Inverness Film Festival
What seems clear is that November is a great month for film festivals in Scotland. First up is this Highland adventure which includes a selection of new Scottish short films, an animated look at puberty (Living Large), a Hitchcockian mystery caper starring Jodie Foster and Daniel Auteuil (A Private Life), a disjointed body horror (Alpha) and Nouvelle Vague (pictured above), Richard Linklater’s love letter to cinema which re-imagines the making of Godard’s classic Breathless.
Thursday 6–Thursday 13 November.

French Film Festival
We’ve reached year 33 of this festival dedicated to French and francophone cinema and as always it features premieres as well as timeless classics. Among the movies on show are François Ozon’s The Stranger, The Richest Woman In The World starring Isabelle Huppert, animation Nina And The Hedgehog’s Secret and returning favourite The Edge Of The Blade.
Thursday 6 November–Friday 14 December.

Havana Glasgow Film Festival
The tenth anniversary of this festival preaches ‘solidarity and kindness’ and takes place at the CCA, GFT and The Boardwalk. A key theme this time is a celebration of Cuban and Vietnamese solidarity helmed by Through The Eyes Of Santiago in which the son of revolutionary filmmaker Santiago Álvarez follows in his father’s footsteps to investigate why he risked his life to cover America’s ill-fated war. Plus, there’s the UK premiere of the award-winning documentary Life Is Dance.
Tuesday 11–Sunday 16 November.

International Film Festival Glasgow
This year marks the 12th IFFG which focuses on various themes including debut movies, female perspectives and Balkan cinema as well as featuring workshops for under 16s, talks, panels, networking and Animation Day. Among the individual films being screened are La Cocina, Pillion, Our Wildest Days and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
Wednesday 12–Sunday 16 November.

It Was Just An Accident
The 2025 Palme d’Or winner by Iranian director Jafar Panahi follows a group of political prisoners from his homeland who wrestle with the moral quandary of whether or not to seek vengeance on those who tormented them. It would be fair to say that the Iranian authorities are not big fans of Panahi’s work, given that they’ve banned his movies and arrested him several times. The fact that he made It Was Just An Accident in secret on the streets of Tehran says a lot for his own courage as well as that of the cast and crew.
Friday 5 December.

Housemaid
This is Paul Feig’s third movie release in two years, and stars Sydney Sweeney as Millie, a young woman with a troubled past who becomes the live-in housemaid for a wealthy but equally problematic family. Despite the initial signs that they’re living the perfect lives, the façade slowly drops. Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar play the married couple at the centre of this messed-up household.
Friday 26 December.

Hamnet
The beloved 2020 book by Maggie O’Farrell has made it to the London stage (to decidedly mixed reviews) and now gets a filmic treatment and the star casting it deserves with Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal as her playwriting husband. Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn are also in there with Chloé ‘Nomadland’ Zhao directing and Max Richter composing the soundtrack (hankies very much at the ready then).
Friday 9 January.

Saipan
Steve Coogan walks in the shoes of yet another real-life person. This time he’s Mick McCarthy, the Yorkshireman who managed Ireland during 2002’s FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan. A time for mass celebration and enjoyment for all Irish folk. Except a storm was brewing, with McCarthy facing up to a key player who had a big problem with him: namely Roy Keane, portrayed here by Éanna Hardwicke.
Friday 23 January.

No Other Choice
Park Chan-wook’s latest is a dark comedy thriller based on The Axe, Donald E Westlake’s 1997 novel about a middle-aged man who embarks on a determined (and rather violent) job hunt after being unexpectedly fired from the paper company he worked at for 25 years. This is the latest cinematic adaptation of the book following Costa-Gavras’ French version in 2005.
Friday 23 January.

The History Of Sound
Busy time for Paul Mescal as he joins forces with Josh O’Connor (another actor who seems to be everywhere right now) for this tale directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus. Based on two short stories by Ben Shattuck (who takes on screenwriting duties here), we follow the trajectory of Lionel and David who meet in 1917 and, after WWI, travel around Maine recording folk songs.
Friday 23 January.

Is This Thing On?
After the music-based A Star Is Born and Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s third directorial gig feels like a distinct U-turn with Liverpudlian stand-up John Bishop’s story the basis for this tale of a comic trying to climb the showbiz ladder while his life falls apart. Will Arnett is the comedian with Laura Dern playing his increasingly estranged wife.
Friday 30 January.

The Chronology Of Water
Kristen Stewart makes her directorial debut with this biopic of Lidia Yuknavitch, a US author whose torrid upbringing left scars that only began to heal when she took up writing and swimming. An intriguing cast includes Thora Birch and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon while Jim Belushi plays One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey and Imogen Poots is Lidia.
Friday 6 February.

Wuthering Heights
As far as early publicity images go (and the only one available at time of press), a close-up of a finger in someone else’s mouth with bits of grass flapping around is as enigmatic as it gets. But this is Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the lead roles) so we can expect something a little steamier than normal way up on the windy moor.
Friday 13 February.

Wasteman
Filmed partly in Somerset’s Cornhill prison, this directorial debut from Cal McMau zeroes in on one convict’s chances for an early release and that new start being put under serious threat when his cellmate has ruthless plans to turn their lives upside down. David Jonsson and Tom Blyth play the mismatched prisoners.
Friday 20 February.