Event Preview | Glasgow Film Festival (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Kicking off the festival in true Hollywood style, is the latest from the Coen Brothers, Hail, Caesar!, which doesn't open around the UK until 4th March. As for the closing gala, it is the Oscar-nominated animation from Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa, which isn't released around the country until 11th March. British film fans will have to wait even longer for some of the other films on show. Demolition, from Dallas Buyers Club director, Jean Marc Vallee, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts, is given its UK premiere, well ahead of its release at the end of April. The latest animation from Disney, Zootropolis, also makes its debut, more than a month before it's shown to UK audiences, while Don Cheadle's labour of love Miles Davis film, Miles Ahead, also gets its first outing. Its UK release is scheduled for 22nd April.

Big name guests at the festival include Richard Gere, The Hunger Games' Natalie Dormer, and director Ben Wheatley, while a series of classic films are screened in special venues. Network at the BBC Scotland studios, anybody? The festival also pays its own tribute to David Bowie, with screenings of concert film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, as well as The Man Who Fell to Earth, shown in the Glasgow Planetarium.

For fans of comic books and gaming, the festival also has its own special strand, called Nerdvana. Films aren't forgotten, though, because there's the European premiere of gaming documentary, Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler. There's also the chance to experience the world-famous IGN podcast, which will come live from Drygate Brewery, while comedian and obsessive gamer, Glasgow's own Robert Florence, runs Videogame Empty, a unique night of videogame entertainment, live and unrehearsed.