Thursday 28 April 2011

Scottish Animation Network

Scottish Animation Network
Saturday 14 May, 11.30-13:00 (donations only)
Langside Library
There will be a screening of animation films at Langside Library from The Scottish Animation Network.  Scotland’s growing animation sector came together and in 2001 organised the successful Projector Festival which showcased animated films and brought together animators, producers, students and educators in order to share their experiences.

With the support of PACT (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) the UK’s trade association representing and promoting the commercial interests of independent feature film, television, digital, children's and animation media companies The Scottish Animation Network continues to grow and support award winning animators.

Southside Artists Outdoor Screening

Southside Artists Outdoor Screening
Saturday 14 May, 22:00 (donations only)
Southside Studios
A special outdoor screening of Artists Films, curated by the Southside Studios
JR Ewen and Olivia Gurtler founded new arts company Hang It Up Ltd which runs Digital Media workshops for school children.

The company also produces films, DVD authoring, contemporary painting, exhibition installation, and print design. The Southside Studios is managed by Hang It Up and provides studios as well as support for Glasgow based Artists.

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Starting Block

Starting Block, Diversity films
Sunday 15 May, 14:00 (£5)
The Shed (Main Hall)
Starting Block is a training and mentoring programme for first time filmmakers run by Diversity Films a 'community interest company working to nurture, train and develop a new generation of creative filmmakers'. The Southside Film Festival will be screening a selection of their films in the main hall at The Shed, including:
  • For The Love of Lugosi | Andy Gregor | Drama Documentary | 15 min
  • I, Alive | Thomas Simpson | Drama Short | 8 min
  • James Dean | Lucy Elliott | Drama Short | 7 min
  • The King and Queen of Württemberg | Samantha Fernando | Documentary | 25 min
  • My Father’s Son | Claire McGuire and Ian McLaughlin | Drama Documentary | 14 min
  • Running Wild | Pete Rennie | Documentary | 16 min
Find out more about all the films in this document.

Save Our Pool

Save Our Pool
Saturday 14 May, 21:00 for 21:30 start (donations only)
Govanhill Baths
A special screening of 'Save Our Pool' in Govanhill Baths will be held as part of the Southside Film Festival to mark the 10th anniversary of the Govanhill Baths sit in and forced closure and to act as a fundraiser for the Govanhill Baths Trust.

{govanhill baths}
The Govanhill Baths Community Trust's goal is to reopen the baths as a Wellbeing Centre while contributing to wider social, cultural and built regeneration in Govanhill through a range of activities.  The campaign began on the day the baths were closed, March 17th 2001.  After ten years of struggle, Govanhill Baths Community Trust will finally move into the building later this year.

The Trust will soon be beginning the Phase 1 redevelopment of the front section, creating offices, meeting and workshop areas and returning the historic building to community use. Staged restoration of the pools will follow.

United We Will Swim!

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Film Headz

Film Headz Teenage Filmmakers Screening
Saturday 14 May, 15:00-17:00 (£5)
The Shed (Main Hall)
Film Headz @ The Shed is a club for 12-16 year olds who love film, you can watch a film, which are all chosen by the members and then take part in workshops and a Q and A session.

South x Southside - iBop

South x Southside: iBop
Friday 13 May, 22:00-01:00 (£5)
Pollok Ex Servicemens Club
Pollok Ex Servicemens Club is home to iBop a monthly pre-club night for the southside. As part of the film festival and scheduled to run after the Forest of Black screening (free to those with tickets for that screening) you can“dance, drink and hear music worthy of your ears.”
Music: Alternative / Electronica / Pop.

Archive Film Screenings

Archive screening of shipyards & Southside
Saturday 14 May, 14:00-16:00 (donations only)
Boat Shed, Queens Park
Oscar winning documentary Seawards the Great Ships (Dir. Hilary Harris, 1960) based on a treatment by John Grierson will be screened in the Boat Shed, Queens Park. Scenes in the drawing offices, steel mills and shipyards depict how the ships were constructed, launched and fitted out before starting out on voyages around the world.

There will also be additional archive footage shown of Southside Glasgow from the Scottish Screen Archive collections.

Monday 25 April 2011

You Play Your Part

You Play Your Part
Saturday 14 May, 14:00-16:00 (donations only)
Pearce Institute Govan
The Pearce Institute in Govan will host a screening of You Play Your Part, a community based, participatory documentary about women’s struggles in Govan and Greater Glasgow. Taking its inspiration from the Govan Rent strikes of 1915, led by Mrs Barbour’s Army, the film tells the stories of campaigning women. Based on the experiences of women and men involved in the project, the film highlights striking women such as Mary Barbour, Agnes McLean, the campaign for equal pay and women’s working lives in the industries and trade unions of Clydeside.


