THERE is no denying the incredible regeneration of much of Glasgow over the past 25 years but for some small pockets of the urban sprawl time has either stood still, or the old problems have come back round again.

 

Following the outstanding success of last summer's Commonwealth Games, and to tie in with the 30th anniversary of the release of documentary Clyde Film, Glasgow Short Film Festival is shining a spotlight on its home city this year.

The two-part archive strand Let Glasgow Flourish will feature a series of shorts looking at the highs and lows of attempts to breathe new life into the city over the years.

"I came across Clyde Film a couple of years ago, it is held in the Scottish Screen Archive," explains Matt Lloyd, director of Glasgow Short Film Festival.

"It was never commercially released but it was made in 1985 by a group of young people in Cranhill. They had made a previous film the year before, a Super 8 film, which was the camcorder of the day, called Glasgow 1984.

"On the strength of that film the British Film Production Fund gave them £10,000 to make another.

"They were inspired by the Dawn Cine Group of the 1950s, the Scottish left-leaning film-making group, who had documented a lot of protests, marches and social injustices.

"They set out to make a film on a collective basis, the script and all the production decisions were made collectively. The script was based on poetry by a local writer, but what is remarkable about the film, which is essentially an amateur community- based piece of film-making, is it is half an hour long and really poetic.

"There is no narration, no conventional approach to film-making. It's all just music, song and images. It tells this particular group of people's history of the city of Glasgow and looks at the various social issues of the time.

"It has an amazingly uplifting final third which is scored with these great protest songs and shows collective action - in action."

It made sense to show Clyde Film in the aftermath of the Commonwealth Games, says Matt. The sporting event heralded a wonderful year for the city but behind the scenes there are still areas of Glasgow that have been neglected or where regeneration has failed.

"We wanted to place Clyde Film in that context. So we have one programme which is going back to the 1940s, showing a lot of the state-sponsored documentaries of the time, talking about the Bruce Plan and the futuristic new ideas for Glasgow - to flatten the city," says Matt.

"That programme ends with a rare 1967 BBC film that called This is My Story, a narrated poem by Tom Wright that is more of a celebration of Glasgow but ends on a slightly sour note because it make reference to all the tower blocks that have started springing up."

The second part of Let Glasgow Flourish shows a more modern response to failed regeneration with a new film by Chris Lesley, a photographer and film-maker who was an artist in residence at Red Road flats, looking at the Whitevale and Bluevale twin towers in Dennistoun in the East End, currently being demolished.

Alternatively, another short is an homage to Glasgow's high rises. The point is the subject matter is as fresh and relevant all these years on. The short film festival shines a light on the subject and puts it up for discussion by a whole new generation.

"I'm no expert but it seems to me that Glasgow continues to have chronic housing problems," says Matt. "All these things which were heralded as the solution are all being pulled down again.

"Look at the whole example of the Red Road flats and how that was going to be the crowning moment of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

"I'm not trying to have a go at anyone but I just think it is fascinating but also a quite tragic element of Glasgow's social fabric."

The core audience of short film festival goers are usually film-makers themselves but Matt hopes anyone with an interest in the city they live in will appreciate some of the beautiful archive footage to be screened.

Other highlights of the festival, which runs from March 11 to 15 with the majority of films screening at the CCA and GFT, include 12th Player, a programme of football shorts.

With a blend of fiction and documentary, the films turn the camera on the spectators and how they respond to matches.

"It's a really fun programme. One film from a few years ago is almost taking the mickey out of the Douglas Gordon film of Zidane. It's the same thing but fixed on one female fan for 15 minutes and goes through the whole gamut of emotions," says Matt.

Chewin' the Fat and Still Game star Greg Hemphill will host a programme of comedy shorts and there are opportunities to get out of the traditional cinema.

A Wall is a Screen walking tour will visit hidden, unexpected spots in the city centre and set up impromptu screenings.

Set up by a German collective, with access to a catalogue of 10,000 films it will offer a fresh look at buildings and locations.

While the opening night turns movie-going on its head with a Vertical Cinema at the Briggait.

A specially adapted 35mm projector is turn on its side to show films on a 10-metre high cinemascope screen also turned on its side.

"The sound is a large part of it as well, it is a full on, immersive experience. It's a provocation to think about cinema in a different way, just by putting it on its side," says Matt.

"There's such a trend these days for pop-up cinema and this event is the ultimate anti pop-up cinema in that it has to be a very specific type of venue.

"Essentially the films dictate the space. Normally in pop-up screenings the film is an afterthought, it's about the event. Here, this is how the film is and you have to fit in with that."

Glasgow Short Film Festival, March 11-15. Visit www.glasgowfilm.org/gsff