The team at Moviescramble is officially on the countdown to the 20th anniversary edition of the Glasgow Film Festival, running at Glasgow Film Theatre (The GFT) and venues across the city from 28 February to 10 March 2024.
The festival’s legendary special events return with two films celebrating two landmark years in Glasgow Film’s history. In 1939 the Cosmo cinema, now the GFT, opened and to mark 85 years of one of the city’s cultural gems, movie fans can click their ruby red slippers together three times to be transported to a magical screening of Victor Fleming’s 1939 technicolour masterpiece The Wizard of Oz. GFF will also host a grotesquely glamorous tribute screening to schlock auteur John Waters magnum opus Female Trouble which celebrates its 50th anniversary along with Glasgow Film Theatre (which was first established in 1974).
One of the true highlights of the festival, GFF’s free morning retrospective, returns for 2024 with Our Story So Far, a journey through time with 10 classic titles from each anniversary in Glasgow Film’s history. These widely popular morning screenings are free to attend and give audiences access to view undisputed classics on the big screen again. 1939 was not only an iconic year for Glasgow Film but for cinema; retrospectives scheduled to screen from this year 
are Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Only Angels Have Wings and Wuthering Heights. The festival offers a rare opportunity to see a back catalogue from 1974 including The Godfather Part II, Young Frankenstein and Foxy Brown. To celebrate the inaugural edition of the festival in 2005, the festival will screen Brick, Walk the Line, and Wolf Creek.
Each year the festival shines a light on global cinema, exploring contemporary and re-discovered film and this year the festival’s Country of Focus is Czechia (also known as Czech Republic). Czech, please! includes titles such as Daisies, a radical feminist film from Věra Chytilová once banned for its stance on communism and patriarchy. Is There Any Place For Me, Please? a debut feature documentary and UK premiere from Jarmila Štuková showcases an intimate portrayal of one woman navigating life after an acid attack. Other premieres include dystopian sci-fi Restore Point and chilling crime thriller Mr. and Mrs. 
Stodola. Timely period drama We Have Never Been Modern will inspect gender politics, martial constraints and self-identity. Brothers, Czechia’s official submission to the 2024 Academy Awards for the Best International Film, examines liberation and resilience in a story focused on an anti-Communist resistance group.
Allison Gardner, CEO of Glasgow Film and Director of GFF, said: “I am overjoyed to select titles for the 20th edition of the festival alongside a group of programmers with such vibrant and innovative ideas. Each programmer has been able to make their unique stamp on the upcoming festival through our popular Special Events, famous Retrospectives and rich Czech titles.”
Glasgow Film Festival is also proud to announce MUBI as the official sponsor for the 2024 Audience Award, the only award handed out at the festival, given to an outstanding feature film by a first or second time director. The award is chosen by the most important people – GFF audiences.
The shortlist for the GFF24 Audience Award will be announced with the full programme on Wednesday 24 January, with tickets going on sale on Monday 29 January.
Tickets for the special events go on sale on Wednesday 13 December at 1pm here – https://www.glasgowfilm.org/home
Glasgow Film Festival fans can purchase T-shirts, tote bags and mugs this festive season by shopping here: https://glasgow-film-festival.teemill.com/. Special GFF 20th edition merchandise will go on sale next week.
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