Produced & directed by Kirsten MacLeod with members of The Govan Seniors Film Group and the Platforum Mental Health service, in association with Plantation Productions & The University of the West of Scotland.

Scottish Screenwriters Workshop

Scottish Screenwriters Workshop
Saturday 14 May, 13:00-15:00 (donations only)
Hutchesons' Grammer School
A must for all aspiring screenwriters, the Southside Film Festival will be hosting one of Scottish Screenwriters regular workshops at Hutchesons' Grammer School in the main building, entering by Beaton Road. The group hold regular meetings/workshops in Glasgow and Edinburgh where novice and professional screenwriters meet, discuss and develop ideas and scripts.

If you are interested in attending this workshop, please email us (southsidefilmfest@gmail.com) to register your interest.

When John McShane & Jerry Brannigan completed their first Writers Factory Screenwriting Course they enjoyed the workshopping element so much that they organised a writing group to meet monthly to continue their development as screenwriters. Now, 7 years on, the website, Scottish Screenwriters has well over 500 members as well as Edinburgh and Glasgow Groups who continue to meet monthly. Whether it’s at one of the meetings, or on the website, Scottish Screenwriters is a place where all screenwriters can go to meet fellow screenwriters, exchange information and have others read their work in a safe and constructive environment.

Jerry Brannigan is currently completing a feature film commission, and is working with John McShane on a number of projects on Robert Burns which includes a Book and a Drama for television. Both Jerry & John are also working with a New York based television production company and have set up a Glasgow based writing team to work with them.

Shorts for Wee Ones

Shorts for Wee Ones
Saturday 14 May, 9.30-11:00 (donations only)
Langside Library & Learning Centre
A discovery kids screeningShorts for Wee Ones with its inventive, funny and fantastically colourful animations from around the world is a festival favourite.

South x Southside - Forest of Black Music Videos


South x Southside: Forest of Black Music Videos
Friday 13 May, 20.30-22:00 (£5)
The Shed (The Loft)
This screening and Q and A has been specially commissioned by the Southside Film Festival. The Forest of Black is a Glasgow based video production company run by director Blair Young and producer Beth Allan. The company produces creative video content for music related projects.
The Forest Of Black have spent the last decade quietly becoming the most productive music video company working out of Scotland. It’s not been an easy ride though, battling the London centric workings of the record industry and the inevitable creative compromises of a promotional format.


As well as producing music promos for Biffy Clyro, Franz Ferdinand and Belle and Sebastian (to name only a few), they have also provided for television documentaries, commercial and corporate advertising campaigns.


For this unique screening, rather than a straightforward retrospective, producer Beth Allan and director Blair Young have instead woven the pick of their own work, and some of the worst, into an entertaining quasi-documentary, illustrating both the company's story, and its voyages through the murky waters of the record industry. Questions will be taken and answered honestly.

Sunday 24 April 2011

The Neighbours

The Neighbours
Sunday 15 May, 16:00 (£5)
The Shed (Main Hall)
The Neighbours, is a short film directed by David McKay is an adaptation of the short story, Neighbors, by the late American writer, Raymond Carver.

{Still from The Neighbours}

This story examines a middle-aged couple’s sudden exposure to an enviable and unattainable lifestyle, and the effect that has on their relationship. Ernest and Sheila, are a somewhat staid pair, who have settled into a monotonous life. When their new neighbours ask them to feed their cat while they are away, Ernest and Sheila are exposed to a world that brings their own subdued desires to the surface, and changes their lives forever.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

Sunday 15 May, 15:00 (£5)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The Southside Film Festival in association with Shawlands Sherlock Holmes Society will hold a screening of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Dir. Billy Wilder,1970, cert: PG).

{image of poster from wikipedia}

When a bored Holmes eagerly takes the case of Gabrielle Valladon after an attempt on her life, the search for her missing husband leads to Loch Ness and the legendary monster.


The Sherlock Holmes Society was founded by Barry Young of Young's Interesting Books on Skirving Street as he felt it was improper that there was not a Holmes appreciation society in the country of birth of his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Opening Film - American Cousins

American Cousins
Friday 13 May, 20:00 (£5)
Venue TBC
The opening film of the festival will be the BAFTA nominated American Cousins with an intro and Q&A from writer (and southsider) Sergio Casci.

{poster for American Cousins)

The film tells the story of a mild-mannered Scots-Italian fish and chip shop owner who is alarmed when his two distant US cousins take refuge in his shop and start persuading a local loan shark not to reclaim his debt. Casci has written an article about Scots-Italians and their differences from their American cousins.

