11 Films We're Looking Forward To At 2022 Glasgow Film Festival

In 9 days time (2nd March) the Glasgow Film Festival will return for it’s 18th edition. After last year’s digital only edition, the 2022 edition will be hybrid affair offering cinephiles a chance to return to the cinema or watch online.

The line up has been out for a few weeks and sometimes that diverse range of films with 10 World premieres, 4 European premieres, 65 UK premieres, and 13 Scottish premieres. With so many films to pick, what should I watch?

Below are 10 films we are looking forward to watching as well as one annual regular. Some may agree with our choices, others won’t just remember, cinema is for all! After you check our list head over to Glasgow Film Festival website to book or more info.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Verdens verste menneske) Dir.Joachim Trier

Joachim Trier‘s film was probably a logical choice due to the buzz it’s made at many other film festivals. The Worst Person In The World revolves around Julie, a vibrant and impulsive young woman who, on the verge of turning thirty, is faced with a series of drastic choices that force her to continually reinvent and pursue new perspectives on her life. Over the course of several years, Julie navigates multiple love affairs, existential uncertainty and career dissatisfaction as she slowly starts deciding what she wants to do, who she wants to be with, and ultimately who she wants to become.

Friday 4th March (2015) | Saturday 5th March (1520) Buy Tickets

HER WAY (Une femme du monde) Dir.Cécile Ducrocq

The compelling first feature from director Cécile Ducrocq set in Strasbourg, France. Laure Calamy stars as confident, optimistic sex worker Marie. She is determined to provide a better life for her 17-year-old son, Adrien (Nissim Renard). who is a bottomless pit of apathy and negativity whose only passion in life is for cooking. The opportunity to attend a prestigious and expensive cookery school forces Marie to take increasingly desperate measures to fund his place. A winning portrait of an independent woman who battles through life by doing things ‘her way’. We’re foodies but we also enjoy the stories that highlight the complexities of life, even if that ‘career’ is widely accepted by society. When you have a focus you will do it your way or in this case ‘her way’.

Saturday 5th March (2030) | Sunday 6th March (1530) | Watch Online 6th– 9th March Buy Tickets

LOVE LIFE AND GOLDFISH (すくってごらん) Dir.Yukinori Makabe

If your looking for something unique, a little odd and very much quirky, the Japanese are up there. If the film’s title doesn’t attraction your attention, it’s the fact this is a musical drama! When big city banker Makoto has an outburst at work, he is sent to work in a small village in the middle of nowhere as his punishment. Immediately, he falls in love with the woman who runs the local goldfish scooping store. However, the road to true love is not that easy and Makoto has to contend with rivals for his love, as well as his own admirer who has taken quite the shine to him. With shades of Sion Sono’s Love & Peace (GFF16), this quirky musical will leave you tapping your feet for days.

Sunday 6th March (1800) | Monday 7th March (1530) Buy Tickets

MONSTROUS Dir.Chris Sivertson

From FrightFest favourite Chris Sivertson (The Lost and All Cheerleaders Die), comes this unique supernatural chiller. Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow) gives a powerful and emotional performance as Laura. Traumatised by an abusive relationship, she finally flees from her ex-husband with her seven-year-old son, Cody (Santino Barnard). But in their new, idyllic and remote sanctuary, they find that they have a bigger and more terrifying monster to deal with… one that will test their physical and mental limits the max. We do enjoy a dark psychological tale and if you enjoyed The Babadook, this might be something a little similar.

Saturday 12th March (1745) Buy Tickets

A BANQUET Dir.Ruth Paxton

A Banquet is an unsettling, thought-provoking and hyper-tense psychological thriller from director Ruth Paxton. The film stars Sienna Guillory (Resident Evil franchise, Luther), Jessica Alexander (Get Even), Ruby Stokes (Rocks, Bridgerton) and Lindsay Duncan (Birdman). Widowed mother, Holly (Guillory), is pushed to breaking point when her daughter Betsey (Alexander) develops an extreme eating disorder. She claims she has experienced a profound enlightenment where her body is in service to a higher power. Possessed by Betsey’s illness, her family are faced with an agonising dilemma, torn between love and fear, and Holly is forced to confront the boundaries of her own belief.

