The Glasgow Film Festival has a long history of incorporating and giving space to videogames over the last few years.
From panels exploring the influence of comics, to an afternoon of choose-your-own-documentary goodness, the festival has extended open arms to gamers. 2015 is no exception and indeed the festival has doubled down on the geeky and gaming with the creation of an entirely new strand, named Nerdvana.
There’s a whole programme of events themed around geek culture, fantasy, gaming, comics and sci-fi.
The strand opens with the Scottish premiere of Oscar-shortlisted documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, the incredible true story of director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ambitious and ultimately doomed attempt at adapting Frank Herbert’s epic fantasy series for the big screen.
On 23rd Feb the festival hosts Children of Film: Videogames; a special evening discussion on the enduring influence cinema has on modern game design, name-checking recent hits like Alien Isolation and The Last of Us. It’s followed by a screening of Alfonso Cuaron’s seminal sci-fi masterpiece Children of Men.
On Thu 26th Feb strand ambassador Rab Florence brings his crowd-favourite Videogame Empty to the biggest screen of all: Glasgow’s IMAX. A sell-out event in previous years, audiences can expect special guests, laughs aplenty, and home consoles hooked up to the big screen for a night of competitive multiplayer action. Elsewhere in the strand Florence also hosts Dungeons and Dragons Live, an evening of high-stakes dice rolling and improv fun.
On the 28th Feb Glasgow’s Drygate Brewery plays host to three of the festival’s most exciting events to close out the strand. First up, a family-friendly afternoon screening of adventure classic The Goonies. Then the space is transformed into a pop-up retro arcade for King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Expect high-score chasing competition and a special film-themed food menu to bring in the evening. Finally, the festival rolls up and strap on it’s skates for a riotous retro roller disco, followed by Richard Linklater’s seminal cult favourite Dazed and Confused.
Don’t hang about. If previous years are anything to go by, tickets will be flying out the door.
Get over to the festival website and grab them while you can.
And can we just say Thank You GFF, it’s nice to feel part of the programme…
