Glasgow Film Festival aims to be the most popular and well-respected film and moving image media event in the UK, linking local and global audiences to Scottish and international talent, cultures and ideas. Our approach is to put the filmmaker and the audience at the heart of our programme and establish new opportunities for both. We view the GFT as the hub of the festival whilst aiming to reach out across the city to support curatorial talent in both individuals and other organisations. The festival is a multi-venue, multi-partnership event which takes inspiration from and enhances the global image of Glasgow as an exciting place to live or to visit. It aims to exhibit the best of world cinema and moving image content; expand and diversify the audience for non-mainstream films; showcase and nurture new emerging talent; promote collaboration between appropriate media, platforms and sectors and ultimately promote the city as a national and international centre for the arts. The festival aims to build year round audiences for the moving image medium. The Glasgow Film Festival has grown rapidly since its auspicious beginnings in 2005. Glasgow is a centre for film production, the base for the nation’s broadcasters, a home for Scottish Screen and BAFTA Scotland and a city with some of the most enthusiastic and adventurous cinemagoers in the land. It had long deserved a truly world-class film festival. The festival was originally developed with a view to creating a ‘CinemaZone’ around Sauchiehall Street area. This was a joint venture between Glasgow’s UGC and CCA and led by the GFT. The festival became a GFT-managed event in 2007 when the UGC became Cineworld and the CCA redefined their objectives. Since 2005 the festival has grown its attendance figures year on year and steadily increased its presence, profile and reputation both nationally and internationally. Each year new venues and new strands have been added to the ever-diversifying programme. For example, The Glasgow Schools Film Festival (from 2009 the Glasgow Youth Film Festival) now in its third year, The Glasgow Shorts Film Festival held in the CCA and curated by The Magic Lantern in its second year and new for 2009 the inaugural Glasgow Music and Film Festival hosted and programmed by The Arches. Last year only £55,000 of our Cash Budget of £187,000 was from funders and sponsors. We need support to help us grow.