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Glasgow Film Festival · 2009

Glasgow Film Festival 2009

It's a Wonderful World

A selection of delights from world cinema, plus some gruelling but powerful documentaries.

Programme

8 films · 5 reviews

Jump to a film

24 City (Er Si Si Cheng Ji, Er shi si cheng ji (24 city))

Review preview for 24 City

This blending of the truth and invention is a key plank of Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke's work, which skates so close to documentary it is hard to spot the join.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Blend of fiction and documentary looks at a Chinese munitions plant scheduled for conversion into luxury apartments.

(Country: China, Hong Kong, Japan; Year: 2008; Director: Jia Zhang-Ke; Writer: Jia Zhang-Ke, Zhai Yongming; Stars: Jianbin Chen, Joan Chen, Liping Lu, Zhao Tao)

Full review See: Jia Zhang-Ke press conference on 24 City

Bitter & Twisted (Bitter And Twisted)

This quirky, multidimensional drama of longing and loss starts with the death of a young man and flashes forward three years to assess the toll it took on his parents, brother, and ex-girlfriend. A vivid style and nuanced performances add unusual charm to this confident debut.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Christopher Weekes; Writer: Christopher Weekes; Stars: Noni Hazlehurst, Steve Rodgers, Leeanna Walsman, Gary Sweet, Matt Newton, Christopher Weekes) , Official site

Disgrace

Review preview for Disgrace

Detached rather than indifferent.

James Benefield · 3.5 out of 5
The complex social life of an English professor forms a mirror for a complex country.

(Country: Australia, South Africa; Year: 2008; Director: Steve Jacobs; Writer: Anna Maria Monticelli, based on the book by J.M. Coetzee.; Stars: Scott Cooper, Eriq Ebouaney, Jessica Haines, John Malkovich, Fiona Press)

Full review

Heart Of Fire (Feuerherz)

The story of a young girl who is passed to the Eritrean Liberation Front.

(Country: Germany, Italy, Austria, France; Year: 2008; Director: Luigi Falorni; Writer: Luigi Falorni, Gabriele Kister, Senait Mehari; Stars: Letekidan Micael, Solomie Micael, Seble Tilahun, Daniel Seyoum, Mekdes Wegene, Samuel Semere)

Johnny Mad Dog

Review preview for Johnny Mad Dog

The film is a heartfelt cry for someone to stop these children being exploited so cruelly, but offers no easy answers.

Jeff Robson · 5 out of 5
As civil war rages in an unnamed African country, the lives of a boy soldier and a young girl fleeing the fighting become intertwined.

(Country: France, Belgium, Liberia; Year: 2008; Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire; Writer: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire; Stars: Christophe Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy) , Trailer

Full review

Laila's Birthday (Eid milad Laila)

A moving, often funny tale of a Palestinian taxi driver trying to get home in time for his daughter's birthday.

(Country: Palestine, Tunisia, Netherlands; Year: 2008; Director: Rashid Masharawi; Writer: Rashid Masharawi; Stars: Mohamed Bakri, Areen Omari, Nour Zoubi)

The Song Of Sparrows (Avaze gonjeshk-ha)

Review preview for The Song Of Sparrows

As usual, Majidi’s characters speak much more through the environments they inhabit than through dialogue, allowing his films to be easily understood worldwide.

Maryam Ghorbankarimi · 4.5 out of 5
This Iranian morality tale deals with an ostrich farmer who loses his job and is forced to travel to and from the city.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2008; Director: Majid Majidi; Writer: Mehran Kashani, Majid Majidi; Stars: Mohammad Amir Naji, Hossein Aghazi, Maryam Akbari, Kamran Dehghan)

Full review

Tulpan

Review preview for Tulpan

Dvortsevoy shows us the fragility of life, through the birth and death of lambs, while also touching on the innate stoicism of families who live in this toughest of environments.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man dreams of becoming a shepherd in the Kazakhstan steppe, but is there room for such dreams in the modern world?

(Country: Germany, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Switzerland; Year: 2008; Director: Sergei Dvortsevoy; Writer: Sergei Dvortsevoy, Gennadi Ostrovsky; Stars: Askhat Kuchencherekov, Tolepbergen Baisakalov, Ondas Besikbasov, Samal Esljamova,) , Official site

Full review