A Banquet played at Toronto International Film Festival and The London Film Festival in 2021. We love the atmospheric, unnerving tension of this one. This may not exactly be a horror, it does have elements of the genre and if you enjoyed the recent wave of female directed horror features this one might be added to that list.

Saturday 5th March (1745) | Sunday 6th March (1315) | Online 6th-9th March Buy Tickets

YOUR NOT MY MOTHER Dir.Kate Dolan

You Are Not My Mother is a creepy and unsettling psychological thriller deeply rooted in Irish folklore. This highly-anticipated chiller – directed by Kate Dolan – debuted at Toronto International Film Festival to great acclaim and stars Carolyn Bracken (Dublin Murders), Paul Reid(Vikings, Ritual) and Hazel Doupe (Calm with Horses). Char’s mother, Angela, has inexplicably disappeared. All that remains is her abandoned car. When she returns home without explanation the following evening, it becomes clear to Char and her grandmother, Rita, that something is amiss. She might look and sound the same but Angela’s behaviour has become increasingly frightening, as if she has been replaced by a malevolent force. As Halloween night looms, a night steeped in ancient myth and legend, Char realises that she is the only one who can save her, even if it means potentially losing her forever.

This one is steeped in Irish folk horror, This one film we’ve been waiting to see for a long time and we cannot wait to see this!

Friday 11th March (2045) Buy Tickets

MADELEINE COLLINS Dir.Antoine Barraud

Paul Verhoeven‘s Benedetta is one of the films playing at next month’s festival starring Virginie Efira. She also is starring another film at the festival Madeleine Collins. We love our Hitchcokian thrillers, but who doesn’t? Efira’s performance (premiered at Cannes last year) is one of the films highlights living a double life in France and Switzerland. Both lives she has children and the film follows her struggles to keep both lives, intriguing psycho drama.

Thursday 3rd March (1800) | Friday 4th March (1800) Buy Tickets

HOMMAGE (오마주) Dir.Shin Su-Won

We love ‘homages’ celebrating film and our next pick Shin Su-Won‘s Hommage (오마주), celebrates Korean film and the under appreciated female filmmakers. Lee Jung-eun (Parasite) stars as a struggling filmmaker trying to pay the bills and help restore a film made by one of South Korea’s first directors. It turns in a passion project for her and fight for that voice in Korean filmmaking that’s rarely heard.

Saturday 12th March (2030) | Sunday 13th March (1300) Buy Tickets

NITRAM Dir.Justin Kurzel

We love seeing what Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel does next and when it comes to dark films, he knows a thing or two about them. Disturbing is another word we could say about his latest film, Nitram based on 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania Australia. In lead role is Caleb Landry Jones whose exhilarating performance won him plaudits including best actor at last year’s Cannes film festival. If you enjoyed the visceral experience of Snowtown, Elephant, even 22nd July this maybe essential viewing. Heart breaking riveting stuff

Saturday 5th March (2040) | Sunday 6th March (1515) Buy Tickets

Inu-Oh (Inu-ô) Dir.Masaaki Yuasa

Film is for everyone and that includes animation especially Japanese Anime. No longer is that artform for kids or even ‘perverts’ as someone once called it, it’s for everyone. The festival every year always has a great anime/animation and this year comes in the shape of Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game, Lu over the Wall). Following the life of a legendary Japanese performer playwright, Inu-Oh tells the story of two boys marginalised by society, finding power through dance and song in order to combat a disturbing curse.

Monday 7th March (1800) | Tuesday 8th March (1245) Buy Tickets

SURPRISE FILM Dir.???
We did say 10 films plus one regular, the surprise film. Every year we love to attempt to guess what the surprise film might be. No one knows and the best thing is waiting for curtain to open and the reaction. Will it be a new release, a classic reissue? In the past we’ve had the likes of Promising Young Woman, Gloria, and if gossip was true last year’s film was going to be Another Round. Like ever but a ticket and take the chance you never know what you’ll see!

Wednesday 9th March (2015) Buy Tickets