We’re delighted to launch our first wave of programmes for Glasgow Short Film Festival’s 14th edition as well as our festival trailer. GSFF21 will take place 22-28 March and entirely online – a return to our festival hub after the success of GSFF 2020 Online in August.
Our GSFF21 festival trailer is directed by James Price, winner of the GSFF Scottish Audience Award in 2020 for Boys Night. The trailer, which revisits the mural created for the 2020 festival trailer, stars Glasgow comedy legend Jonathan Watson (Only an Excuse?, Two Doors Down, Naked Video, City Lights). Give it a watch below.
Glasgow Short Film Festival has two annual competitions: the Scottish Short Film Award which honours inspiration and innovation in new Scottish cinema and the Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film which showcases new cinema from around the world. Across the two competitions, GSFF21 will present 7 World Premieres, 14 UK Premieres and 2 European Premieres.
The GSFF21 audience will have the opportunity to choose their favourites to win the Scottish and International Audience Awards, whilst international juries of filmmakers and curators select the winners of the Bill Douglas Award and the Scottish Short Film Award. Each jury award carries a cash prize of £1,000. The GSFF21 Scottish Audience Award winner will receive a commission to make the GSFF 2022 trailer.
The full list of films in competition can be found here.
The Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film turns 10 this year. Named in honour of Scotland’s greatest filmmaker, the Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film was inaugurated by Bill’s lifelong friend and collaborator Peter Jewell in 2012. Each year we award a film that best reflects the qualities found in the work of Bill Douglas: honesty, formal innovation and the supremacy of image and sound in cinematic storytelling.
In this tenth year of the award, we revisit the previous nine winning films, alongside new interviews between each filmmaker and a member of the jury that selected their film. These interviews will be available on Glasgow Short Film Festival’s brand new podcast available from March, produced by Halina Rifai from Glasgow Podcart and A Sonic Hug.
The Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film 10 Year Anniversary programme films are as follows:
3 Logical Exits
Mahdi Fleifel | Denmark, UK, Lebanon | Winner 2020
Liminality & Communitas
Laura Rantanen | Finland | Winner 2019
Strange Says the Angel
Shalimar Preuss | France | Winner 2018
Green Screen Gringo
Douwe Dijkstra | Netherlands, Brazil | Winner 2017
A Short Guide to Re-Entry
Anwar Boulifa | UK | Winner 2016
Shipwreck
Morgan Knibbe | Netherlands | Winner 2015
The Questioning
Zhu Rikun | China | Winner 2014
Enraged Pigs
Leonardo Sette, Isabel Penoni | Brazil | Winner 2013
Fini
Jacob Secher Schulsinger | Denmark | Winner 2012
Further programme announcements for GSFF21 will be made on Wednesday 10 March. Audiences can expect dynamic programmes featuring world-class films that will not only reflect a year in lockdown but offer escapism. GSFF’s regular European Film Academy shorts programme and the ever-popular Comedy, Horror and Family Animation programmes will return alongside strands responding to our needs, desires and conversations of the last year. Our friends and recurring guest programmers at Matchbox Cineclub will also present a programme at GSFF21. Stay tuned for further details.
We’re also pleased to announce that The Skinny will be an official media partner for GSFF21, after many years of support and collaboration. The Skinny will be supporting a special programme at this year’s festival, to be announced in March.
All GSFF21 programmes, including Q&As, will be captioned for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences. This year’s edition will continue to implement a pay-what-you-can sliding scale for passes with the aim of improving access and inclusion.
Public registration for the GSFF online festival hub is now open. Industry accreditation is free and also now available. Click here for more information.