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Glasgow Film Festival · 2026

Glasgow Film Festival 2026

Official Selection

Programme

50 films · 21 reviews

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Babystar

Review preview for Babystar

With a past working for a management company used by YouTube stars, Bongard knows his subject matter well.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A family vlogger's teenage daughter discovers that her parents plan to have another child and begins to question the cost of her lifelong celebrity.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Joscha Bongard; Writer: Joscha Bongard, Nicole Rüthers; Stars: Maximilian Mundt, Matthias Matschke, Verena Altenberger, Maja Bons, Maria Matschke)

Full review

The Baltimorons

Review preview for The Baltimorons

The connection that forms between them feels more real because it’s so unlikely. Duplass, co-writing with Strassner, has the skill to pull it off, and both lead actors are up to the task.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Christmas Eve, a broken tooth, and just one dentist on call – thus begins the strange odyssey of the newly sober Cliff and the lonely Didi through the streets of Baltimore.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Jay Duplass; Writer: Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner; Stars: Michael Strassner, Liz Larsen, Olivia Luccardi, Chris Strassner, Lewis Peterson, Rob Phoenix, Jessie Cohen)

Full review

Between Dreams And Hope

A young couple in Iran, one of whom is trans, travel to a remote town to confront his estranged father. Their mission: to obtain documents that allow them to live their love freely, challenging social and family norms.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2025; Director: Farnoosh Samadi; Writer: Farnoosh Samadi; Stars: Reza Amouzad, Sadaf Asgari, Fereshteh Hosseini, Amir Reza Jokar, Amirreza Ranjbaran, Hooman Rahnemoon, Kiarash Rezaei)

The Birthday Party

Markos Timoleon, an Onassis-like Greek tycoon, is celebrating his daughter’s 25th birthday on his private island. There, he will face an unpredictable chain of events that will threaten his dominance and shake his very existence.

(Country: Greece, Spain, Netherlands, UK; Year: 2025; Director: Miguel Ángel Jiménez; Writer: Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Giorgos Karnavas, Nicos Panagiotopoulos, based on the novel by Panos Karnezis; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Vic Carmen Sonne, Emma Suárez, Joe Cole, Carlos Cuevas)

Broken English

Portrait of Marianne Faithfull.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard; Writer: Jane Pollard, Iain Forsyth, Ian Martin; Stars: Marianne Faithfull, George MacKay, Tilda Swinton)

Couture

American filmmaker Maxine arrives in Paris for Fashion Week on a life-and-death journey, facing challenges and self-discovery.

(Country: France, US; Year: 2025; Director: Alice Winocour; Writer: Alice Winocour; Stars: Angelina Jolie, Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf, Garance Marillier)

Dead Man's Wire

On February 8, 1977, Tony Kiritsis, entered the office of Richard Hall, president of the Meridian Mortgage Company, and took him hostage with a sawed-off shotgun wired with a "dead man's wire" from the trigger to Tony's own neck.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Gus Van Sant; Writer: Austin Kolodney; Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Al Pacino, Cary Elwes, Colman Domingo, Dacre Montgomery, Myha'la)

Decorado

Dystopian animation about a middle-aged mouse who challenges everything.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Alberto Vázquez)

The Dutchman

Review preview for The Dutchman

There’s a lot of very good work in The Dutchman.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A successful black businessman, haunted by his crumbling marriage and identity crisis, is drawn into a sexualised game of cat and mouse with a mysterious white woman on a subway that leads to a violent conclusion.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Andre Gaines; Writer: Qasim Basir, Andre Gaines, Amiri Baraka; Stars: Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, Aldis Hodge, André Holland)

Full review

Effi O Blaenau

Review preview for Effi O Blaenau

Such is the force in Gwenllian’s performance that it would be almost impossible not to root for her.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
The tale of a young woman who learns firsthand the personal costs of societal shortcomings.

(Country: UK; Year: 2026; Director: Marc Evans; Writer: Owen Alun, Sion Eifion, Leah Gaffey; Stars: Leisa Gwenllian, Tom Rhys Harries, Mared Llywelyn) , Trailer

Full review See: Interview with Marc Evans and Leisa Gwenllian about Effi O Blaenau

Erupcja

Bethany travels along with her boyfriend, Rob, from London to Warsaw, where she meets her old crush, Nel, and decides to dump him in order to party with her during the weekend. However, every time the two girls hang out, a volcano – quite literally – erupts somewhere on the planet and this time, it is Etna’s turn.

