This year’s festivities kicked off with with a bang with the opening night gala which presented Alice Winocour’s beautifully atmospheric drama Proxima. Winocour was also present after the main event for a Q&A session in which she talked about her experiences of working with a multi-national team of actors and technicians.
Day 2 was marked by the Scottish premier screening of Lorcan Finnegan’s brilliantly unsettling sci-fi drama Vivarium. Finnegan and star of the film Imogene Poots were also there to introduce the film.
The festival also welcomed Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson who was there to introduce his new film The County. Hákonarson also stayed afterwards for a short Q&A session. The County is part of a wider Icelandic strand at this year’s GFF. Other films in this strand also feature the brilliant A white, White Day by Hlynur Palmason.
Meanwhile 1917 star George MacKay was also there in support of his new film, True History of The Kelly Gang.
Friday night saw the premiere of Julian Jarrold’s latest film Sulphur and White. The story follows a City trader and mountaineer David Tait, a man whose professional success masks a series of traumatic secrets. The film also stars Aftab Shivdasani, Alistair Petrie, Hugo Stone, Sheila Atim, Max Befort, Ben Ashenden and Sofia Barclay.
On Saturday night, actor Simon Pegg graced the festival red carpet in support of his new film Lost Transmissions. He and director Katharine O’Brien took to the stage for a Q&A session after the screening of the film.
Elsewhere Director Francis Annan was also there to present his new film Escape From Pretoria which stars Daniel Radcliffe as legendary anti-Apartheid activist Tim Jenkin. The film centres around Jenkins’s legendary escape from a pretorian prison in the 70s.
As the festival enters its second week, here are just a few more titles and events to look forward to.
