David Tennant among stars lined up for Glasgow Film Festival 2017

The line-up for the 13th Glasgow Film Festival has been unveiled, with over 300 films from 38 countries including a host of screen classics, 1980s favourites and top new films among 67 premieres on the programme, which bursts out of the cinema with screenings at venues ranging from a S&M club to historic halls.

The Opening Gala screening on February 15 at Glasgow Film Theatre will be the European premiere of Handsome Devil, a heartwarming coming-of-age, coming-out film with a talented up-and-coming cast and starring  Sherlock and Spectre actor Andrew Scott as their inspirational English teacher. See next week’s Big Issue for details of how to win tickets for the Gala screening, the star-studded aftershow party and an overnight stay at top Glasgow hotel Malmaison.

And David Tennant will be in town for the Closing Gala screening of  Mad to Be Normal, in which he plays Scottish psychiatrist RD Laing, starring alongside Elisabeth Moss, Michael Gambon and Gabriel Byrne. The red carpet World Premiere takes place on February 26 at Glasgow Film Theatre.

Joining the Doctor Who and Broadchurch star in Glasgow will be Mad To Be Normal director Robert Mullan; co-writers and stars Julian Barratt and Simon Farnaby for Big Issue-backed Mindhorn; Sean Foley and Ben Wheatley will introduce Free Fire with cast members Michael Smiley; veteran director Terence Davies will introduce the Scottish premiere of A Quiet Passion – among many more.

Allison Gardner, Glasgow Film Festival Co-director said: “I love the delight that audiences take from our special events. There are some absolutely brilliant experiences this year and I can’t wait to feel the blood chill and the audience shiver as we head to Snow Factor for The Thing or revel in Cajun culture when The Big Easy screens at the Barras Art and Design.”

Jennifer Armitage, Screen Officer at Creative Scotland added: “Once again, Glasgow Film Festival has curated an outstanding programme that celebrates the entire spectrum of cinema. Documentaries sit alongside noir classics, and international auteurs share a platform with emerging local filmmakers.”

Following last year’s partnership with Glasgow Film Festival on movies including the sell-out smash Time Out of Mind, which included a Q&A after the screening with star Richard Gere attended by hundreds of feverishly excited fans, The Big Issue is again proud to be working with the Film Festival in 2017.

This year we are partners for three fantastic new films:

Trespass Against Us, starring Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson in a story of a man torn between family bonds of Irish travellers and a different life (February 21).

Neruda, which sees Gael Garcia Bernal team up again with his co-star of The Motorcycle Diaries, Mercedes Moran in a Pablo Larrain movie that wowed Cannes (February 17 and 21). 

Mindhorn, a hilarious Isle of Man-set cop/thriller-spoof written by and starring Julian Barratt with a cast including Andrea Riseborough, Russell Tovey, Simon Callow, Steve Coogan and many more (February 20 and 21).

Keep an eye on bigissue.com and @BigIssue on Twitter for interviews and giveaways in the coming weeks.

Big Issue editor Paul McNamee said: “The Big Issue has worked with Glasgow Film Festival for several years now, and this may be the best yet as it claims its place among the great film festivals on the international circuit. Last year’s Big Issue-meets-Richard Gere event [pictured below] was difficult to top, but Fassbender and Gleeson, Barratt and Coogan and Gael Garcia Bernal-meets-Pablo Neruda will do the job.”

The Big Issue has worked with Glasgow Film Festival for several years now, and this may be the best yet

Other highlights of GFF 2017 include a screening of Secretary, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader, at club SWG3 at which Torture Garden, the notorious London S&M club, will be be cracking the whip, with live performers and nudity promised. Indie superstars from Franz Ferdinand, Mogwai and The Delgados join forces for a live show to accompany a screening of Neil McCann’s Lost in France, being simulcast across the UK. Other music features include a David Byrne soundtracked film, Contemporary Colors, and a screening hosted by legendary Glasgow nightclub Sub Club‘s daytime incarnation, of Raving Iran, featuring DJs risking freedom to play their beloved dance tunes.

Swashbuckling adventure The Princess Bride will entice piratical heroes and heroines of all ages with a screening at the historic Maryhill Burgh Halls, which includes real sword-fighting (February 25). Plus The Thing at Snow Factor in minus five degree temperature. John Carpenter’s The Thing will be shown at the Snow Factor ski-centre in -5 degree temperatures. And there is a screening of The Lost Boys at a secret location – to which the audience will be ferried in the company of a ‘real’ Transylvanian vampire and blood-sucking cohort (February 17).

Elsewhere the programme features a raft of excellent documentaries including new George Best film Best, the world premier of Benny, a biopic of Scottish boxer Benny Lynch, the FrightFest horror strand is back, and Scots hero John Byrne will be in the house for 20th anniversary a screening of his vintage piece, Slab Boys.

Glasgow Film Festival runs from February 15-26