It Follows tops first-ever Glasgow Film Festival Critics’ Choice poll

Glasgow Film Festival is delighted to announce the results of its first-ever Critics' Choice poll. Accredited critics attending the festival voted for It Follows, Clouds of Sils Maria and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night as their three favourite films of the programme.

Glasgow Film Festival announces results of first Critics’ Choice vote.

In addition to the first-ever Audience Award, which was announced at the Closing Gala on Sunday 1 March, Glasgow Film Festival today announced their inaugural Critics’ Choice: a list of the ten films which scored most highly in a vote from GFF’s accredited press corps.

All accredited reviewers attending the festival were invited to submit their three favourite films from the whole programme, with numerical values assigned to each vote depending on the number of press tickets each participant had used at the festival. 40 writers eventually took part – a full list of participants is included below. Votes were collected both on Twitter and via email.

Glasgow Film Festival Critics’ Choice 2015

It Follows (US, dir. David Robert Mitchell) An intelligent take on the teen horror genre that works on a number of levels and has already enjoyed great success at Cannes Film Festival. Mitchell visited the festival this year.

Clouds of Sils Maria (France/Switzerland/Germany, dir. Olivier Assayas) Kristen Stewart became the first American actor in history to win a Cesar Awards for her role in this complex, compelling drama, which had its UK Premiere at the festival.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (US/Iran, dir. Ana Lily Amirpour), lushly shot in black and white, this unusual film follows a lonely, hijab-wearing vampire who stalks her prey around a fictional Iranian ghost town on a skateboard.

While We’re Young (US, dir. Noah Baumbach) Baumbach’s inter-generational hipster comedy, starring Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts and Adam Driver, had its European Premiere at the Festival, as the Opening Gala.

Girlhood (France, dir. Céline Sciamma) A beautiful coming of age story following a girl gang growing up in the Parisian banlieues. Lead actresses Assa Sylla and Karidja Toure took part in a Q&A following the festival screening.

Mommy (Canada 2014, dir. Xavier Dolan) Audacious, emotionally captivating and packed with brilliant performances, Xavier Dolan’s latest, Cannes prize-winning feature was also a big hit with the GFF audience on social media.

Theeb (Jordan/Qatar/UAE/UK 2014, dir. Naji Abu Nowar) A drama reflecting on colonialism from the point of view of a young Bedouin Arab boy, Naji Abu Nowar’s directorial debut was also nominated for the inaugural GFF Audience Award.

=JOINT: Eden (France 2014, dir. Mia Hansen-Løve) and Wild Tales(Argentina/Spain 2014, dir. Damián Szifrón).  Charting the rise of the French electronic dance music scene in 1990s Paris, Hansen-Løve’s Daft Punk-inspired film Eden formed part of GFF15’s Sound & Vision strand. Wild Tales, Damián Szifrón’s biting black comedy built upon six short, masterfully interwoven tales, was shortlisted for the 2015 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Jodorowsky’s Dune (USA/France 2014, dir. Frank Pavich) Delving into the history behind Alejandro Jodorowsky’s vision for an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic novel Dune, this fascinating documentary pays homage to one of the great lost projects of cinematic history.

David Robert Mitchell, director of It Follows, commented "I'm really honored by this. Even though my visit to Glasgow for the film festival was short, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the city and I look forward to coming back someday. And again, thank you!"

The inaugural Audience Award was won by low-budget British film Radiator.

It Follows Film Page | It Follows Review | Win It Follows T-Shirt | Maika Monroe Interview | David Robert Mitchell Interview

IT FOLLOWS IS OUT NOW

About Glasgow Film Festival
Glasgow Film Festival 2015 ran from 18 February – 1 March, with a programme of 174 events. Guests included Alan Rickman, Richard Johnson, Gemma Jones, Cliff Curtis, Paul Merton, Carol Morley, Glenn Freemantle and the band British Sea Power.

The 2016 dates are 17-28 February.Journalists participating in the inaugural Critics’ Choice list include: Alison Rowat - The Herald/Sunday Herald, Alistair Harkness - The Scotsman, Andrew McArthur - The People's Movies/Cinehouse UK/Culture Fix, Andrew Robertson - Eye for Film, Ben Nicholson – CineVue, Brian Beadie - Freelance (Kiltr/Glasswerk), Catherine Bray - Film4, Chris Fyvie - BBC Radio Scotland Culture Studio/The Skinny, Douglas Greenwood - The Edinburgh Reporter, Edward Laing - Digital Runaway, Fiona Shepherd - The Scotsman, Fraser Walker - Empire One, Garry McConnachie – The Daily Record, Gary Green – Flickreel, Graeme Virtue - Freelance (STV Moviejuice/ BBC Radio Scotland Culture Studio/ The Guardian), Ian Sandwell - Screen International, Jamie Dunn - The Skinny, Jamie Neish - Freelance (Edinburgh Evening News/Emptyscreens.com), Jennie Kermode - Eye for Film, John McArthur - moviescramble.co.uk, Josh Slater Williams - The Skinny/Sound on Sight, Lisa Brooks - Live Cinema Ltd, Martin Petrov - Filmfestivals.com, Matthew Turner - Freelance (ShortList /The List), Michael Clancy - Freelance (East Coast FM/Telstar), Michael Flett - Geek Chocolate, Mike Edwards – Scotcampus, Neil Hargreaves - MostlyFilm.com, Nicola Balkind - Freelance (BBC Radio Scotland Culture Studio), Paul Devine - The People's Movies/Cinehouse, Paul Greenwood – The Evening Times, Rebecca Ryan - Film and TV Now, Rich Tench - Empire One, Rob Dickie - Sound on Sight, Ross Maclean - BBC Radio Scotland Culture Studio, Ross Miller - Freelance (thoughtsonfilm.com/Scotcampus), Sean Welsh – Freelance, Siobhan Synnot – (Scotland on Sunday/Daily Mail/BBC Scotland/STV), Steven Neish - Freelance (BestForFilm/HeyUGuys/PopcornAddict). 

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL WOULD LIKE TO THANK ITS MAJOR PARTNERS:

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