Glasgow Music and Film Festival returns for its sixth year snug inside the arms of the Glasgow Film Festival with events from 20 February to 2 March. The 2014 programme is laden with inimitable film, footage and performance. My excitement for this yearly calendar event has reached a peak with the quality of the 2014 schedule, a section of which I have highlighted after this rather swell photo of my Grrrl Kathleen.
This year, the Glasgow Music and Film Festival have a trinity of stimulating live scoring events. Heading this are Admiral Fallow with a Glasgow Film Festival commission to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The full event will feature both new material written to accompany bespoke visual content entitled Ten Takes, as well as familiar sounds played to the backdrop of William S Manson’s 1951 collection of footage Glasgow, No Mean City. The shots of bygone Glasgow against Admiral Fallow’s luscious, layered folk-pop suggest a wistful evening.
Dutch minimalist composer and lute lover (who isn’t?) Josef van Wissem will provide a live score to Partir To Live. The artist was presented the Soundtrack Award at the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival for his work on Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive. Partir To Live is the directorial debut of Domingo Garcia-Huidobro who describes the work as ‘an experience into sensations, ethical confusion, and physical and psychic contusions’. If you wish to be even more intrigued by the Chilean experimental film then you can watch the trailer here.
Once again the Music and Film Festival will return to Pollokshaws Burgh Hall to utilise the venue’s Wurlitzer pipe organ. Speedy is the silent film selection for this year led by the physical and gentle comedy of Harold Lloyd. Set in New York, Speedy is delightful caper with glorious shots of twenties Manhattan.
Another great strength of the festival has always been the gigs programmed in connection with films and this year is no different. For Requiem For Detroit at The Arches, Pressure present a DJ set by Carl Craig. The techno icon is a fitting selection as the documentary gazes into the slump of the city alongside the positive creative culture that has blossomed. Craig has been a techno and house ambassador to his home whilst supporting the engagement of electronic music within it his entire career.
Mistaken For Strangers is an unofficial tour documentary of The National shot by frontman Matt Berninger’s younger brother, Tom. Hired as a roadie for the tour, Tom proves a hindrance in the way that only a sibling can manage whilst also assisting to reveal a little seen side of the band’s identity. Lost Map’s Rozi Plain who supported The National on their last European tour will perform after the screening. I don’t know whether the film or gig calls to me more!
Finally, I would like to mention one of the more straight-ahead viewings of the festival, which is the Scottish premier of Kathleen Hanna documentary, The Punk Singer. If the next paragraph turns into a massive flap of the fangirl variety, it cannot be helped. Hanna, who returned to music last year with new outfit The Julie Ruin is the indisputable queen of Riot Grrrl. In Sini Anderson’s film, Hanna addresses her career from pioneering punk act Bikini Kill through to her days in Le Tigre (oh the dancing I’ve had to Friendship Station in my excitement over this film’s premier). Supported by interviews with Adam Horovitz, Tavi Gevinson, Kim Gordon, Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker, Joan Jett, Johanna Fateman, JD Samdon and Kathi Wilcox this looks to be a definitive record of the feminist figure. The evening will be introduced by Chvrches singer and synth-est Lauren Mayberry, co-founder of layered collective TYCI; for women, by women.
The full list of events is as follows:
- Metalhead, GFT, Fri 21 February, 3.30pm
- Partir To Live, CCA, Fri 21 February, 8.30pm
- Speedy, Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, Sat 22 February, 3pm
- Mistaken For Strangers, Paisley Arts Centre, Sat 22 February, 7pm / Glad Cafe, Tue 25 February, 7.30pm
- The Heart of Bruno Wizard, Sun 23 February, 9pm
- 20 Feet From Stardom, GFT, Tue 25 February, 6pm
- Danny Brown with Rollo Jackson, The Arches, Wed 26 February, 8pm
- Goblin, Oran Mor, Thurs 27 February, 8pm
- Requiem for Detroit, The Arches, Fri 28 February, 7.30pm
- The Punk Singer, GFT, Fri 28 February, 9pm
- Admiral Fallow – We Are Ten, Old Fruitmarket, Sat 1 March, 7pm
- Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed, Cineworld, Sat 1 March, 8.30pm
Further details on all of the above can be found on the Glasgow Music and Film Festival website. Tickets go on sale this Friday (24 January)