(Country: US, Poland; Year: 2025; Director: Pete Ohs; Writer: Pete Ohs, Charli xcx, Luke Arreguin, Jeremy O. Harris, Josh Godfrey; Stars: Charli xcx, Lena Góra, Will Madden, Jeremy O. Harris, Agata Trzebuchowska, Maja Michnacka, Jan Lubaczewski)

Father Mother Sister Brother

Three stories all concern the relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parent (or parents) and each other. Each of the three chapters takes place in the present, and each in a different country.

(Country: US, Ireland, France; Year: 2025; Director: Jim Jarmusch; Writer: Jim Jarmusch; Stars: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat, Françoise Lebrun)

Forastera

Review preview for Forastera

Aleñar Iglesias... presents the ordinary world as loaded with meaning.

Nikola Jovic · 3 out of 5
During her Mallorca summer, Antonia recognises similarities with her late grandma. She develops an influence over her mourning grandpa through dress-up, blurring who inhabits who.

(Country: Italy, Sweden, Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Lucía Aleñar Iglesias; Writer: Lucía Aleñar Iglesias; Stars: Lluís Homar, Núria Prims, Zoe Stein, Mata Angelat, Nonni Ardal Hammarström)

Full review

A Fox Under A Pink Moon

At just 16, Soraya is already creating stunning drawings and sculptures that are as beautiful as they are dark. This strong-willed Afghan sculptor and illustrator has been trying for five years to escape Iran and join her mother in Austria.

(Country: France, UK, US, Denmark, Iran; Year: 2025; Director: Mehrdad Oskouei)

Franz

Review preview for Franz

Playful biopic that rips up chronology and frequently tears down the fourth wall so that we’re never sure if we’re going to be the ones looking into the fishbowl of his life or the ones being inspected.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The life of the writer Franz Kafka, from his birth to his death.

(Country: Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, France, Turkey; Year: 2025; Director: Agnieszka Holland; Writer: Marek Epstein, Agnieszka Holland; Stars: Karel Dobrý, Peter Kurth, Stanislav Majer, Katharina Stark, Sebastian Schwarz)

Full review

The Garden Of Earthly Delights

In the slums of Manila, an 11-year-old scavenger fights for survival and dreams of becoming a gangster, but as he crosses paths with a troubled Dutch tourist, he's forced to make an impossible decision.

(Country: Netherlands, Philippines, Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Morgan Knibbe; Writer: Morgan Knibbe, Roelof Jan Minneboo; Stars: JP Rodriguez, Benjamin Moen, Francesca Dela Cruz, Bunny Cadag, John Michael Toling)

The Good Boy

An out-of-control teenager who monetises videos of his criminal deeds online is kidnapped by a stranger who intends to force him into being a ‘good boy’ within a twisted family dynamic.

(Country: Poland, UK; Year: 2025; Director: Jan Komasa; Writer: Bartek Bartosik, Naqqash Khalid; Stars: Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon)

Hen

After a gruesome massacre, Dawid discovers a feral boy hidden in a chest on an isolated farm. Driven by duty, Dawid and his wife, Hanna, take the boy in. But Lukas is not an ordinary child.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2025; Director: Nico Scheepers; Writer: Nico Scheepers; Stars: Dawian van der Westhuizen, Amalia Uys, Stian Bam, Marelize Viljoen, Anoecha Kruger-Chanarin)

Hen

Review preview for Hen

You’re unlikely to see anything quite like it any time soon.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A hen seeks refuge, where she becomes an innocent observer of a human trafficking gang.

(Country: Germany, Greece, Hungary; Year: 2025; Director: György Pálfi; Stars: Yannis Kokiasmenos, Maria Diakopanagioti, Argyris Pantazaras)

Full review See: Interview with György Pálfi and Zsófia Ruttkay about Hen

Jaripeo

Review preview for Jaripeo

The documentary is attentive to contradiction without flattening its subjects into symbols.

Edin Custo · 3.5 out of 5
A journey to Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos descends into the subconscious of memory, queer desire, and longing, leading to a reckoning with the wounds and beauty of a home left behind.

