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Festival coverage

Glasgow Film Festival

2012

Finisterrae
Finisterrae

The Glasgow Film Festival was back for its eighth year in 2012, bigger and better and now a real contender on the international festival scene. It opened with the UK gala premiere of Your Sister's Sister and closed with Le Havre.

This time around, there was a Gene Kelly retrospective for dance fans and another spectacularly scary weekend courtesy of the Frightfest team. There was also the Youth Film Festival, which ran before the main one, from the 5th to the 15th of February, and the Glasgow Short Film Festival, which ran from the 9th to the 12th.

Alongside the films, Glasgow incorporated a host of exciting related arts events, including a stage version of Belleville Rendez-Vous.

The Glasgow Film Festival 2012 ran from the 16th to the 26th of February.

The Surprise Movie was revealed to be Jeff Who Lives At Home

Other years (20)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • The Last Farm
    Review preview for The Last Farm

    Sigurbjörnsson does excellent work in between the lines of the script and Rúnarsson gives him plenty of space, so that not a single moment of the 17 here feels hurried.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    An ageing farmer is determined to do things his own way.
  • Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
    Review preview for Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

    Blunt and McGregor do what they can but they, like their characters, are swimming upstream in a river of syrup to a soundtrack that came from the drawer marked Now That's What I Call Celtic.

    Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
    When an idealistic sheikh persuades a fisheries expert to try and introduce salmon to the Yemen, the expert soon finds himself himself out of his depth, but love blossoms along the way.
  • The Forgotten Space
    Review preview for The Forgotten Space

    Tthere are about six or seven fascinating shorts competing for attention here, and Burch and Sekula’s respective backgrounds pull the film one way and then the other, never quite settling into a structurally or aesthetically consistent framework.

    Michael Pattison · 2.5 out of 5
    Film essay documenting fishermen's working conditions and sea trade.
  • Long Distance Information
    Review preview for Long Distance Information

    Long Distance Information depicts that phone call so well, the stilted awkwardness as you ask about things you don't care about.

    Donald Munro · 4 out of 5
    A phone call reveals the difficulties of estrangement within a family.
  • Crawl
    Review preview for Crawl

    Scores high in the derivative stakes but low on satisfaction.

    Neil Mitchell · 2 out of 5
    When a garage owner hires a mysterious hitman to dispose of his business rival, things go from bad to worse.
  • Pitch Black Heist
    Review preview for Pitch Black Heist

    Shot in lush, vivid black and white, the film carries a sense of age and expectation.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Two men team up to rob an office safe but they must work around a light-triggered alarm system.
  • Death Watch
    Review preview for Death Watch

    Bertrand Tavernier’s 1980 curio Death Watch remains a chilly and enigmatic film, one which is hard to love but not hard to admire.

    Robert Munro · 4 out of 5
    A man with a camera implanted in his brain is commissioned to film a documentary about a terminally ill woman's last days.
  • The Loves Of Pharaoh
    Review preview for The Loves Of Pharaoh

    A classical exploration of power, love, violence and misery.

    Sophie Monks Kaufman · 3.5 out of 5
    A dramatic tale of life and love in Ancient Egypt.
  • Livid
    Review preview for Livid

    There's a loneliness, a melancholy at the heart of Livid that is truly haunting.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A trainee carer's scheme to rob a comatose patient's house by night triggers supernatural horrors.
  • Sing Your Song
    Review preview for Sing Your Song

    It’s impossible not to admire Belafonte's courage and commitment.

    Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
    Documentary charting the career of Harry Belafonte - singer, actor and political activist.

A–Z of Glasgow Film Festival 2012 reviews

Features

  • This is a Raid
    Gareth Evans on the new thriller re-inventing the action genre.
  • In search of Beauty
    Deon Lotz talks about his role as a troubled man in the grip of obsession.
  • Playing the Bill
    Charlie Creed-Miles talks about playing the titular character in Dexter Fletcher's debut.
  • Going bananas
    GFF Diary days 10 & 11: Bertrand Tavernier, Aki Kaurismäki, Frightfest and the Gene Kelly Ceilidh.
  • The abyss gazes also
    GFF Diary days 8 & 9: Werner Herzog, Vivienne Westwood, Frightfest and otherworldly experiences.
  • Scenting success
    GFF Diary days 6 & 7: Annie Ross, Brian Cox, the Margaret Tait Award and the smell of Robert Pattinson.
  • Time on their side
    Reece Ritchie and Amara Karan talk about All In Good Time
  • The story of Wild Bill
    Dexter Fletcher on the father/son dynamics, character-driven drama and classy cast of his directorial debut.
  • In the drink
    GFF Diary days 4 & 5: underwater escapades, lewd old lesbians and a trip to the end of the world.
  • Romantic comedy - an alien concept?
    Nacho Vigalondo discusses his latest film Extraterrestrial and upcoming thriller Windows.
  • The agony and the ecstasy
    GFF Diary days 2 & 3: Hammer Horror, Irvine Welsh, great Scots and classic cabaret.
  • Sister act
    Lynn Shelton talks about Your Sister's Sister
  • Opening shots
    Glasgow Film Festival 2012, Diary One
  • Dead funny
    Zam Salim tackles the ultimate dead end job in Up There.
  • A career high
    Adam Sinclair talks exclusively about his lead role in Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy.
  • Bombay Beach dreams
    Alma Har'el talks about collaboration and dance in her debut documentary.

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