THIS year’s Southside Film Festival turns the spotlight on Glaswegians on the big screen.

Among the highlights of the event, from October 8-11, is The Gorbals Story screening at the A-listed St Francis Centre in Cumberland Street. The adaptation of the successful 1946 play written by Robert McLeish, it is a fitting portrait of a working class Glasgow community.

While David Lean's 1950s film Madeleine, starring his wife Ann Todd, tells the real-life story of Madeleine Smith, the 19th century Glasgow socialite accused in a sensational murder trial in 1867 of killing her French lover.

Watch the film in the grand surroundings of Pollok House and eat a rustic French meal in the restaurant in the servants' quarters before the curtain goes up.

"Southside Film Festival started in 2011 in response to the lack of a local cinema in the area, which we still don't have. This year the theme is cinema heritage and the local film archive," says founder Karen O'Hare.

Another must-see is a rare chance to watch Bill Forsyth's directorial debut That Sinking Feeling at Govanhill Baths, introduced by the film's producer Paddy Higson and attended by cast members Douglas Sannachan, John Hughes, Robert Buchanan, Gerry Clark and Margaret Hughes.

The 1980s comedy follows unemployed Ronnie, played by Robert Buchanan, and his pals as they hang around the rainy parks and dingy cafes of Glasgow until he hatches a plan to make them all rich by stealing 90 stainless steel sinks.

Govanhill Baths is also the venue for a Making in the Movies afternoon, a free drop-in event in partnership with Rags to Riches and Sew La Tea Dough focusing on fashion, craft making and style, past and present.

Alongside the workshops, there will be the chance to see craft-themed shorts from Scottish Screen Archive and a craft market.

Julia Bohlmann of the University of Glasgow will host an informal talk at the Glad Institute – Making Films Work: the Scottish Co-op and Early Cinema, exploring how the Co-operative movement took cinema out of high street picture houses and commissioned its own educational municipals films in the 1920s.

Visit www.southsidefilm.co.uk for full listings and to book tickets.