(Country: Mexico, US, France; Year: 2026; Director: Rebecca Zweig, Efraín Mojica)

Full review

Kokuho

Review preview for Kokuho

The performances are thrilling, emotionally direct and physically exacting, but they function as narrative instruments too.

Edin Custo · 4.5 out of 5
A boy born into a family of gangsgters is taken in by a kabuki theatre actor and finds a talent for the craft.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Sang-il Lee; Writer: Satoko Okudera, Shûichi Yoshida; Stars: Ai Mikami, Takahiro Miura, Emma Miyazawa, Nana Mori, Masatoshi Nagase, Kyûsaku Shimada, Mitsuki Takahata, Min Tanaka, Shinobu Terajima, Ken Watanabe, Ryûsei Yokohama, Ryô Yoshizawa)

Full review

The Last Viking (Den Sidste Viking)

Review preview for The Last Viking

At times it feels as if Jensen is trying to spin too many plates at once, but in the moments when it all comes together, it’s a delight to watch.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Black comedy about a man hunting for the spoils from a heist with his brother... who can't remember where it is buried.

(Country: Denmark, Sweden; Year: 2025; Director: Anders Thomas Jensen; Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen; Stars: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Mads Mikkelsen, Sofie Gråbøl, Søren Malling, Bodil Jørgensen, Lars Brygmann, Kardo Razzazi, Nicolas Bro, Peter Düring)

Full review See: Interview with Mads Mikkelsen about The Last Viking (Den Sidste Viking)

Late Fame

Review preview for Late Fame

Burch and Jones clearly enjoy updating rich kid Myers and his literary salon pals to the present without ever falling into clownish cliché.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet, works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Kent Jones; Writer: Samy Burch, based on the novel by Arthur Schnitzler; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee, Edmund Donovan)

Full review

Lomu

A Tongan/Kiwi warrior who could run 100 metres in under 11 seconds. Lomu was the youngest All Black to put on the jersey and still holds the record for the most tries scored in World Cup history.

(Year: 2025; Director: Gavin Fitzgerald, Vea Mafile'o)

Megadoc

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Mike Figgis; Stars: Francis Ford Coppola)

Midwinter Break

A longtime couple take a life-changing trip to Amsterdam.

(Country: Netherlands, UK; Year: 2026; Director: Polly Findlay; Writer: Bernard MacLaverty, Nick Payne; Stars: Lesley Manville, Ciarán Hinds, Julie Lamberton, Ed Sayer)

Militantropos

Review preview for Militantropos

Adopting a style that blends collage and observational filmmaking, they probe how human minds and bodies contort, struggle and resist against a cruel war and its repercussions.

Sergiu Inizian · 3.5 out of 5
A trio of documentarians captures the everyday realities of Ukrainian life amid the Russian invasion, exploring the fractured psyches of soldiers, survivors, and the country's youth.

(Country: France, Ukraine, Austria; Year: 2025; Director: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi; Writer: Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi, Maksym Nakonechnyi)

Full review

Molly Vs The Machines

Review preview for Molly Vs The Machines

Marc Silver’s film is refreshingly alert to the nuances of the issue.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
The tragic story behind a teenager driven to take her life by machines that were built to control people for profit.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Marc Silver; Stars: Michael Shaeffer, Kerri McLean, Angela Peters, Ivy Blackshaw)

Full review

My Daughter Is A Zombie

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2025; Director: Pil Gam-seong; Writer: Kim Hyun, Pil Gam-seong; Stars: Cho Jung-seok, Lee Jung-eun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Yoon Kyung-ho, Choi Yu-ri, Geumdong-i, Kim Beong-choun, Jo Han-sun, Jung Hyung-suk, Jeon Su-ji, Lee Yun-chang, Pete Schandall)

My Father's Island (Sukkwan Island)

A haunted young man travels to a remote island to reconnect with his father and confront the traumatic experience they shared ten years prior that transformed their relationship.

(Country: France, Norway, UK, Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Vladimir de Fontenay; Writer: Vladimir de Fontenay, David Vann; Stars: Woody Norman, Swann Arlaud, Ruaridh Mollica, Alma Pöysti)

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

Review preview for Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

The underlying formula is a simple one but the chaos around it is managed magnificently so that you can never be sure what will happen next.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Matt Johnson; Writer: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol; Stars: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol, Ben Petrie, Luke Lalonde, Ethan Eng, Anthony Fantano, Michael Scott)

Full review

No Ordinary Heist

Inspired by an extraordinary true story. In heavily policed, post conflict Belfast, two Northern Bank workers become pawns when a dangerous gang use tiger-kidnapping in an unorthodox, brilliant bank heist.