South x Southside: Composing Music for Film Seminar

Seminar - Composing Music for Film with Malcolm Lindsay, Eleanor Yule and Mick Cooke
Friday 13 May, 18:30-20:00 (donations only)
The Shed (The Loft)
A seminar discussing the art of composing music for film featuring the following great panellists:
  • Eleanor Yule is an award winning writer and director, whose credits include an acclaimed profile on R.D.Laing, BBC Series Ghost stories for Christmas, feature film Blinded, and she has collaborated with many fine film composers including the late Geoffrey Burgon (Life of Brian, Brideshead Revisited) and Scottish born composer Malcolm Lindsey (Blinded, Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershoi).

Saturday 23 April 2011

Southside Film Fest - an experience for everyone

This festival is not just for film buffs - the programme aims to cater for young and old, rich and poor, across the Southside and hopefully there will be something for everyone.

For young kids there will be a selection of films from the Dundee Discovery Childrens' Film Festival. For older people some archive footage of the local area from the 1960s and there will a number of family friendly screenings too. The programme will also include animation, music videos, artist's films and a selection of short films programmed by the Glasgow Short Film Festival.

All this plus feature films that have been produced by Southside or Scottish talent. For those who want to learn more about filmmaking there will be also be workshops on screenwriting, acting and talks by filmmakers.

There will be a festival hub so people who come to the festival can meet and talk to the filmmakers and discuss the films, workshops and talks with other Southsiders. The aim is to make the festival a social as well as a cultural experience.

Friday 22 April 2011

Introducing Karen O'Hare

Karen O'Hare is the driving force behind the festival and here she explains why she started the festival and what makes it unique:

"I am keen to make the festival work as I love film and I love the Southside and I feel that there are so few opportunities for Southsiders to get together socially as a community to celebrate and share all that is great about film, filmmaking and the Southside!

Southside Glasgow is not only the most ethically diverse place in Scotland, it is also a vibrant place, rich in culture and creativity. But the Southside has no cinema and the Glasgow Film Festival doesn't come south of the Clyde so Southsiders cannot easily and locally access quality, independent and international films outside of what is screened in the city centre cinema chains.

What makes the festival unique is the also the fact that there is no cinema in the Southside so the festival screening venues will be pubs, clubs, church halls, artist studios and other community venues which means Southsiders will see films not only on their door step but in places where they would least expect it. Attending a talk, workshop or film over Southside Film Festival will be a unique experience."

About Karen: she currently works at Screen Academy Scotland, a Skillset Film & Media Academy, where she develops, delivers and manages both a training programme for post graduate film students and short training courses for film & TV professionals in Scotland. She is also a BAFTA / Media Trust Youth Mentor and has recently helped a group of teeangers at the Scottish Spina Bifida Association make a short film.

Karen has volunteered for numerous film festivals since 1999 in lots of different roles from technical manager to projectionist, from runner to sitting on award juries.

Thursday 21 April 2011

Film making @ Southside Film Fest

The festival has run an open submission call for Southside filmmakers or films about the Southside which will be screened at a special Southside Film programme.

There will also be screening of the local film group work Film Headz and Starting Block, new film-making training and mentoring initiative for first-time filmmakers run by Diversity Films.

There will also be workshops over the weekend in screenwriting, directing and acting and we will be encouraging people to make a film in the Southside on their phone or digital camera over the weekend and we will screen the best one(s) at our Southside Film screening on the Sunday.

Festival highlights

Details for many events are still to be confirmed but we wanted to flag up some of the highlights you can look forward to over the weekend.

South x Southside, a seminar on composing music for film with contributions from Mick Cooke of Belle and Sebastian followed by screenings of music videos from celebrated Forest of Black.

For young kids there will be a selection of films from Dundee's Discovery Film Festival.

A special screening of 'Save Our Pool' in Govanhill Baths to mark the 10th anniversary of the Govanhill Baths sit in and forced closure, held as a fundraiser for the Govanhill Baths Trust.

{image of baths from Shannow}

Lots more to be announced at the end of April so keep coming back!

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Crying with Laughter

Crying with Laughter
Saturday 14 May, 19:30 (£5)
The Shed
The Southside Film Festival is delighted to be screening Crying with Laughter at The Shed with an introduction and post film Q& A session from star of the film, Stephen McCole!

{still from Crying with Laughter}

Crying with Laughter is a powerfully redemptive and darkly comedic revenge thriller, set against the vicious world of stand-up comedy. Find out more in the official press pack here.

