Press release -
Join the Glasgow set-jet
Glasgow Film Festival visitors are being encouraged to make the most of their stay by taking in some of the city’s attractions and doing some ‘set-jetting’ at its many movie sites.
VisitScotland, which has helped to fund Glasgow Film Festival through its Events team since 2011, is urging movie buffs to step into a variety of real-life sets, including:
Blythswood Square – as seen in Madeleine (1950)
Kelvingrove Park – That Sinking Feeling (1980)
Glasgow Cathedral – Heavenly Pursuits (1986)
Mount Florida – Small Faces (1995)
Blythswood Hill – Cloud Atlas (2012)
George Square – World War Z (2013)
The Buchanan Galleries – Under the Skin (2013)
Cadogen Street – Fast and Furious 6 (2013)
The 11th Glasgow Film Festival consists of 174 events, including 11 world premiere screenings. It finishes this Sunday (1 March), with one of the events on the closing day being a special 20th anniversary screening of Small Faces, which will be attended by director Gillies MacKinnon and members of the cast.
The gritty coming-of-age movie is one of many to have been filmed in Glasgow and a number of big-budget Hollywood productions have been shot in Scotland’s biggest city in recent years. Small Faces screens as part of the Festival’s Cinema City programme strand, dedicated to celebrating Glasgow’s enduring relationship with cinema from the 1930s to the present day.
Today (Tuesday 24 February), Scotland’s increasing popularity as a location among filmmakers will be discussed at a Festival event entitled: I Know Where I’m Going: Shooting in Scotland. Two walking tours of Glasgow, on Thursday 26 February and Saturday 28 February, will help visitors uncover the city’s cinematic history.
VisitScotland research reveals that arts and cultural festivals generate £76 million for the Scottish economy, while research shows that 40 per cent of visitors to the UK are inspired to come here after seeing it on film or on television.
Jenni Steele, Film and Creative Industries Manager at VisitScotland, said: “Glasgow has played host to a number of big-budget Hollywood movies in recent years, as well as some all-time classics. If people are here for Glasgow Film Festival, we would encourage them to take in some of these real-life movie sets and see for themselves exactly why film-makers continue to be drawn to this amazing city.”
Allison Gardner, Co-Director, Glasgow Film Festival, said: “In the 1930s, Glasgow was known as ‘Cinema City’ because it had more cinemas per head of population than any other city in the world. This year we’re celebrating Glasgow as a Cinema City, with screenings of films set in the city, walking tours of historic sites as well as and an exhibition pulling together memories of over eighty years of cinema-going.
“We also make use of some of the city’s most unique and beautiful buildings for our pop-up screenings, and create special events within the city’s vibrant live music and visual arts scenes. A visit to Glasgow Film Festival is a great way to get to know the city.”
To find out more about Glasgow Film Festival, go to www.glasgowfilm.org/festival
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Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015
- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