(Country: UK; Year: 2026; Director: Colin McIvor; Writer: Aisling Corristine, Colin McIvor; Stars: Eddie Marsan, Éanna Hardwicke, Michelle Fairley, Eva Birthistle, Desmond Eastwood, Jonathan Harden, Paddy Jenkins, Michael Condron, JB Moore)

OBEX

Review preview for OBEX

If you’re looking for a witty and heartfelt story with characters you can care about, you may find yourself falling head over heels.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Conor Marsh lives a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing OBEX, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of OBEX to bring her home.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Albert Birney; Writer: Albert Birney, Pete Ohs; Stars: Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez, Frank Mosley)

Full review See: Interview with Albert Birney about Obex

One Last Deal

A veteran sports agent races to secure a final lucrative contract for his star client, as both their careers and lives hang in the balance.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2026; Director: Peter Howlett; Writer: Brendan Muldowney; Stars: Danny Dyer, Elliott Rogers)

Our Hero, Balthazar

Review preview for Our Hero, Balthazar

Watching the two young men, you may well find your sympathies shifting – and you may wonder which of them, if either, is actually en route to becoming a killer.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Satire sees wealthy NYC teenager Balthy make dramatic gun control videos to impress his activist crush. When an online troll targets his content, Balthy becomes convinced he's communicating with a potential school shooter and embarks on an ill-advised journey to Texas to confront him.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Oscar Boyson; Writer: Oscar Boyson, Ricky Camilleri; Stars: Jennifer Ehle, Noah Centineo, Chris Bauer, Asa Butterfield, Jaeden Martell, Avan Jogia, Anna Baryshnikov, Becky Ann Baker, Will River, Abby Pauly, Pippa A. Knowles)

Full review

Primavera

A talented violinist, Cecilia, confined in an orphanage, meets Vivaldi who becomes her teacher. Under his mentorship and through his music, she gains courage to break free from the life she was destined for and pursue her passion.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2025; Director: Damiano Michieletto; Writer: Tiziano Scarpa, Ludovica Rampoldi, Damiano Michieletto; Stars: Tecla Insolia, Michele Riondino, Andrea Pennacchi, Fabrizia Sacchi)

Rose Of Nevada

Review preview for Rose Of Nevada

Jenkin’s style, impressionistic when it comes to places, is particular in regard to objects, the real anchors of our lives.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A mysterious boat returns to a village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew hoping for better fortune. After one voyage, they find themselves transported back in time, mistaken for the original crew.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Mark Jenkin; Writer: Mark Jenkin; Stars: George MacKay, Callum Turner, Rosalind Eleazar, Francis Magee, Mary Woodvine)

Full review See: Interview with Mark Jenkin about Rose Of Nevada

Satisfaction

The relationship between Lola and Philip, two young British composers, is falling apart. While spending their holiday on Antiparos, the two struggle to regain their footing as a couple, further unsettled by an encounter with a woman who brings repressed trauma to light.

(Country: US, Greece, Ukraine, Italy; Year: 2025; Director: Alex Burunova)

A Second Life

A hearing-impaired American and a free-spirited tourist form an unlikely friendship amid the buzz of Paris during the Olympic games.

(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Laurent Slama; Writer: Thomas Keumurian, Laurent Slama; Stars: Alex Lawther, Agathe Rousselle, Jonas Bachan, Suzy Bemba)

Shape Of Momo (Chhora jastai)

Bishnu returns to her Himalayan village after quitting her job, only to face mounting family pressures and societal expectations.

(Country: India, South Korea; Year: 2025; Director: Tribeny Rai; Stars: Gaumaya Gurung, Pashupati Rai, Shyama Shree Sherpa, Rahul Mukhia, Janaki Kadayat)

See: Tribeny Rai on shining a light on Sikkim in Shape Of Momo

Sinsin And The Mouse

A young woman, reeling from the death of her mother, goes on a trip to Taipei, where an encounter with a young man begins to help her break through her grief.

