The event focused on non-mainstream cinema and treated the audience as the main guests, quickly earning a title of one of the friendliest film festivals in the world.
[2] As the festival grew and developed, it expanded to other venues; in 2017, special screenings were hosted by an indoor real snow ski slope.
[8] The 2009 event featured an Audrey Hepburn retrospective and a birthday tribute to Errol Flynn.
Other guests included Peter Mullan, James Earl Jones and the cast of Scottish classic, Gregory's Girl.
Also included a Cary Grant retrospective, as well as strands focusing on Japanese Cinema, Fashion and Music and film.
[9] In 2010, a Margaret Tait award for experimental and innovative filmmaking was launched, coming with a £10,000 commission for the winner's next project.
It featured The Gene Kelly: Strictly Song and Dance retrospective, marking the centenary of his birth.
[15] With the festival lasting 11 days from February 18 to March 1, GFF 10th edition admission figures topped 40,000.
[17] The festival's pop-up events were hosted at various locations throughout the city, including the Briggait and the Tall Ship.
Featuring 180 films from 38 countries with more than 65 UK premieres, programme highlights included Elle, I Am Not Your Negro, Free Fire and a screening of John Carpenter's The Thing on an indoor ski slope.
[25][26] Empire Magazine presented a special screening of The Lost Boys as a secret location.
The festival opened with Adura Onashile’s Glasgow-shot feature debut Girl, and closed with Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society.
[6] The line-up featured 11 world and international premieres, including İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy, and the opening film was Rose Glass's Love Lies Bleeding.