First events for Glasgow Film Festival 2019 Announced

GFF 19 will celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Matrix and 40 years since Alien sprang onto the big screen.

GFF 19 will also toast the best and boldest in Belgian filmmaking.

Classic and rarely seen US films from one seismic year to be screened in free retrospective 1969: End of Innocence.

The first events of Glasgow Film Festival 2019 have been announced. The 15th annual Glasgow Film Festival will showcase some of the finest big screen offerings from Belgium and Hollywood and stage very special celebration screenings of two classic blockbusters.

Glasgow film fans are invited to adventure underneath Glasgow Central Station and attend the first official 20th Anniversary screening of The Matrix (22 and 23 Feb) in the subterranean caverns of Argyle Street Arches. With thanks to Warner Bros for their support, the event will feature mind-twisting immersive installations and after-party. Audiences are encouraged to don black sunglasses and dark leather as they explore the deconstructed world of the ground-breaking film.

In a vast warehouse in North Glasgow no-one will hear you scream as audiences brave an encounter with the Xenomorph itself at a large-scale pop-up event showing of Alien (28 February). Featuring laser-tag adventures, comic books and themed cocktails, this is a must for all wannabe Ripleys. With thanks to Park Circus for their support, the 4K 40th anniversary restoration print of Alien will be released on 1 March 2019 across the UK.

1969: End Of Innocence is a retrospective devoted to American cinema from a pivotal year — a mixture of classics and rarities starring (among others) Jane Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Shirley MacLaine and Dustin Hoffman. These 10 films, which will be free to view, reflect a time when censorship laws were relaxed and American filmmakers and studios struggled to grapple with the social changes and political upheavals in a country that saw protests on the street, fierce opposition to the war in Vietnam, Nixon in the White House, the Manson killings, the Stonewall riots and the growing mobilisation of groups pursuing black power and feminism. 1969 saw the arrival of enduring counter-culture classics like Easy Rider, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Best Picture Oscar winner Midnight Cowboy, but it was a year when the old guard was still out in force with John Wayne a Best Actor Oscar winner for True Grit. 1969 was a cinematic year that still resonates with Hollywood’s biggest 21st century talents and one that Quentin Tarantino has chosen as the setting for his upcoming multi-star epic Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, with Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio , Margot Robbie, Al Pacino and Kurt Russell.

Belgian Cinema: Both Sides Now is a timely look at the richness and diversity of contemporary Belgian filmmaking. A country whose cinematic output has constantly been underrated, despite world class filmmakers from Chantal Akerman to the Dardenne Brothers, this year’s Country Focus reflects the current healthy state of cinema in Belgium. Highlights include the Scottish premiere of Lukas Dhont’s extraordinary, award-winning Girl which has taken the film festival circuit by storm, Marta Bergman’s feature debit about a Romani woman who becomes a mail-order bride Alone At My Wedding / Seule à mon mariage and stop-motion animated feature This Magnificent Cake!, telling colonial stories from across the Belgian Empire. The festival will be welcoming a host of Belgian directors and actors and screening some much-loved Belgian classics in partnership with Flanders in the UK and Wallonie-Bruxelles International.

1969: End of Innocence – Full Titles

Alice’s Restaurant — director Arthur Penn
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice — cast Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid — cast Paul Newman, Robert Redford
Easy Rider — cast Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper
Medium Cool — director Robert Forster
Midnight Cowboy — cast Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight
Sweet Charity — cast Shirley MacLaine
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? — cast Jane Fonda, Susannah York
The Wild Bunch — cast William Holden, director Sam Peckinpah
True Grit — cast John Wayne, Kim Darby

Glasgow Film Festival

❉The 15th annual Glasgow Film Festival will run from 20 February – 3 March 2019. The full programme will be launched on the evening of 23 January, with tickets on sale to GFF members and GFT CineCard holders from 12noon on 24 January and then on general sale from 10am on 28 January. The Opening and Closing Galas will be announced on 8 January. GFF Membership is available to buy now for only £10, offering four days of advance booking, and discounts. See www.glasgowfilm.org/gffmembership for full information. Existing GFT CineCard members will automatically have GFF membership.

❉ Tickets for Alien and The Matrix go on sale 12pm on Monday 26 November from glasgowfilm.org. The full programme for Glasgow Film Festival 2019 will be announced on 23 January. Tickets go on sale to GFF members and GFT CineCard holders from 12 noon on 24 January and then on general sale from 10am on 28 January: www.glasgowfilm.org/festival #GFF19  @glasgowfilmfest


❉ News source: Zoe Flower Publicity.

❉ We Are Cult is not responsible for the content of this news release.

Become a patron at Patreon!