The Grand Budapest Hotel |
This year's Glasgow Film Festival was officially launched tonight with the news that Wes Anderson's latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel, will be its opening gala. Other UK premières screening there will include Mr Morgan's Last Love and agnès b's My Name is Hmmm…. The popular Frightfest weekender will return in all its gory glory and there's a new strand dedicated to the very best new cinema from Chile.
Guests at this year's festival will include George Sluizer, introducing his recently completed film Dark Blood, which stars River Phoenix. Richard Ayoade will present his new film, The Double, and there will be a chance to meet legendary set designer Roger Christian, who gave us Star Wars and Alien.
"In the decade since the Festival began, it’s grown almost beyond recognition," said co-director Allan Hunter. "One thing remains essential, though – GFF is and will always be an access-all-areas event, where you can meet the filmmakers, ask awkward questions, and make friends with the person sitting next to you. Everyone is a VIP here, and in our tenth year we’re pulling out all the stops, trying to create the best possible experiences for our audiences, and involving as much of the city as we can."
There are certainly lots of opportunities to explore Glasgow, a city which once boasted over 100 cinemas, and even locals are likely to discover something new if they join the film-themes treasure hunt or the expedition into the still largely uncharted tunnels beneath the streets.
As always, we'll be bringing you extensive coverage of the festival here at Eye For Film, and you can read our coverage so far here.
The festival runs from 20 February to 2 March, making its premières and parties the perfect warm-up for the Oscars.