Glasgow Film Festival rolls out the red carpet as it stages 15th birthday party

An eagerly-awaited new movie about a Scottish country singer pursuing her dreams of becoming a Nashville star was added to the Glasgow Film Festival line-up as the 15th annual event got under way.

Tom Harpers film Wild Rose, which was filmed in Glasgow, will have its Scottish premiere on 28 February at Glasgow Film Festival. Lead actress Jessie Buckley will attend the screening, along with the films Glasgow-born writer Nicole Taylor and producer Faye Ward.

Irish singing star Jessie Buckley has won rave reviews for her portrayal of the fresh-out-jail Glaswegian mother-of-two Wild Rose focuses on.

She will visit the city – where the film was shot – next week for its Scottish premiere and also perform at an after-party at its famous Grand Ole Opry country club, which will be open to all ticket-holders for the film, in which she stars opposite Julie Walters.

Organisers have already confirmed that Monty Python legend Sir Michael Palin, Oscar-nominated writer David Hare, record-breaking yachtswoman Tracy Edwards, Still Game stars Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, and mountaineering legend Hamish MacInnes will all be heading down the red carpet.

Kate Dickie, Laura Fraser, Kevin Guthrie and Peter Mullan will be among the leading Scottish actors launching new movies at the 12-day festival.

New documentaries on artist Peter Howson, the controversial Scottish psychiatrist Dr Ewen Cameron, and an amateur filmmaker whose family recovered hundreds of old reels in a shed will be shown.

The festival opened with the sold-out UK premiere of coming-of-age comedy drama Mid90s, the directorial debut of Oscar-nominee Jonah Hill, star of The Wolf of Wall Street, Moneyball and War Dogs.

Rising stars Christian Ortega and Lorn Macdonald will close the event with Beats, the Scottish rave movie already being hailed as the “heir” to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting.

New films starring Gerard Butler and Karen Gillan will also be screened, while comics Simon Anstell and Bo Burnham will unveil respective new movies Benjamin and Eighth Grade.

Final Ascent reveals how Macinnes, a collaborator with Palin, recovered his lost memory of decades of expeditions.

Paisley-born filmmaker Harry Birrell, who made around 400 films before passing away in 1993 aged 75, is the focus of Matt Pinder’s documentary, narrated by The Bodyguard star Richard Madden.

His grand-daughter, actress and filmmaker Carina Birrell, said: “He really wanted to be a professional filmmaker but had to give up that dream to serve in the Second World War. He’d be delighted at having his work shown at the festival, especially just after his 100th birthday.”

Hill said: “I’m so honoured to have Mid90s screen as the opening night film. There’s such an incredibly rich and cool art, music, design and film community in Glasgow, which has always embraced and championed artists.”

Although Beats is under wraps until the final night, director Brian Welsh’s film was hailed by critics after its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival last month.