhood, hundreds of residents rush to the streets to stop the deportation of their neighbours.
Everybody to Kenmure Street was supported by Screen Scotland’s Production and Development Fund.
Midwinter Break
Finely calibrated performances from Oscar nominees Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds anchor this adaptation of Glasgow-based Bernard MacLaverty’s novel of the same name, which follows retirees Stella and Gerry on a trip to Amsterdam at a crunch point in their marriage. Their city break has the potential to become something much more life changing as the pair reflect on the past, their problems in the present, and consider their future together.
Established theatre director Polly Findlay makes an impressive directorial debut with this carefully weighted drama that muses on the enduring power of love and was partly shot on location in Scotland.
The film is a Scotland-Netherlands co-production and was co-produced by Glasgow-based Reece Cargan of Randan Productions. Midwinter Break was supported through Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund.
Molly vs the Machines
Molly Vs the Machines is the personal story of Ian Russell and his unrelenting battle for safer online environments and accountability from the tech giants that dominate – and too often endanger – our daily lives.
Ian lost his 14-year-old daughter Molly Russell after she was exposed to extensive self-harm content on social media, something the Coroner found had contributed to her death, having been drawn into a world of dangerous online content.
From a teenager’s suburban bedroom to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley, Molly Vs the Machines is the story of a heartbroken father’s quest to uncover the truth behind his daughter's death and his fightback against how the most powerful corporations of the modern age operate.
Molly vs the Machines was co-produced by Glasgow-based Natalie Humphreys and supported through Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund.
Leonora in the Morning Light
Elegant and handsomely shot biopic of the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, portrayed with impressive nuance by newcomer Olivia Vinall. Directors Thor Klein and Lena Vurma, adapting Elena Poniatowska’s novel, focus on two key periods. In 1930s France, Leonora is influenced by surrealists Salvador Dalí and André Breton while forging a turbulent relationship with Max Ernst (Alexander Scheer).
The Second World War brings trouble to their doorstep, leading Klein and Vurma to take us into Leonora’s headspace as she battles her psychological demons, past and present. Finally, in 1950s Mexico, we see how her experiences helped cement her distinctive artistic voice. Nowadays, Leonora Carrington is the highest selling female British artist.
Leonora in the Morning Light is co-produced by James Heath of Glasgow-based Randan Productions. The film was supported by Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund.
Super Nature
Documentarian Ed Sayers collaborates with people across 25 countries for this stunning debut nature documentary that offers a vibrant celebration of life across the planet and hope for the future, while also showing us some of the threats the climate crisis poses.
Shot exclusively on vintage Super 8 cameras, this opens a tactile and textured window into environments from the fiery volcanoes of Iceland to quirky kangaroos in Australia and the turbulent salmon streams of the Isle of Lewis. Featuring biographical details and observations from those who shot each film, Sayers takes us on a philosophical and inspirational global journey.
Super Nature was co-produced by Beth Allan of Scotland-based production company Forest of Black. It was supported by Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund.
The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford
Filmed on location in Edinburgh and the Lothians, The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford is the directorial debut from Scottish director Sean Dunn. The film stars Peter Mullan and Gayle Rankin and is produced by Glasgow-based producer Alex Polunin.
Peter Mullan stars in Sean Dunn’s blackly comic tale of tour guide Kenneth, who dresses as his ancestor, the famous philosopher and inventor Sir Douglas Weatherford, and takes pride in his history. Things change when the village where he works becomes the location for a hit fantasy show… leading his beloved visitor centre to also undergo a fantastical transformation. As fans flock to visit, Kenneth’s sanity starts to slip and he begins to become obsessed with the show’s good-looking star Oscar (Jakob Oftebro). Dunn’s feature debut offers a keen exploration of the grey area where history and fantasy meet.
The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford was supported by Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund.
California Schemin’
Rounding out Glasgow Film Festival is the closing night gala film California Schemin’. Based on Gavin Bain’s autobiography of the same name, which was later re-printed as Straight Outta Scotland. The story of the hoax was first told in Jeanie Finlay's feature documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax.
In the late 90’s, Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd had their musical ambitions consistently ridiculed for having the ‘wrong’ accents, so they went for broke and reinvented themselves as Californian rappers. ‘California Schemin’ shows how the duo re-recorded their own tracks with fake accents and turned up in London claiming to be an established duo on the California scene as well as childhood friends with Eminem. They quickly bagged themselves a record deal, a hefty sum in advances, and an appearance on MTV…until it all came crashing down.
California Schemin’ is directed by BAFTA Award-winner and Golden Globe nominee James McAvoy, who will take a supporting role alongside Screen Daily Rising Star Scotland 2024 & Guildhall graduate Séamus McLean Ross, and BAFTA Award and BIFA Award nominee Samuel Bottomley.
The film is produced by Danny Page of Edinburgh-based Homefront Productions and supported by Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund.
More information
Image credits
Everybody to Kenmure Street, courtesy of barry crerar and Scottish Documentary Institute
Midwinter Break, courtesy of Protagonist Pictures
Molly Vs the Machines, courtesy of Storyboard Studios
Leonora in the Morning Light, credit Mirjam Kluka, courtesy Dragonfly films and Alamode Film
Super Nature, courtesy of Forest of Black
The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford, credit Saskia Coulson
California Schemin, courtesy of Bankside Films