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Beats Closing Gala Glasgow Film Festival 2019

3 March, 2019

The much-anticipated screen version of Kieran Hurley’s award-winning play is a gallus, bittersweet coming-of-age rollercoaster: imagine Fellini’s I Vitelloni set to a throbbing techno beat.

It is 1994 and new legislation effectively outlaws raves or “public gatherings around amplified music characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”. The party is well and truly over but not before mild-mannered teenager Johnno (Cristian Ortega) is encouraged to join his best mate Spanner (Lorn Macdonald) for one last big night out at an illegal rave.

Filmed in black and white, with Steven Soderbergh as executive producer, Beatsfinds real poignancy in the bond between these two innocents as they enter a wonderland of rebellion and romance. A heady solidarity is forged in the sweaty bodies, casual encounters and carefree exuberance of youth gathered in the pursuit of a good time.

A wildly entertaining end of an era party that brings a lump to the throat.

Please note: these screenings do not include access to the Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Closing Gala Party. Tickets: £11.00 / £8.80 concessions

GFT 12 Rose Street, G3 6RB

Buy tickets

Beats After-Party Sub Club

22 Jamaica Street, G1 4QD

DOORS 11PM!

£5 on the door (first come, first served)
OR
Free Entry with:
• BEATS cinema ticket (valid with 7.30pm & 10pm tickets)
• GFF wristband

– Live set by Penelope Trappes & Stephen Hindman (of The Golden Filter) playing music they composed for the film followed by a 3 hour ’90s Rave’ DJ set from JD Twitch (of Optimo (Espacio))

BEATS SYNOPSIS:
1994. Best mates Johnno and Spanner share a deep bond, forged through childhood. Now on the cusp of adulthood, life is destined to take them in very different directions… But this summer is going to be different for them, and for the country. The explosion of the free party scene and the largest counter-cultural youth movement in recent history is happening across the UK. In pursuit of adventure and escape the boys head out on one last night together to an illegal rave: a journey into an underworld of anarchy and freedom that ends with a full on collision with the forces of law and order. A universal story of friendship, rebellion and the irresistible power of gathered youth, set to a soundtrack as eclectic and electrifying as the scene it gave birth to, BEATS is a story for our time.

This section: Cinema, Glasgow Film Festival 2019