Set The Tape had the privilege of attending the programme launch on Wednesday for the 2018 Glasgow Film Festival. The annual industry event has become one of the biggest in country, with 40,000 people descending on the Scottish city to watch movies from all around the world, take part in exciting cinematic experiences, and listen to filmmakers and talent share their expertise.
The Glasgow Film Festival opens on 21st February with Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and closes on 4th March with a documentary called Nae Pasaran, which looks back at local Glasgow men who showed solidarity alongside the Chilean people against an oppressive military.
If you’ve got your highlighters and calendars out wondering how you will fit in an entire programme, then here are our eight ‘must see’ movies.
Isle of Dogs
Coming days after the world premiere in Berlin, Wes Anderson’s return to stop motion opens the film festival, Anderson also opened the festival before with The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014. Isle of Dogs reunites Wes Anderson regulars, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum and Edward Norton who Greta Gerwig and Bryan Cranston joining the players. The movie allows 12-year-old Atari Kobayashi to embark on a daring mission to rescue his pet dog from an island in Japan of quarantined dogs. This promises to be another classic Wes Anderson movie and the demand for tickets have shown there’s a dogs appetite for this one.
Blue My Mind
Glasgow Film Festival prides itself on the amount of female directors whose work is being showcased in the programme and Blue My Mind looks to be one of the highlights. Actress and director, Lisa Bruhlmann’s first feature film is a body horror coming of age story as the young Mia finds her body transforming in shocking ways and turning to drink and drugs to tackle her anxiety. With the cult success of Raw in 2017, this is an ahead of the curve watch for movie horror fans.
Columbus
John Cho trades in the U.S.S. Enterprise for writer/director Kogonada’s debut feature, Columbus. Following his fathers sudden illness, John Cho’s Jin is stranded in Columbus, Indiana, the home of modern architecture in America. Jin strikes up a friendship with a young architecture enthusiast and the two begin to grow close as they share their anxieties and thoughts on the city around them.
Foxtrot
Winner of the Venice grand jury prize in 2017, Foxtrot follows an affluent couple from Tel Aviv who found out their son has been killed in the line of duty. A story of three parts as we first follow the parents in the hours after their sons death as they grieve for their loved one. The second act takes place in the prior to Yonathan’s death and his experience in the military and finally we find out what happens six months after his death.
Lucky
The legendary Harry Dean Stanton’s swan song comes to Glasgow with Lucky, as he plays a veteran and atheist with death looming over him, searching to find meaning in life in his small home town where his life revolves around the diner, his crossword puzzle and boozing buddies. No doubt viewed in the light of Stanton’s passing, this fitting character study will leave everyone in the audience with tears in their eyes.
The Party’s Just Beginning
Not content with trying to save the galaxy in Avengers: Infinity War, Karen Gillan writes and directs this Scottish based drama as she plays Lucy who finds her life falling apart following her best friends suicide. Filling that hole with drinking, sex and chips, she struggles to understand and open up. Karen Gillan will be there at the festival, to promote this film and champion local talent and film.
Submergence
Featuring local hero, James McAvoy, this movie features two lovers who face peril in her operate storylines, as MacAvoy’s James is captured by Al Qaeda and Alicia Vikander’s Danielle who about to explore the deepest depths of the ocean. As the two struggle with crushing isolation, their minds are both cast back to an intense affair the previous Christmas.
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought down the White House
Following the success of The Post, and the endless comparisons with the Trump administration and that of the corrupt Nixon era, this Liam Neeson drama seems more timely than ever. Neeson play’s Deep Throat, the FBI insider whose leaks to the Washington Post helped bring down the Nixon white house. A political drama that will seem pulled from today’s headlines will appeal to more than just fans of political dramas.
Book up for these films at glasgowfilm.org/festival