Shorts - Summer Stories

Short Films Programme 2: Summer Stories (PG)
Sun 15 May, 16:00
Boat Shed
**Note the change of venue to the Boat Shed from Hidden Gardens**
Song, laughter and distant landscapes feature in this family-friendly selection of diverse films from Glasgow Short Film Festival 2011, which will be screened on Sunday 15th May, 16:00 at the Boat Shed, Queens Park.

{still from In A Pig's Eye}

The films being screened are:
  • XXIX / Laurel MacDonald / Canada / 2010 / 7 min
  • In A Pig's Eye / Atsushi Wada / Japan / 2010 / 10 min
  • Canopy Crossings / Gary Yong / Thailand & USA / 2010 / 19 min
  • The Pedestrian / Stuart Elliott / UK / 2010 / 7 min
  • The Accordion / Jafar Panahi / Iran / 2009 / 9 min
  • Madagascar, A Journey Diary / Bastien Dubois / France / 2009 / 12 min
  • Spider Fang! / Justin Perkinson / USA / 2010 / 2 min
XXIX is a multicultural performance of a fifteenth century choral piece, whilst Canopy Crossings combines travelogue and wistful fiction in a Thai marketplace. Prepare to be befuddled by the indescribable In A Pig’s Eye, seduced by the Oscar-nominated animation Madagascar, A Journey Diary and won over by Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s life-affirming work The Accordion. Closer to home, Stuart Elliott’s Glasgow-shot The Pedestrian is a hilarious audience-pleaser and Spider Fang! will send shivers down your spine!

    Shorts - Dreamlands

    Short Films Programme 1: Dreamlands (15)
    Saturday 14 May, 19:30
    The Chalet
    Strange worlds, eccentric characters and unexpected happenings await in this eclectic, international selection of films from Glasgow Short Film Festival 2011 being screened at The Chalet on Saturday 14 May at 19:30.

    {still from Death of a Pop Star}

    The films being screened are:
    • Picknick / Henrik Andersson / Sweden / 2010 / 15 min
    • Surpriseville / Tim Travers Hawkins / UK / 2010 / 10 min
    • Photos of God / Paul Wright / UK / 2010 / 28 min
    • X.O. Genesis / Rowan Wernham / New Zealand / 2010 / 12 min
    • Death of a Pop Star / Greg Loser / USA / 2010 / 15 min
    Discover Swedish drama Picknick, a bizarre snapshot of masculinity in crisis; experience the beautiful, sorrowful and fragmented world of Paul Wright’s Photos of God; and take an intergalactic ride in the wildly inventive animation X.O. Genesis. Also featured in this programme is the thought-provoking documentary Surpriseville, an exploration of the mental and physical boundaries of an American community, and masterful drama Death of a Pop Star, which captures the strange characters living in the home of an ailing celebrity.

      Monday 18 April 2011

      Submit a film

      Are you a filmmaker? Are you are Southsider? Then you are a Southside fimmaker!

      The first film festival in the Southside of Glasgow will screen local filmmakers work or work set in the Southside of Glasgow. Deadline for submissions is Thursday 21st April, 2011.

      Email southsidefilmfest@gmail.com for more info.

      Sunday 17 April 2011

      Nosferatu

      Nosferatu
      Sunday 15 May, 20:00 (£5)
      Pollokshaws Burgh Hall
      Nosferatu, the 1922 black and white silent horror classic, directed by FW Murnau, based on Bram Stoker's Dracula will be screened on Sunday 15th May, 20:00 with live organ accompaniment by Larry McGuire on the mighty Wurlitzer Organ at Pollokshaws Burgh Hall.

      {still from Nosferatu}

      This is a unique experience and a great opportunity to see a vampire classic. Check out the work of the Scottish Cinema Organ Trust for more about this unique cinema experience.

      Volunteer with the Festival

      The Southside Film Festival is looking for volunteers to help out in advance of the festival and/or during the festival. Before and during the festival we will need help promoting and documenting the festival to raise awareness and ensure good coverage.

      On the weekend itself volunteers will be needed to liaise with the venues, look after guests, handle the box office and do general front of house duties.

      If you are interested in getting film making experience, you could volunteer on the 48hour film challenge that will be running over the festival.

      If you are interested please contact Karen on southsidefilmfest@gmail.com to find out more.

      Wednesday 13 April 2011

      Welcome to the Southside Film Festival Blog!

      This blog will provide information about the behind the scenes work involved in putting together a festival, the programme we have planned and live posts over the weekend.

      The Southside Film Festival will take place in Southside Glasgow over the weekend of 13-15 May, 2011.

      This is the first ever film festival south of the Clyde and will cater to all Southsiders with screenings in various locations, from church halls to local clubs, from schools to the local park boat shed.

      You can find out more on our website (coming soon), follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook or contact us at southsidefilmfest@gmail.com for more info.