Returning to Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT), and various other venues across the city, from Wednesday 28 February to Sunday 10 March next year, Glasgow Film Festival’s 20th edition is already set to go off with a bang as a handful of special screenings and strands are unveiled. 

To mark 50 years of the GFT (formerly the Cosmo Cinema), organisers have announced symbolic screenings of John Waters’ Female Trouble (released 50 years ago in 1974) and Victor Fleming’s groundbreaking The Wizard Of Oz, which was released in 1939, the same year the Cosmo Cinema was first constructed.

GFF’s strand of free morning screenings, under the title Our Story So Far, is set to return, honing in on the two aforementioned years of 1939 and 1973 as well as GFF’s inaugural year of 2005. The ten retrospective films consist of Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Ninotchka, Only Angels Have Wings and Wuthering Heights (all released in 1939); The Godfather Part II, Young Frankenstein and Foxy Brown (all released in 1973), and Rian Johnson’s Brick, James Mangold’s Walk The Line, and Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek (2005). 

Keeping up the tradition of shining a light on contemporary international cinema, GFF’s 2024 country of focus is the Czech Republic. The Czech, please! strand will consist of Daisies, a film by Věra Chytilová which was once banned for its feminist stance and criticisms of communism; the UK premier of Is There Any Place For Me, Please? by documentarian Jarmila Štuková; dystopian sci-fi Restore Point and crime thriller Mr. And Mrs. Stodola, as well as Czechia’s official Academy Awards submission for Best International Film, Brothers.

Glasgow Film Festival director Allison Gardner says: ‘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.’ 

Tickets for the special events go on sale on Wednesday 13 December at 1pm. Keep up to date with Glasgow Film Festival announcements at glasgowfilm.org