Columbia 1: Mind Games The MFA Film Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts in New York has produced many award-winning filmmakers. In two showcase programmes of the school’s recent output, Glasgow Short Film Festival brings you the next generation of American independent directors. The first programme explores themes of power and cruelty. Two adult brothers torment their mother’s new lover, whilst a playboy refuses to accept an old friend’s changing priorities. Also featuring a rogue therapist and a woman desperately keeping up appearances as her world collapses.
Glasgow Short Film Festival CCA Friday 8 February (19.00) 1h30m, N/C 15+
We are delighted to welcome filmmaker and Columbia professor Tom Kalin to introduce the programme and discuss the films.
Columbia 2: Family Ties Our second showcase programme from the MFA Film Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts features the work of both American and international students. Family or its absence is explored in diverse ways. Includes work by Glasgow residents past and present – The Dawn Chorus by Hope Dickson Leach and Satsuki Okawa’s Little Kyota Neon Head, which was partly cast at last year’s Glasgow Short Film Festival. The programme also includes Junebug & Hurricane by James Ponsoldt, whose feature Smashed screened at GFT this January.
Glasgow Short Film Festival CCA Saturday 9 February (19.15) 1h30m, N/C 15+
We are delighted to welcome filmmaker and Columbia professor Tom Kalin to introduce the programme and discuss the films.
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope Produced by Stan Lee and Joss Whedon, this affectionate documentary from the director of Super Size Me follows some of the collectors, the competitors and the cosplayers who make the annual pilgrimage to San Diego for the world’s largest comic book convention, Comic-Con. Triumphing as both an overview of the event, as super-fans from Kevin Smith to Guillermo del Toro reveal why they love it so much, and an intimate portrait of some its disciples, this is above all a celebration of what it means to be a geek.
Coming Home: International Competition 8 The textures and tensions of home are captured in our final competition selection. Encounters Short Film Festival-winning Premature holds our cringing gaze in a single shot of embarrassment and culture-clash, whilst in House Party by Adrian Sitaru (Glasgow Short Film Festival 2011 winner for The Cage), a mother uncovers the goings on while she was away. Belgian animation Oh Willy... has won over sixty international awards. Dylan’s Room took the audience award at Cambridge Film Festival, whilst Irish Folk Furniture comes to us fresh from Sundance. Full details of all the films are provided in the Glasgow Short Film Festival brochure.
Compliance Keep reminding yourself that everything that happens in the disturbing Compliance is based on true events. Craig Zobel’s tautly handled thriller is reminiscent of Stanley Milgram’s famous experiments in the way it explores how far anyone might go to comply with a figure of authority. It is a busy Friday at an Ohio fast-food outlet when supervisor Sandra receives a call suggesting that Becky has been accused of stealing from a customer’s purse. Becky denies the charge but Sandra is persuaded to tackle the matter more aggressively. Soon, Becky is being strip searched and the nightmare has just begun in an intelligent, provocative film that really gets under the skin.
Cul-de-sac: Scottish Competition 1 Six of the twenty-four films competing for the Scottish Short Film Award. An uneasy connection is formed in Ian Waugh’s stunning Strayed, while the protagonist of Calum Nielsen and Helen Wright’s Bond finds herself a little too connected for comfort. In Ben Pace’s Walls and Stuart Elliott’s Return to Sender, two men find themselves trapped by unexpected arrivals. A stork is stuck in the past in Tea Party by Vitali Sichinava and a dream becomes a repeating nightmare in Uisdean Murray’s Oh Jackie. Full programme details are provided in the Glasgow Short Film Festival brochure.
buy tickets online at www.glasgowfilm.org/FESTIVAL
Kapow!@GFF GFT Wed 20 February (13.45) CCA Thursday 21 February (15.00) Director Morgan Spurlock Cast Seth Rogen, Seth Green USA 2011, 1h28m, N/C 12+ Thanks to Autlook Films Glasgow Short Film Festival CCA Friday 8 February (19.15) Saturday 9 February (13.15) 1h30m, N/C 15+
The State of Independents Cineworld Sunday 17 February (21.00) Monday 18 February (13.15) Director Craig Zobel Cast Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy USA 2012, 1h30m, N/C 15+ Thanks to Soda Pictures
Glasgow Short Film Festival CCA Thursday 7 February (19.00) 1h30m, N/C 15+
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