The festival, which closed last night with the UK premiere of Le Havre, sold out over 30 screenings.

The eighth edition of Glasgow Film Festival closed last night with the UK premiere of Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, with the 2012 edition recording a yearly rise in admissions to almost 35,000.

Over 40 filmmakers, producers and actors visited the festival, which ran Feb 16-26, taking part in 35 Q&A sessions over the programme of 239 screenings and events. Visitors included Lynn Shelton who attended the festival’s opening gala of Your Sister’s Sister and Bertrand Tavernier who introduced a special screening of the Glasgow-set Death Watch.

Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy, The Decoy Bride and The Raid, which received a standing ovation closing this year’s FrightFest strand on Saturday (25) night, were among over 30 sold-out screenings at this year’s edition.

Other highlights included a Gene Kelly flashmob greeting travellers at Glasgow Airport with a Singin’ In The Rain dance routine to mark the festival’s tribute to Gene Kelly. The YouTube post of the flashmob saw over 10,000 hits over the festival period.

Co-director of the festival, Allan Hunter, said: “Allison and I have been thrilled by the response to the 2012 Glasgow Film Festival. Cinemas have been buzzing, the number of sell-out screenings has risen and both audiences and critics have really embraced all the diverse elements of the festival programme.

“It has been a fantastic year and we can’t wait to start working on the 2013 festival.”

Preceding the festival, the Glasgow Short Film Festival ran Feb 9-12 with the inaugural Scottish Short Film Award going to Will Anderson’s The Making Of Longbird.

Glasgow Youth Film Festival, which ran Feb 5-15, recorded over 9,000 admissions – contributing to the festival’s overall admissions count – and opened with a special gala screening of The Muppets.

The 2013 edition of GFF will run Feb 14-24.

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