Lynne Ramsay is one of those rare Scottish talents whose work makes you genuinely proud. The Maryhill born filmmaker is set to receive the Cinema City Honorary Award from Glasgow Film Festival on March 6, recognising her outstanding contribution to the film industry, and I cannot think of a more deserving recipient.
Ramsay, 56, has built a body of work that is nothing short of extraordinary. From Ratcatcher to We Need to Talk About Kevin, from You Were Never Really Here to her latest work Die My Love, she has consistently produced films that challenge, provoke, and linger in the memory long after the credits roll. She does not make easy cinema. She makes brilliant cinema.
The Cinema City Honorary Award has previously gone to the likes of Viggo Mortensen and James McAvoy, the latter of whom will also feature at this year’s festival with the UK premiere of California Schemin’, his directorial debut. That is good company for anyone, but Ramsay’s influence on the art form stands in its own category entirely.
Paul Gallagher, festival head of programme, put it perfectly: “Lynne Ramsay is one of a very small number of film-makers who have the seemingly miraculous power of taking a unique vision in their minds and creating it onscreen exactly as they imagined. Her films have changed our understanding of what cinema can do and be.”
The award will be presented at a special in conversation event called From Page to Pulse during the festival’s Industry Focus conference. The 22nd edition of GFF runs from February 25 to March 8, hosting 126 films across 12 days from 44 countries and six continents. That includes 16 world, European and international premieres, 68 UK premieres, and 18 Scottish premieres.
Glasgow has always punched above its weight in the creative arts, and Ramsay is the perfect example of what the city produces when talent meets determination. A Maryhill girl who went on to change cinema. That is a story worth celebrating.