Glasgow Film Festival

The Glasgow Film Festival is made up of "fests within the fests" most notably

• Short Film Festival
• Youth Film Festival
• Frightfest

The festival has only been running since 2005, making it one of the newest in the UK and certainly in Scotland with the Edinburgh International Film Festival running since 1947! Usually, the Edinburgh festival brought some of its films to the Glasgow Film Theatre and CineWorld, but since the beginning of the GFF, it no longer does.

This year's festival ran from the 16th-26th of February and was one of the most successful they've ever had, with almost 35,000 admissions, a massive increase from the beginnings when only 6,000 attended! The appeal for the Glasgow Film Festival is that it's a very youth-oriented crowd who go; tickets are cheap and there's certainly no longing for a celebrity culture as it is mostly young actors and film fanatics who attend. Obviously the festival is in some competition with the Edinburgh Film Festival as it will constantly be compared to it, but since Edinburgh's now runs in August, there is no direct competition for ticket sales.

The Guardian described it perfectly when writing about last year's festival:

"It's GFF's fundamentally un-Edinburghian attitude that has proved the key to its success. EIFF has always wanted to impress the big boys in London and across Europe, seeing itself as a draw for A-listers and industry power-brokers. Glasgow's is a punter-friendly festival that aims to put local film fans at the heart of its concerns. Tickets are cheap, screenings are open to anyone and there are a good number of free, community-based events."

Even last year the EIFF's director James Mullighan declared they were "doing away with red carpets, awards and juries" and updating the festival, most likely a reaction to the emergence and success of the Glasgow Festival. Edinburgh, being an International film festival has had a fair amount of big films premiere there such as "Little Miss Sunshine", "The Hurt Locker" and "Let the Right One In" and this does give them a slight advantage but it's something that only time can give to the Glasgow Film Festival. Edinburgh's has been running since 1947 and has obviously had massive success, but the GFF seems to be major competition for the capital city, and only time will tell if it can finally overtake Edinburgh as Scotland's best, and most recognised, film festival.