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Glasgow Film Festival · 2020

Glasgow Film Festival 2020

Stranger than Fiction

Programme

15 films · 6 reviews

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Always In Season

When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother's search for justice and reconciliation begins while the trauma of more than a century of lynching African-Americans bleeds into the present.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Jacqueline Olive; Writer: Don Bernier, Jacqueline Olive)

Because We Are Girls

Review preview for Because We Are Girls

Despite all the ugliness in this story, it emerges as a celebration of the power of sisterhood.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary set in British Columbia, Canada, about an immigrant Punjabi family who have a dark secret they can finally tell.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Baljit Sangra; Writer: Baljit Sangra; Stars: Jeeti Pooni, Kira Pooni, Salakshana Pooni)

Full review

The Capote Tapes

Profile of author Truman Capote.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Ebs Burnough)

Confucian Dream (Kongzi meng)

The story of a mother looking for the right kind of alternative education that will take into account her son’s moral development.

(Country: China, US; Year: 2019; Director: Mijie LI)

Flint

A documentary about the pollution crisis that has poisoned the people of Flint, Michigan for over six years.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Anthony Baxter; Writer: Richard Phinney; Stars: Alec Baldwin)

Henry Glassie: Field Work

The worldwide travels and unique cultural finds of renowned American folklorist Henry Glassie are celebrated in documentary form.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2019; Director: Pat Collins; Stars: Henry Glassie, Pravina Shukla)

Machine

From healthcare to transport, entertainment and the military, we are slowly moving toward an automated world. But what exactly does that mean for humanity?

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Justin Krook; Stars: Hiroshi Ishiguru, Missy Cummings)

Nail In The Coffin: The Fall And Rise Of Vampiro

A documentary about Ian Richard Hodgkinson, better known as professional wrestler Vampiro.

(Country: Canada, Mexico, US; Year: 2019; Director: Michael Paszt; Stars: Ian Richard Hodgkinson)

One Taxi Ride

Review preview for One Taxi Ride

This is an extraordinarily intimate film.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary following a man's journey to recovery years after he was sexually assaulted in a taxi in Mexico City.

(Country: Mexico, Singapore; Year: 2019; Director: CK Mak)

Full review

Pictures From Afghanistan

Photojournalist David Pratt has spent almost forty years capturing indelible images of global conflicts. His career has taken him from Somalia and Syria to Colombia and Croatia. Now he returns to Afghanistan to document life there.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Robbie Fraser)

Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago

Review preview for Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago

Moody, poignant and rich in humour, the documentary unfolds with something of the character of a shaggy dog story.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary that brings to life Barry Gifford’s autobiographical collection The Roy Stories, capturing a childhood in a vanished 1950s Chicago through a jazzy, impressionistic combination of beguiling archive footage, animation and spoken word.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Rob Christopher)

Full review See: Interview with Rob Christopher about Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago

Santiago, Italia

Nanni Moretti tells the story of the efforts of the Italian Embassy to save and relocate citizens targeted by the fascist Pinochet regime in Chile.

(Country: Italy, France, Chile; Year: 2018; Director: Nanni Moretti; Writer: Nanni Moretti)

State Funeral

Review preview for State Funeral

What the cumulative effect of masterfully restored newsreel may lack in action, it more than makes up for with the numbing, slow-burn sensation of being drawn under the spell of state-orchestrated mass mourning.

Matthew Anderson · 4 out of 5
Documentary based on footage from March 5 - 9, 1953, when the USSR mourned and buried Joseph Stalin.

(Country: Netherlands, Lithuania; Year: 2019; Director: Sergei Loznitsa; Writer: Sergei Loznitsa)

Full review

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

Review preview for Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

Longstanding fans will enjoy her extensive contributions, as considered and witty as ever.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career. Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, history, America and the human condition.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders; Stars: Toni Morrison, Hilton Als, Oprah Winfrey, Russell Banks, Angela Davis, Robert Gottlieb, Walter Mosley, Fran Lebowitz, Peter Sellars, Farah Griffin, Paula Giddings, David Carrasco, Sonia Sanchez, Richard Danielpour, Muhammad Ali)

Full review See: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders in conversation on Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, Lou Reed and Toni Morrison condensing language, filming direct-to-camera, and what's in a gaze