Back by popular demand, the somewhat awkwardly named ‘Shorts Film Festival’ returned to GFF in 2009, once again curated by The Magic Lantern’s Penelope Bartlett and Rosie Crerar.
The weekend opened with a screening of shorts by the multi-faceted US artist Miranda July. For the first time emerging Scottish talent was showcased in a programme of its own, and established Scottish directors Eleanor Yule, Morag McKinnon and Douglas McKinnon participated in a discussion on transitioning from shorts to feature direction. With programmes from Oberhausen Film Festival, LUX and New Media Scotland, as well as a distinctly unsettling Valentines’ Day screening of offbeat shorts, the programme also made connections with Glasgow’s cinema heritage and underground music scene. We placed shorts programmes in the windows of five former cinemas, and took over the legendary Sub Club for three nights of collaborations with the likes of Slam, Subculture and Optimo, even creating a Lynchian Red Room in a corner of the dance floor.