Must See Films To Watch At 2023 Glasgow Film Festival

The 19th edition of Glasgow Film Festival will take place between 1st and 12th March.

This year’s festival will have 70 UK premieres, 6 world, 16 international and 6 Scottish premieres set to play. There is something for all at this festival and every year they do surprise us.

Below is 10 films we are looking forward to at next months festival. Some you maybe expecting and find we haven’t chosen, others are unexpected. As well as the 10 we have a few others you should check out too.

Head over to The Glasgow Film Website for full details of every thing showing.

Tropic | Saturday 4th March (1530) / Sunday 5th March (1800)

Edouard Salier’s tale about humanity takes into something that Drama meets sci-fi with a big slice of David Cronenberg. A couple of brothers train to be the first generation of European Astronauts to colonise an unnamed planet. Things change when when the brothers are training next to a pond an a unidentified object crashes into that pool with the residue disfiguring one of the brothers. This forces the other to continue training and accepting what his brother has become. BUY TICKETS

Sanctuary | Saturday 4th March (2100) / Sunday 5th March (1815)

Be careful who you try to end ‘relationships’ with. Christopher Abbot stars as Hal about to inherit his dad’s hotel empire. He decides to hire the ‘services’ of Dominatrix (played by Margaret Qualley) who has been ‘serving’ Hal for years. He is set to make this the last visit, however our skilled dominatrix isn’t up to severing ties until she gets that parting gift she deserves. Sexually charged story that explores power that leads to a surprising ‘climax’. BUY TICKETS

Typist Artist Pirate King | Wednesday 8th March (1815) / Thursday 9th March

Some artists don’t get the credit they are due until they sadly pass. This is the case with Audrey Amiss and Carol Morley’s film brings the artists life to the big screen. Monica Dolan plays the artist who sadly died in 2013 with Kelly McDonald as her Mental Health officer Sandra. The pair head on a road trip to Sunderland, Audrey’s birthplace, a poignant liberating journey of reckoning and confrontation. BUY TICKETS

Blackberry | Friday 3rd March (2030) / Saturday 4th March (1800)

A stranger than fiction tale of the very first ever smartphone. The Dirties director Matt Johnson directs re-telling of the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of Blackberry phones. From it’s creation and struggles to take the phone to the next step, plus the meeting that would propel them into profit. Only to collapse like the Walls Of Jericho, the film stars Johnson as one of the creators next to Jay Baruchel and Glen Howerton. BUY TICKETS

13 Exorcisms | Saturday 11th March (2305)

We can’t create a list without having a least one film from Arrow FrightFest. This year’s line up is okay, the one standout is the closing film from Jacobo Martinez. The skin crawling Spanish horror unfolds all thanks to a Halloween séance when a shy sensitive girl tricked into taking part. Dark presences, terrifying visions, ominous voices, painful marks on her skin, and other paranormal phenomena haunt her. Is she possessed? A local priest says yes and must perform exorcisms with each one more violent than the previous! BUY TICKETS

Surprise Film | Wednesday 8th March (2035)

This pick should always be the first entry on every year’s list. We love going into a film blindfolded with no clue what film we may watch. The festival is sworn to secrecy and for the rest of us we love guessing what that film might be. It won’t be a big blockbuster, though it could be one from the past. A film from around the world, something unexpected or an upcoming indie release. Previous films have been The Novice, The Outfit, Gloria Bell, how about 2023? BUY TICKETS

Plan 75 | Wednesday 8th March (1800) / Thursday 9th March (1530)

Chie Hayakawa’s dystopian drama hopes to provoke thoughts even more. Japan’s population is ageing and troubling the powers to be, solution? Plan 75. a scheme rewarding public-spirited older citizens who choose to euthanise themselves and stop being a burden. Film follows 78 year old Michi (Chieko Baisho) thinks it’s time to use the plan. Hiromu (Hayato Isomura) is an advocate of the scheme until his ageing uncle signs up. The film looks at how society is happy to let those who think they no longer bring no value to civilization, chilling stuff. BUY TICKETS

Pearl | Sunday 5th March (2030) / Monday 6th March (1530)

In 2022, Ti West released his horror X his 1970’s set grindhouse horror about a group of actors who shoot a porn on a farm in rural Texas. They get more than they bargained for when the elderly couple who owned the farm catch them in the act. Pearl is part 2 of West’s Xrilogy, a prequel that stars Mia Goth reprising her titular role looking back to her younger days and her hard religious upbringing that made her the disturbed pensioner in the first film. This film garnered a lot of buzz Stateside in 2022 with some stating Goth should be nominated for a Oscar. BUY TICKETS

The Ordinaries | Thursday 2nd March (1745) / Friday 3rd March (1245)

What if life was just one big movie production? Sophie Linnenbaum’s ingenious debut takes us into that world which everyone knows their place. The world is divided into Main Characters, Extras and, lowest of the low, Outtakes. We follow a teen girl who is attending main character school n Show and Brazil. BUY TICKETS

A Man | Thursday 2nd March (1800) \ Wednesday 3rd March (1515)

We love our Mystery thrillers that take you in one direction before swerving into another. Kei Ishikawa’s film does this as it follows a divorced single mother Rie (Sakura Ando) who slowly opens her heart to shy customer Daisuke (Masataka Kubota) at her business. Could this be the end for her? When attorney Kido (Satoshi Tsumabuki) comes to call, asking questions that undermine everything she had previously believed. This may start as a romantic drama before sliding into a slippery tale of intrigue and acceptance. BUY TICKETS

Here’s a few more films you might want to check out: Butcher’s Crossing, Prison 77, Adopting Audrey, The Beasts, The Origin, Nightsiren, The Artifice Girl

It’s our local film festival and we hope to see you there!