Glasgow Film Festival has unveiled its 2025 line-up, packed with debut features, retrospective screenings, and celebrity guests.
The festival’s 21st edition is set to span 12 days, and will include 91 world, UK, and Scottish premieres from 39 countries.
Opening on 26 February, the festival will begin with the world premiere of Tornado directed by John Maclean. The survival thriller was shot on location in Scotland and stars Tim Roth, Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira, and Kōki.
Among the festival’s world premieres is Hill, which documents the unique family story of racing legend Damon Hill ahead of his historic win at the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship in 1996. The Players, a 1990s coming-of-age drama, will also see its first screening at the festival alongside Daniel V. Masciari’s debut feature Stationed at Home.
Pulitzer Prize-winning play Long Day’s Journey into Night will receive its UK premiere at GFF25, starring Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ben Foster and Colin Morgan. Lange will take part in an exclusive In Conversation event, looking back at her six decades-long career.
Glasgow-born actor James McAvoy will also be attending the festival for a live In Conversation event.
Scottish premieres include folk horror Harvest, short entirely on location in Argyllshire, and The Surfer, a trippy psychological thriller starring Nicolas Cage. On Falling, which picked up the prestigious Sutherland Award for Best Debut at BFI London Film Festival, will also have its first Scottish screening at the festival. An honest and raw depiction of loneliness, the film explores the instability of the gig economy through the eyes of Portuguese warehouse picker Aurora.
Each day of the festival will begin with a retrospective screening, where audiences can revisit classics on the big screen. This year’s theme is ‘Our Time is Now: Coming of Age in the Movies’, a nod to GFF’s 21st birthday. Titles include Scottish classic The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Elia Kazan’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Indian drama Pather Panchali. The lineup finishes off with Greta Gerwig’s iconic Lady Bird staring Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet.
In addition to showcasing global talents, GFF25’s country focus will be Austria. The ‘From the Heart of Europe: Austria on Screen’ programme brings an eclectic mix of cinema including Christoph Schwarz’s Piggy Bank satirical take on performative activism and middle class apathy, alongside Gina, which looks at generational poverty.
Horror fans can delight at the return of FrightFest, which will include 11 new feature films and seven short films. The recently announced lineup kicks off with Stephon Stewart’s Psyche, and is followed by a host supernatural thrillers such as House of Ashes, The Doom Busters, and Rumplestiltskin.
The festival will close on 9 March with the world premiere of Scottish filmmaker Martyn Robertson’s Make it to Munich, following teenager Ethan Walker’s journey as he braves life-threatening injuries to cycle from Glasgow’s Hampden Park to Munich Football arena ahead of Scotland’s opening match against Germany in the 2024 Euros.
2025 also marks Allison Gardner’s final year as CEO of Glasgow Film and Director of GFF. Speaking of this year’s line-up, she said: “I cannot begin to say how excited I am by the brilliant programme we have curated, the breadth of films on offer genuinely has something for everyone. Everyone across Glasgow Film works very hard to make the magic happen and I cannot thank all my colleagues enough for their hard work.”
Tickets for the full programme go on sale to GFT Cinecard holders at 10am on Thursday 23 January and on general public sale at 10am on Monday 27 January. Information on how to purchase tickets can be found here.
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Fourth year English and Creative Writing and Politics and International Relations student.
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