10 highlights of the 2014 Glasgow Film Festival

Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Picture: Contributed

The Grand Budapest Hotel, 20 February

Ten years after his film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou closed the first Glasgow Film Festival, Wes Anderson unveils his new comedy-drama, with Ralph Fiennes playing the hotel concierge at the centre of the plot and leading a cast which also features Tilda Swinton, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe and Bill Murray.

Starred Up, 21 & 22 February

Scottish film-maker David Mackenzie’s latest feature, a hard-hitting Belfast-set prison drama unveiled in Toronto in November, won eight nominations at last year’s British Independent Film Awards, and its star Jack O’Connell, who shot to fame in TV drama Skins has been touted for the new Star Wars series.

20 Feet From Stardom, 22 February

A special screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary on the music industry’s unsung heroines - including Merry Clayton and Darlene Love - the singers who have backed the likes of The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Tom Jones on some of their best-known hits.

John Sessions in Conversation, 22 February

The Ayrshire-born actor, who made his name on TV shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Spitting Image, went on to work with some of the biggest names in the movie industry, including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Anthony Hopkins and Martin Scorsese, and win roles in films like Gangs of New York and The Iron Lady.

Tron - Off the Grid, 25 February

Comedian Robert Florence, mastermind of the festival’s computer gaming strand, hosts its biggest pop-up event to date at Glasgow’s former glue factory, with the warehouse-turned-arts centre fitted out with early 1980s arcade games and a special screening of Disney’s cult sci-fi classic from the era, Tron, which sees Jeff Bridges sucked inside a computer game.

Black Angel, 27 February

A revival for a forgotten piece of Scottish cinematic history will see Roger Christian, a Hollywood set set designer who worked on the original Star Wars saga, Alien and Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, visit Glasgow to present a short fantasy film he made in the Highlands in 1979 with the help of George Lucas, which went on to be screened before The Empire Strikes Back.

Monster Mash at Kelvingrove, 28 February

The festival’s biggest ever pop-up cinema event will see the city’s flagship art gallery play host to a monster-themed party and screening of the classic Gene Wilder comedy Young Frankenstein, released in 1974, the year the Glasgow Film Theatre was born.

Admiral Fallow - We Are Ten, 1 March

One of the best-loved bands of Glasgow’s indie scene in recent years celebrate 10 years of making music together with a one-off performance in the city’s Old Fruitmarket of both classic material and specially-prepared new songs which will be married with work from rising filmmakers across the UK as well as archive footage of Glasgow.

Mary Queen of Scots, 1 & 2 March

More than 40 years after Vanessa Redgrave claimied an Academy Award for her portrayal as the titular character, London-born actress Camille Rutherford steps into the shoes of one of the most iconic figures in Scottish history, for Swiss director Thomas Imbach’s film, which also stars Harry Potter star Sean Biggerstaff, from Glasgow.

Under the Skin, 2 March

One of the most eagerly-anticipated Scottish films for years stars Scarlett Johansson wowed the critics in Venice and Toronto when it was unveiled last year and the festival promises Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of Highlands-based author Jonathan Faber’s novel is “the kind of mysterious, spellbinding cinema you only experience once in a generation.”