James Marsh's gothic horrortale The King starring Gael GarciaBernal will open the Glasgow Film Festival on February 16. Marsh andscreenwriter Milo Addica will attend and also takepart in a master class on the making of the film.

The 2nd edition of this newScottish event runs until February 26 and includes screenings of Michael Caton Jones' ShootingDogs, the Dardenne brothers PalmeD'Or winner TheChild, Felicity Huffman's Golden Globe-winning performance in Transamerica, Gore Verbinski'sThe Weather Man with Nicolas Cage,Lars Von Trier's Manderlay, The Matador, The Proposition,Tsui Hark's Seven Swords, LajosKoltai's Fateless and a world premiere for Scottish horror film Wild Country starring Martin Compston.

The event closes with Pierrepoint(previously The Last Hangman) starringTimothy Spall as Britain's best known publicexecutioner. Other confirmed guests include director Roger Donaldson and actorChristopher Lawford who will attend a gala screeningof The World's Fastest Indian.

The Festival will alsohonour the centenary of the birth of Oscar-winning British director Sir CarolReed with a retrospective that includes BankHoliday (1938), The Way Ahead(1944), Odd Man Out (1946), The Third Man(1949) and Oliver! (1968). Archive screenings include new prints of JohnHuston's iconic thriller Asphalt Jungle(1950) and Jean-Pierre Melville's resistance drama L'Armee Des Ombres (1969).