(Year: 2025; Director: Yukinori Makabe; Writer: Noriko Kato; Stars: Yukino Kishii, Tseng Jing-hua, Kisetsu Fujiwara, Seina Nakata)

Steal Away

A teenager forms an intense bond with a refugee taken in by her family. As their obsessive relationship deepens, she becomes enamored with the refugee's lifestyle, leading to desire, jealousy, and a world that is not as it appears.

(Country: Belgium, Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Clement Virgo; Writer: Tamara Berger, Clement Virgo; Stars: Angourie Rice, Mallori Johnson, Lauren Lee Smith, Idrissa Sanogo, Matteo Simoni, Nola Elvis Kemper)

Sundays (Los Domingos)

Ainara, an idealistic and brilliant 17-year-old has to decide what university degree to pursue — or at least that's what her family hopes she will do. However, the young woman says she feels increasingly closer to God and is considering embracing the life of a cloistered nun.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2025; Director: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa; Stars: Blanca Soroa, Patricia López Arnaiz, Miguel Garcés, Juan Minujín, Mabel Rivera, Nagore Aranburu)

Super Nature

Super 8 consideration of nature.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Ed Sayers)

Think Of England

Review preview for Think Of England

This is about war being fought in a moral maze as Hawkins considers the invasion of space owned by others and the way that borders, both physical and ethical, can be redrawn from a very corporeal perspective.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
During the Second World War group of six people is delivered to an uninhabited island with a secret mission – to make some pornographic films which in the government’s opinion should boost the fighting morale of the boys at the front.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Richard Hawkins; Writer: Richard Hawkins, Geoffrey Freeman; Stars: Natalie Quarry, Jack Bandeira, John McCrea, Ronni Ancona, Ben Bela Böhm, Ollie Maddigan, Oscar Hoppe)

Full review See: Richard Hawkins on satire and mischievousness in Think Of England , Producer Poppy O'Hagan on the challenges and themes of Think Of England

Unidentified

Review preview for Unidentified

This is a film with a deep interest in women’s lives, in the effects of continued inequality, and in the various means that women use to exercise agency despite this.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A grieving mother, fueled by her passion for true crime, seeks answers when a teenage girl is found dead in the desert and the police investigation stalls.

(Country: Saudi Arabia; Year: 2025; Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour; Writer: Haifaa Al-Mansour, Brad Niemann; Stars: Abdullah Al-QahtaniMila Al ZahraniAziz Gharbawi, Shafi Al Harthi, Adwa Alasiri, Othoub Sharar)

Full review

We Believe You (On vous croit)

Review preview for We Believe You

We Believe You works to perfection thanks to the dedication and stellar directing, acting and technical work.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 3.5 out of 5
A mother does everything she can to protect her children from their father at a custody hearing.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Charlotte Deville, Arnaud Dufeys; Writer: Charlotte Deville, Arnaud Dufeys; Stars: Myriem Akheddiou, Ulysse Goffin, Adele Pickaers, Alisa Laub, Laurent Capelluto, Marion de Nanteuil, Natali Broods, Mounir Bennaouim)

Full review

Without Permission

An exiled Iranian filmmaker, denied permission to make his film, secretly turns to children to capture the voices of a new generation, risking everything to explore love, identity, and freedom.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2025; Director: Hassan Nazer; Writer: Hassan Nazer; Stars: Behrouz Sebt Rasoul, Setareh Fakhari, Esmaeel Heydari, Mehdi Mehri)

With Hasan In Gaza

What began as a search for a former prison mate from 1989 - a man lost to time and war - led to an unexpected road trip from the north to the south of Gaza, accompanied by Hasan, a local guide whose fate remains unknown. Documentary made from footage shot by the documentarian 21 years ago.

(Country: Palestine, Germany, France, Switzerland; Year: 2025; Director: Kamal Aljafari)

The Wizard Of The Kremlin

Review preview for The Wizard Of The Kremlin

Dano has chosen to use the same flat vocal expression throughout, a technique well suited to satire which might have worked if only the rest of the film had been a bit more lively.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Russia, early 1990s. Amid post-Soviet chaos, a brilliant young man, Vadim Baranov, charts his path. First an artist, then a reality show producer, he becomes the spin doctor to a rising KGB agent: Vladimir Putin.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Olivier Assayas; Writer: Olivier Assayas, Emmanuel Carrère, based on the novel by Giuliano Da Empoli; Stars: Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander)

Full review See: Interview with Olivier Assayas about The Wizard Of The Kremlin