21 March 2024
Share
GFF24 opened with the Gala UK premiere of Love Lies Bleeding, which sold out in a record 6 minutes. GFF Industry attendance increased by 56% as the festival cements its status as a major meeting point for the filmmaking sector, with 650 delegates from across the globe visiting Glasgow.
Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) 2024 wrapped up on Sunday 10 March by celebrating a bumper year of ticket sales and local and international talent.
GFF24 admissions increased to 34,817, a 4% rise from GFF23. The festival also cemented its reputation as a major meeting point for the UK and international filmmaking sector, with 650 delegates from across the globe visiting Glasgow (an increase in 56% from 2023) and over 3000 admissions to its Industry Focus events.
From an unparalleled 397 film submissions, the GFF programme showcased 121 feature films at 241 screenings and events over 12 days at Glasgow Film Theatre, CCA, Cineworld, Glee Club, BAaD, Cottiers Theatre, Civic House, Adelaide Place, Doubletree Hilton and the Arc. GFF also partnered with nine cinemas across the UK, including Barbican, BFI Southbank, Broadway, Chapter Cardiff, DCA, Eden Court, Showroom Sheffield, Watershed and Tyneside for the first UK screenings of GFF premiere La Chimera, a fantastical romance starring Josh O’Connor.
Allison Gardner, CEO of Glasgow Film and Director of GFF, said:
Myself and the whole team at the festival are thrilled with how GFF24 went. From our critically and publicly acclaimed programme highlighting emerging talent to the friendly and warm reception by our wonderful audiences to the talented guests that came to Glasgow from across the world, our 20th edition was a perfect reflection of everything Glasgow Film Festival stands for: Cinema For All.
Riddle of Fire, Weston Razooli’s feature debut, was also selected by GFF’s Young Ambassadors for an extra Glasgow screening as part of the GFF Youth Takeover during the festival. Riddle of Fire is a nostalgic charmer that follows a trio of kids as they embark on a fantasy journey in search of a speckled egg once making a deal with their mum over a video game. The screening was free to attend for all GFT 15 - 25 Cinecard holders and included a meal and post-screening film-themed activities.
GFF continued to prioritise making the festival and cinema accessible to the city as a whole, with its daily free morning retrospective screenings, captioned and audio described screenings and Take 2 screenings where each child attending receives a free ticket for themselves and two free tickets for their accompanying adults.
Bailie Annette Christie, Chair of Glasgow Life Chair, said:
The excellent audience figures, and number of sell-out events Glasgow Film Festival 2024 achieved, highlight what a resounding success it has been. GFF24’s excellent, expansive programme showcased the very best in world cinema, with a wonderful wealth of contemporary and retrospective screenings across a wide range of genres.
The 20th edition of GFF opened with the UK Premiere of Kristen Stewart’s hotly-anticipated neo noir Love Lies Bleeding, which sold out in a record-breaking 6 minutes, and closed with the gala World premiere of John Archer’s documentary Janey - all while welcoming a host of famous faces onto the red-carpet including Viggo Mortensen, Emily Hampshire, George MacKay, Maxine Peake and Dale Dickey.
The festival celebrated the return of its popular Special Event screenings with two sell-out anniversary showings of The Wizard of Oz, complete with yellow brick road, and John Waters’ Female Trouble with live performances from two of Scotland’s top queer drag acts, Sgairre Wood and Puke. For the first time ever GFF curated some top post-film entertainment at GFF After Hours, including Movie Karaoke, a GFF ceilidh and an International Woman’s Day club night DJ’d by Radio Buena Vida. Dipping into the archives, GFF showcased love is sweet oh! a programme exploring love stories through the lens of Black people and people of colour; What Will The Men Wear? explored the star power of three of Hollywood’s most subversive female stars of the 1930s; Gestures of Memory interrogated and re-imagined archival practice; and Wild Flower, Flaming Star bought rarely-seen gems starring Hollywood’s first Mexican leading lady Dolores del Rio back to the big screen.
Viggo Mortensen, actor-director-producer:
It was the best place I’ve seen my movie and the best place I’ve heard it. I’ve learned that Glasgow is not only a film loving place but a cinema loving place so I’m very happy to have come here and premiered The Dead Don’t Hurt at Glasgow Film Festival.
The Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen visited Glasgow Film Festival for the UK premiere of his new film The Dead Don't Hurt and an In Conversation event talking about his five decades-long Hollywood career as an actor and director. Following the sold-out event at Glasgow Film Theatre, three-times Oscar nominee Viggo was presented with the festival's inaugural Cinema City Honorary Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cinema. This new annual award has been launched as part of Glasgow Film’s Year of Celebrations with 2024 marking 85 years since the cinema was built, 50 years since Glasgow Film Theatre was founded and the 20th edition of Glasgow Film Festival.