Opening and Closing Galas, Glasgow Film Festival, 2017

handsome devil

handsome devil

Opening Gala: Handsome Devil

GFT / Wed 15 Feb
 
If you are looking for a film to lift your spirits, warm your heart and bring a big smile to your face, then you have come to the right place. Handsome Devil is a terrific coming-of-age, coming-out charmer that marks a significant step up for John Butler, the writer/director of The Stag, and features a cast of supremely talented young actors. Fionn O’Shea is a complete delight as gawky, 16 year-old Ned, a bright, artistic lad who faces his own hell on earth when he is sent to an all-boys Irish boarding school where the manly pursuit of rugby is virtually a religion. He steels himself for the loneliness, ridicule and constant insinuations about his sexuality. Everything changes with the arrival of his new roommate Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a star player in the rugby team, and inspirational English teacher Dan Sherry (Andrew Scott). Ned and Conor bond over a mutual appreciation of cool music and an unlikely friendship blossoms; one that faces unbearable pressures from a school grimly attached to its narrow macho values. A breezy, often hilarious tale that gains emotional depth as it delivers an irresistible message: everyone, straight or gay, has the power to make the world a better place by simply being true to themselves.
 
Tickets: £15 (£13 concessions)
Tickets include entry to the after-party at 29 Glasgow
on presentation of your ticket stub.

On sale 10am, Monday 9 January
glasgowfilm.org/festival

European Premiere of coming-of-age story Handsome Devil will be the Opening Gala for the thirteenth annual Glasgow Film Festival on 15 February

World Premiere of Mad To Be Normal starring David Tennant announced as Closing Gala film – David Tennant will attend the Festival on 26 February

Life of renowned artist and writer John Berger to be celebrated in the Scottish premiere of The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger 

Tickets for the Opening and Closing Galas will go on sale at 10am on Monday 9 January

Mad To Be Normal

mad to be normal

Eleven days later, the festival will close with the World Premiere of Mad To Be Normal, chronicling the astonishing life of world-renowned Scottish psychiatrist R. D Laing.

Featuring an all-star cast headed by David Tennant (Doctor Who, Broadchurch) as Laing, alongside Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, High-Rise), Michael Gambon (The Hollow Crown; the Harry Potter series) and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects; In Treatment), the film is directed by Robert Mullan (We Will Sing; Gitel). 

There was no more charismatic or controversial a figure during the Swinging Sixties than Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing. Dubbed the white Martin Luther King and the high priest of anti-psychiatry, Laing was as famous as Dylan. In 1965, he established Kingsley Hall in East London as a medication-free community for those seriously affected by schizophrenia. His methods and theories flew in the face of a medical establishment who considered Laing a dangerous radical. Mad To Be Normal offers a powerful account of Laings Kingsley Hall experiment with a stunning performance from David Tennant that really gets under the skin of an utterly compelling figure. Tennants nuanced, complex work conveys a sense of Laings immense personal charm and the combination of intelligence and arrogance that made him revered and reviled. The film also captures the darker side of a mercurial man who rarely made it easy for those who dared to get close to him, especially his lover Angie (Elisabeth Moss).

Robert Mullan, David Tennant and other cast members to be announced will be in attendance at the Closing Gala on the 26 February.

Scottish premiere of The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger

As a tribute to the late intellectual and storyteller John Berger, the festival has also announced it will host the Scottish premiere of The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (Friday 24 February, with an additional screening on Saturday 25 February). The result of a five-year project by Tilda Swinton, Colin MacCabe and Christopher Roth in collaboration with the composer Simon Fisher Turner, The Seasons in Quincy is comprised of four essay films, each taking different aspects of Berger’s life in the Haute-Savoie. Combining ideas and motifs from Berger’s own work with the atmosphere of his mountain home, each film exists as an individual work of art but combine to make a multifaceted and multilayered portrait of a great artist.

Glasgow Film Festival Co-Director Allison Gardner said:

“I am so excited to share the news about our great Opening and Closing Galas. Handsome Devil is a real crowd-pleaser with a joyous spirit that makes it a perfect film to launch the festival. David Tennant gives an absolutely stunning performance as R.D. Laing in Mad To Be Normal and it seems only fitting that Glasgow should have the honour of hosting the premiere of a film about one of the city’s most complex, charismatic figures. We are also privileged to be able to host the Scottish premiere of The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger, a fascinating look at one of our greatest polymaths”.

Tickets for the Opening and Closing Galas go on sale at 10am on Monday 9 January from: glasgowfilm.org/festival

The full programme for Glasgow Film Festival 2017 will be announced on the 18 January.

Glasgow Film Festival 2017 Canadian Focus – True North: New Canadian Cinema
Words Work Well For All, Creative Writing Workshop, Glasgow Women's Library, Saturday 18 March, 2017

This section: Cinema, Glasgow Film Festival 2017, What's On Glasgow West End: cinema, clubs, theatre, music, events, festivals, community and more

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Avatar of PatByrne Publisher of Pat's Guide to Glasgow West End; the community guide to the West End of Glasgow. Fiction and non-fiction writer.

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