Check-in! : Glasgow Film Festival

Glasgow sprang out of hibernation a month early in February for the perless jamboree that is Glasgow Film Festival. With a programme of film, food and potholing it had no problem maintaining its notoriety for creative, vivid, unforgettable events.  I was really lucky to join the team again this year and I had more excitement and colour than I could point a camera at.

From the Grand Budapest Hotel in the Grand Central, Goodfellas and pizza at the Briggait, Jason Priestly’s socks, to the Glasgow Gospel Choir’s impromptu opening of a screening, all documented below.

Robert Florence at the Festival Opening Gala
Stuart and Marisa Murdoch at the Festival Opening Gala
 Guests at the Festival Opening Gala
Guests at the Festival Opening Gala
Street Food Cinema at the Briggait
Alison Gardner introduces the opening night gala
John Sessions in session.
Benedikt Erlingsson in conversation for Of Horses and Men
James Duff in a post show discussion for Hank and Asha
Richard Dreyfus and Jason Priestly on the red carpet for Cas and Dylan
Richard Dreyfus at the GFT
Jason Priestly in a post show Q&A for Cas and Dylan
Jason Priestly in a post show Q&A for Cas and Dylan
Agnés b and Lou-Léila Demerliac on the rad carpet for My Name Is Hmmm…
Claudia Lennear with the Glasgow Gospel Choir perform for the premiere of 20 Feet from Stardom 
Claudia Lennear with the Glasgow Gospel Choir perform for the premiere of 20 Feet from Stardom 
Claudia Lennear with the Glasgow Gospel Choir perform for the premiere of 20 Feet from Stardom 
Margaret Tait Award winners Anne-Marie Copestake and Rachel MacLean with festival Producer Corinne Orton
Margaret Tait Award winner Rachel MacLean introduces her new work
Andy Diggle and Jock in conversation with Mark Millar
Andy Diggle and Jock in conversation with Mark Millar
Andy Diggle and Jock in conversation with Mark Millar
Ed Atkins, curator of Man of Steel
George Sluizer, Director of Dark Blood, in a post show discussion
Until next year…

Glasgow Film Festival ’13

Kudos! Another brilliant year for Glasgow Film Festival. Building, as ever, on their previous years, 2013 saw Glasgow implode under a hefty programme of over 350 events. The festival stretched its reach across international cinematic boundaries as well as venues in the city, from a western dancehall to an obscure underground subway.

I was invited in again this year to provide coverage on the events from the red carpet to the afterparty mayhem. Here are some of the highlights below!

Lorenza Izzo and Eli Roth at the UK Premiere of Aftershock

Nicolas Lopez works the red carpet for the UK premiere of Aftershock

Festival Co-Director Alan Hunter introduces a special screening of Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc at Glasgow Cathedral 

Gemma Arterton at the Q&A of Neil Jordan’s UK Premiere of Byzantium
Saoirse Ronan on the red carpet for Neil Jordan’s Byzantium

Citadel director, Ciaron Foy on the red carpet

Jake Wilson, the youngest member of the Q&A panel for Citadel

Robert Emms in conversation at the Q&A of Rufus Norris’s Broken 
Actor Emun Elliot and casting agent Kahleen Crawford in conversation  as part of a BAFTA event

Guests at the afterparty of We Are Northern Lights

 First Minister Alex Salmond  has his comic knowledge challenged by Mark Millar at GEEK night
Audience at the Frightfest Friday marthon
Festival Co-director Allison Gardner with the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce

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Front Row Seat

True to classic Festival pace, everything is always half over before it even feels underway. So in keeping, here I am half way through the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and this is my first opportunity to relay from the frontier.

And the front lines is exactly how it feels. The photo team has been at the crest of activity for the last week and have had such a vantage point on seeing the whole festival unfold. We have been everywhere. We are tucked into a corner at every event and every screening. We are on every panel, forum and discussion. We have been side by side with the actors, filmmakers and companies that comprise this year’s program. We are amongst the audience and we move in convoy with the festival staff and directors. If omnipresence is all it is cut out to be, then this is as close as it gets to being a god.

Back to reality however, over the last week, me and the team have painted a wonderful tapestry of the festival in images. There is a full and ever expanding gallery of the festival’s activities online. We have been presented with such a range of people, circumstances and weather conditions that there is no end of colour to the proceedings. This is my first chapter for now at least.

EIFF Artistic Director Chris Fujiwara

A Filmmaker prepares a rare projection of 16mm print for a screening

Guests get ready for some mind bending 3D as part of the Black Box Shorts programme

Carlos Acosta, Eva Birthistle and Christopher Simpson reunite in Edinburgh for the premiere of Day of the Flowers

Festival staff are caught in a quick downpour before the red carpet of Killer Joe
Tartan Troo’s on the red carpet

Guests enjoying Innis&Gunn and canapés at the opening party at The National Museum of Scotland

Actor Christopher Simpson during a photocall for Day of the Flowers

The Silhouette of a speaker introducing a screening

Sun Don’t Shine director Amy Seimetz answers a curious audience during a Q&A

The restoration of cult classic Lawrence of Arabia is explained in a detailed presentation

Tilda Swinton sits front row for a preview of a brand new restoration of David Lean’s Laurence of Arabia

Rita Azevedo Gomes introduces A Woman’s Revenge

Writer Paul Fraser discusses his work with Shane Meadows

Maja Bjorg and Tilda Swinton

The industry equivalent of speed dating, delegates network with established professionals but only have 20 minutes on the clock

An industry delegate pitches his script at a one-to-one seminar

EIFF Artistic Director Chris Fujiwara arrives on the red carpet for the opening of the festival

BBC Broadcaster and EIFF Juror Edith Bowman arrives on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe

Ian Rankin arrives on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe

William Friedkin arrives in force on the red carpet for his EIFF premiere of Killer Joe

Producer Al Morrow considers an audience question in an industry event on the Danish Documentary

Peter Engel , Producer at Zentropa
Erwin Houtenbrink, member of the International Short Film Jury

Cast and Crew introduce the EIFF premiere of Guinea Pigs

Brian Cox smiling on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe

Film Editor Colin Monie gives an inside view to the industry to a young audience at Scottish Screen Academy

Craig Hill arrives on the red carpet for the EIFF premiere of Killer Joe

Will Anderson, winner of both the British Short film and Maclaren Animation Awards, talks candidly with fellow filmmakers at the Cameo bar

Miguel Gomes, director of Tabu speaks about his film in a Q&A
Elliot Gould impersonates Jean-Luc Godard during his In Person event.
Morv and Rab and the stag

Guests rock the Jukebox at the opening party at the National Museum of Scotland

A packed National Museum of Scotland for the opening night party.

Ceilidh musician on stage for the EIFF Ceilidh.

Actor Jim Broadbent at the EIFF Ceilidh

A proper ruckus at the EIFF Ceilidh

A debonair attendee of the black tie premiere of Killer Joe

The silhouette of twin 16mm projectors of Black Box filmmaker Daichi Saito.
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