Glasgow Film Festival programme launch next week!

Gearing up for GFF12 which looks set to be a stonking year: the main Festival runs from 16-26 February with the Shorts Film Festival (9-12 Feb) and the Youth Film Festival (5-5 Feb) taking place in early February. The full Festival programme will be announced, and tickets will go on sale, next Thursday 19 January.

Glasgow Music and Film Festival tickets on sale now

To give you a little taste of what's to come we've put our Glasgow Music and FIlm Festival (GMFF) live events on sale today! Honed and cultivated by seasoned film fanatics at GFF and switched on music aficionados at the Arches, GMFF celebrates the special relationship between film and music. This year's expertly crafted selection of jaw-dropping live events includes a rare performance from Simeon of cult 1960s avant-garde act Silver Apples, the return of Wet Sounds, US ethereal art rockers High Places and the horror-obsessed, otherworldliness of Umberto with a live soundtrack to a secret film. Take a look below for details of all these events.

An eclectic mix of music-themed docs makes up the rest of GMFF's programme, details of which will be announced next Thursday along with the rest of GFF's programme.

Don't forget that our Gene Kelly: Strictly Song and Dance retrospective and Glasgow Youth Film Festival events are already on sale. Snap them up before everyone else does!

Music with visual art: High Places

Thursday 16 February (20.00)

Music and visual art reach a perfect fusion in High Places, a collaboration between Ros Barber and Mary Pearson. The duo have toured the world and worked with fellow LA band Lucky Dragons who captivated us at their Arches show in 2011. Rob studied and taught fine art and Mary studied bassoon performance before they met and started trading backgrounds and aesthetics. Albums High Places and Original Colors have won acclaim for their melodic lyricism and eye-catching collage work. Aside from creating accompanying artwork and limited editions of etchings with their EPs, they have also devised evolving live visuals that document their daily lives and travels. This promises to be a fun, unforgettable evening.

All tickets £8

Arches - Buy Tickets

Live score & magical animation: Serafina and Sam Steer:

A Focus Left Special

Saturday 18 February (19.00)

Multi-instrumentalist and multi-talented harpist Serafina Steer is used to Joanna Newsom comparisons by now. But Steer's London-tinged Victoriana-folk stories, haunting melodies and captivating wordsmithery make her sound one of the most unique and intriguing of the past decade; a sound confirmed and enhanced by collaborations with artists from John Foxx and Benge to Chromehoof and Patrick Wolf. For this special gig, Steer will perform her own live scores using harp and vocals alongside the fairy-tale animations of her filmmaker brother Sam Steer in what promises to be a magical and enthralling live experience.

Tickets cost £6 full price / £4 concessions

GFF11 sell-out experience: Wet Sounds

Sunday 19 February (17.30 & 20.00)

A sell-out at GFF 2011, we're giving you a second chance to experience this 'cinema for the ear'. Bring a costume and some goggles, and join us at the beautiful Victorian baths of the North Woodside Leisure Centre where we'll be floating and diving, immersed in sound coming from inside and outside the water. The sound, detailed and clear, is perceived by the bones and creates an incredibly intimate and immersive listening experience. With two sound systems playing different content, each are heard separately - except while floating on the surface of the water. Features live performances by Joel Cahen and La Horrox.

All tickets £9, must be bought in advance from GFF.

Session 1: 17.30-19.00
Session 2: 20.00-21.30

Suitable for all ages.

Exclusive, rare performance: Silver Apples

Sunday 26 February (20.30)

Pioneers of space and electronic rock, hugely influential avant-garde duo Silver Apples formed in 1967 in New York. A contrast to the flowery psychedelic rock of the 1960s, they assembled an assortment of filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, lab gear and a variety of second-hand electronic junk and oscillators to create their minimalistic, experimental sound. They have influenced everyone from Kraftwerk to Suicide and Spacemen 3. Simeon Coxe III will perform this exclusive and rare solo show for Glasgow Music and Film Festival which will follow the world premiere of Silver Apples: Play Twice Before Listening at GFT on Sunday 26 February (15.30).

All tickets £10

Information and tickets

Trailer and awards announced: Glasgow Short Film Festival

Thursday 9 - Sunday 12 February

2012 will see the fifth edition of Glasgow Short Film Festival (GSFF), four heady days of competition screenings, retrospectives, masterclasses, live performances and parties. Based at Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), audiences and filmmakers mingle in a friendly yet feverish celebration of all things short and filmic. In previous years we have delivered unique programmes and guests from across the globe - 2012 promises even more, including a new jury prize dedicated solely to new work from within Scotland, and audience awards voted for by you.

GSFF is proud to announce the selection for their 2012 competitions. Sixty-nine films will screen across the International and Scottish competitions, including five Scottish films which have been selected for both competitions. For more details and to see the full list of selected films, see the link below.

GSFF trailer
GSFF announce competition selections

Occult project OV returns: A Psychocinematic Ritual

Thursday 23 February (20.00)

After their spectacular warm-up for Italian horror soundtrack legends Goblin at last year's festival, occult project OV returns for a much-anticipated evening of live experience - this time using ritual, coincidence, numerology and a hefty dose of magick to explore both the beauty and cruelty of war. An unsettling collaboration between members of Desalvo, Unwinding Hours and Sons and Daughters, OV was born from a shared fascination with the occult, magick and the otherworldly. Performing live film soundtracks alongside intriguing visuals, prepare to be reminded of the power of music and cinema to shock and disturb.

All tickets £5

Information / tickets

Horror soundtrack master: Cry Parrot presents: Umberto

Saturday 25 February (20.00)

A true master of the horror film soundtrack aesthetic, Umberto's music is a hypnotic, all-consuming journey, reeling you into a foggy, neon-lit world of graveyards, stalkers, haunted houses, witches and blood-stained corpses. Evoking the unsettling progressive rock of Goblin and the sinister, dystopian synth-work of John Carpenter, his acclaimed releases are as playful and experimental as they are expertly crafted. Flying over from Kansas City, Missouri for this special performance, Umberto will provide a live soundtrack to a secret film of his choice in cutting-edge arts venue SWG3.

Co-presented by independent promoters Cry Parrot, expect a suitably creepy production and otherworldly performance.

All tickets £5

Information / tickets

World premiere: Silver Apples: Play Twice Before Listening

Sunday 26 February (15.30)

Having languished in obscurity for many years, 60s duo Silver Apples are now recognised as pioneers of electronica, thanks to their groundbreaking work melding psychedelic rock with primitive oscillators. At the time, switched on taste-makers like John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix sang their praises, but it's been in latter years, with the likes of Beck, the Beastie Boys, and Portishead's Geoff Barrow acknowledging their influence, that the band's renown has grown. This documentary unfolds the story of the enigmatic duo through interviews, rare performance footage and contributions from a gallery of enthusiastic talking heads. World premiere.

We're delighted to welcome director Barak Soval and Simeon from Silver Apples to take part in a Q&A following the screening.

Information / tickets

Glasgow Music and Film Festival tickets on sale now