Five of the best music highlights of the Glasgow Film Festival 2014

Claire Sawers
19 February 2014

Metalhead

Featuring Goblin with Golden Teacher and CHVRCHES' Lauren Mayberry introducing The Punk Singer

Partir to Live

Strobes, 12-string guitar drones, skin-on-skin shots, electricity pylons – expect a chilling, confusing hour or so, at this screening of Chilean film Partir To Live. It’s beautifully soundtracked by Dutch minimalist electronic composer Jozef Van Wissem, who won a Soundtrack Award at Cannes for his work with Jim Jarmusch on Only Lovers Left Alive. CCA, Glasgow, Fri 21 Feb.

Partir to Live (Official Trailer) from Domingo García-Huidobro on Vimeo.

Mistaken for Strangers

Before playing the Usher Hall in July, baritone, lachrymose Brooklyn rockers The National appear in this warts-and-all tour documentary filmed by lead singer Matt’s brother, Tom Berninger. Paisley Arts Centre, Sat 22 Feb; Glad Café, Glasgow, Tue 25 Feb.

Metalhead

A grieving teenager gets over her brother’s death by shutting out the real world and burying herself in the heavy metal he used to love. Expect Kiss make-up, bittersweet coming-of-age drama and spectacular Icelandic scenery. GFT, Glasgow, Wed 26 Feb.

Goblin, with Golden Teacher

The Italian specialists in terrifying synth-horror soundtracks, Goblin, return to the GFF. Their scores to 1970s and 80s giallo films, notably Dario Argento’s Profondo Rosso and Suspiria, helped cement their cult status – and they have Pink Floyd to thank, after they turned Argento down to write the score to Profondo Rosso. With the pummelling, polyrhythmic beats of Golden Teacher. Oran Mor, Glasgow, Thu 27 Feb.

The Punk Singer

Kathleen Hanna – Portland’s feminist activist, zine writer, lead singer in Le Tigre, Bikini Kill and The Julie Ruin gets the documentary once-over, in this inspiring look at her two-finger salute to the patriarchy. The screening is introduced by Lauren Mayberry of TYCI and Chvrches. GFT, Glasgow, Fri 28 Feb.

Glasgow Film Festival

Having launched in 2005, the Glasgow Film Festival has grown and grown: during that debut year, 6000 cinephiles passed through the doors, while 42,000 attended in 2016. Of course there are top-notch premieres, retrospectives and special guests (past visitors have included Richard Gere, Joss Whedon and Alan Rickman) but…

Mistaken for Strangers

2013
US
1h 15min
15

Directed by: Tom Berninger
UK release: 27 June 2014

Documentary about US indie band The National. Director Berninger is the band's singer's younger brother, and the film – which chronicles his own fumbling attempts to be their roadie – is much about his relationship with his own brother as it is about the band's history. Smart, funny and heartwarming.

The Punk Singer

2013
USA
1h 20min
15

Directed by: Sini Anderson
Cast: Kathleen Hanna, Carrie Brownstein, Kim Gordon, Adam Horowitz
UK release: 23 May 2014

Documentary on former Bikini Kill singer and punktivist extraordinaire Kathleen Hanna, chronicling her struggle against a late diagnosis of Lyme disease. Fellow musicians such as Joan Jett and Kim Gordon help tell Hanna's story, and although it misses her recent return to touring, it's an inspiring account of a…