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Glasgow Film Festival Industry Programme – 10 Year Vision

Glasgow Film Festival Industry Focus 2024 has unveiled its 10-Year Vision for Glasgow Film Festival’s Industry programme, with ambitious plans to become the UK’s main destination for independent filmmakers

Scottish writer-Director Selina Wagner has been awarded £5000 in development funding for animation project Tirrick following success at inaugural Animatic Live Pitches

Selina Wagner

Over 5 days, delegates gathered in Glasgow from across the globe for talks, workshops and networking events. The festival warmly welcomed the likes of Netflix, Aardman, BFI, Hanway, BBC Scotland, BBC Film and Oscar-winning Scottish director Kevin Macdonald as the festival continues to thrive as the major meeting point for the filmmaking sector

Glasgow Film’s long-standing mission to provide Cinema For All was highlighted in the Industry Focus programme featured within this year’s Glasgow Film Festival 2024, which has seen more than 150 one-to-one sessions completed from established industry experts, alongside a host of fireside chats, panels and live pitches. The programme showcased the positive impact Glasgow Film continues to have on talent development in the industry with the inaugural Animatic project and return of the much-loved New Talent Mentorship Scheme for its fourth year.

On the final day of the festival, GFF launched its ambitious 10-Year Vision for its Industry Focus, with plans to become the UK’s main industry destination for independent filmmakers by 2034.

Industry Advisory Board

Industry Advisory Board is headed by writer-director Raisah Ahmed alongside Alice Whittemore (Film 4), George Hamilton (Protagonist Pictures), Lauren Lamarr (Blazing Griffon), Louise Thornton (BBC Scotland), Nikki Parrott (Tigerlily Productions), Reece Cargan (Bombito Productions), Sarah Smyth (Screen Scotland) and Hamish Moseley (Netflix). The 10-Year Vision outlined GFF priorities: recognition as one of the most prestigious platforms in the world for nurturing and showcasing the best UK talent, making a positive impact on the future diversity of UK talent, and contributing to Scotland’s reputation as a dynamic centre for film production, creativity, and innovation.

Glasgow Film Festival will provide a curated programme of market and industry opportunities for the best emerging screen talent looking for finance, distribution, partners and support. The market will discover the untapped stories that speak to diverse audiences, while the GFF programme will facilitate connections and provide avenues for industry professionals to expand their international networks and partnerships.

During Industry Focus, Glasgow Film Festival also proudly announced Selina Wagner as the winner of its inaugural Animatic scheme, supporting Scotland-based animation talent. Tirrick, a coming-of-age fantasy drama feature, has been awarded £5,000 from the Scottish Government’s Festival EXPO Fund. Tirrick follows a bird-obsessed, feral teenaged girl who finds herself alone after her mother’s sudden death. Forced to leave her windswept island home for the first time, she must decide whether she belongs in the bird world or the human world. The five shortlisted Animatic creatives presented their final pitches to Netflix’s Lauren Castro and Julio Bonet, Aardman’s Helen Argo and Screen Scotland’s Sean Greenhorn on the second day of Industry Focus. In the months leading up to GFF, participants learned from a range of industry experts including the art of successful pitching from one of the Animatic partners, Fiona Gillies‘ and Christine Hartland of My SMASH Media.

Tirrick

Industry Focus also welcomed Screen Scotland to launch its new strategy which sets out ambitious plans for the continued economic and creative growth of Scotland’s film and TV sectors across the next six years. The strategy commits to backing emerging talent, production skills, film education, and the development of new audiences. It also seeks to further develop Scotland as a centre of global production, and a nation with its own vibrant, confident film and screen culture. An economic growth target of £1 billion GVA within the Scottish economy is matched with an ambition to see that growth driven by new work from Scotland, devised, developed and produced by Scottish talent, sustaining rewarding and creative jobs across the country, at all career levels.

Allison Gardner, CEO of Glasgow Film and Director of GFF, said: “Glasgow Film is extremely grateful to our knowledgeable and talented Industry Advisory Board for their passion and time in helping to shape our future vision. Glasgow Film Festival has demonstrated that we can deliver a truly excellent festival for our audiences and we take that enthusiasm, passion and skill and apply that to our 10-year Vision for our Industry programme. We know that we can work with strategic partners to deliver opportunities that provide a platform to support untapped stories that speak to diverse audiences wherever they may be.”

Raisah Ahmed, Industry Advisory Board Chair, said: “The Glasgow Film Festival Industry programme has grown from strength to strength since its inception. The success of this year’s programme signals how vital it is as a space for Scotland based and visiting talent as a place to develop, connect and create work. Looking ahead, there’s endless potential for what can be achieved at GFF Industry in the coming years, with an ambition to become one of the most prolific industry programmes within the festival world. The Industry Advisory board alongside the Industry and GFF team has been vital in thinking ahead and forming an ambitious plan to align and work with the burgeoning Scottish screen sector and help make Scotland the place to be for industry, talent and audiences.”

Isabel Davis, Executive Director of Screen Scotland, said: “Glasgow Film Festival’s Industry Focus has become a touch point for the UK’s screen industry to connect. Its dedication to providing an inclusive, accessible and barrier free space for new and established members of the screen community to come together has been heartening to see, alongside the breadth of lively, fruitful and informative exchanges taking place across the industry programme over the last five days.”

Selina Wagner, Animatic 2024 Winner, said: “Taking part in the GFF Animatic scheme has been incredibly valuable. I’m sure I speak for a lot of filmmakers when I say that it’s one thing to have a creative idea, but a whole other challenge to pitch it correctly. The Animatic scheme took us through all the stages needed to be able to get to that point, from learning what was needed to make a successful pitch to then being able to follow up. It was a delight to hear from all the people who gave us their time and expertise leading to the Live Pitch which was a fantastic experience. To win is absolutely mind-blowing and I can’t thank everyone enough for their support – my fellow pitchers, the My SMASH Media team, the GFF team and the panel.”

Glasgow Film Festival’s Industry programme was launched in 2016, in response to the number of filmmaking professionals attending the festival. Since then, GFF has grown to become the leading gathering for people working in the Scottish Film & TV industry at every stage in their career, from students to established professionals.

GFF is one of the leading film festivals in the UK and is run by Glasgow Film, a charity which also runs Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow Film Festival is made possible by support from Screen Scotland, the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, and Glasgow Life. ScreenSkills is also a proud partner of Industry Focus at GFF.

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