The Opening and Closing Gala films for GFF17 have just been announced. The European Premiere of coming-of-age story Handsome Devil will open the festival on 15 February. The festival closes with the World Premiere of Mad To Be Normal, starring David Tennant, on 26 February. We’ll also be celebrating the life of renowned artist and writer John Berger with the Scottish premiere of The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger.
Opening Gala: Handsome Devil
If you are looking for a film to lift your spirits, warm your heart and bring a big smile to your face, then you have come to the right place. Handsome Devil is a terrific coming-of-age, coming-out charmer that marks a significant step up for John Butler, the writer/director of The Stag, and features a cast of supremely talented young actors. Fionn O’Shea is a complete delight as gawky, 16 year-old Ned, a bright, artistic lad who faces his own hell on earth when he is sent to an all-boys Irish boarding school where the manly pursuit of rugby is virtually a religion. He steels himself for the loneliness, ridicule and constant insinuations about his sexuality. Everything changes with the arrival of his new roommate Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a star player in the rugby team, and inspirational English teacher Dan Sherry (Andrew Scott). Ned and Conor bond over a mutual appreciation of cool music and an unlikely friendship blossoms; one that faces unbearable pressures from a school grimly attached to its narrow macho values. A breezy, often hilarious tale that gains emotional depth as it delivers an irresistible message: everyone, straight or gay, has the power to make the world a better place by simply being true to themselves.
Closing Gala: Mad To Be Normal
There was no more charismatic or controversial a figure during the swinging 60s than Scottish psychiatrist R D Laing. Dubbed “the white Martin Luther King” and the “high priest of anti-psychiatry”, Laing was as famous as Dylan. In 1965, he established Kingsley Hall in East London as a medication-free community for those seriously affected by schizophrenia. His methods, which involved experimenting with LSD on his patients and practicing a form of self-healing known as metanoia, flew in the face of a medical establishment that considered Laing a dangerous radical. Mad To Be Normal offers a powerful account of Laing’s Kingsley Hall experiment with a stunning performance from David Tennant that truly gets under the skin of an utterly compelling figure. Tennant’s nuanced, complex work conveys a sense of Laing’s immense personal charm and the combination of intelligence and arrogance that made him equally revered and reviled. The film also captures the darker side of a mercurial man who rarely made it easy for those who dared to get close to him, especially his lover Angie (Elisabeth Moss). A magnificent ensemble cast includes heartrending performances from Michael Gambon and Gabriel Byrne.
Tickets for the galas will be on sale at 10am, Monday 9 January. You can find more information at glasgowfilm.org/festival
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