THE resurrection of a classic Glasgow-shot movie, along with new films starring David Tennant, Emily Blunt and Gene Kelly, as well as writer Irvine Welsh's new movie, are all part of this year's Glasgow Film Festival (GFF).

Death Watch, or La Mort en Direct, was shot in Glasgow in 1980, starring Harvey Keitel, Romy Schneider and Harry Dean Stanton, but has long been unavailable in the UK.

However, the Glasgow festival, growing in popularity and acclaim and this year running from February 16 until 26, is to show a digital restoration of the movie, which will be re-released later this year.

The festival will open with the UK premiere of Your Sister's Sister, directed by Lynn Shelton. It stars Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mark Duplass in a "painfully funny and utterly captivating tale of bad timing, broken hearts and the healing power of love", according to the festival.

The festival's closing gala is Le Havre, made by Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki and which won the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc in France and a number of other international awards.

The 2012 festival features 239 films in total, including a record number of UK and European premieres.

Films are being shown at 16 venues across the city. They include Welsh's Ecstasy, the romantic comedy The Decoy Bride co-starring Tennant and Kelly Macdonald, the acclaimed American independent drama In the Family, the period drama Bel Ami starring Robert Pattinson and Cloudburst with Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker.

Allison Gardner, co-director of the festival, said: "I think the superb quality and international credentials of the opening and closing galas reflect the very special programme of films and events that we have put together for the 2012 festival."

Allan Hunter, co-director of the festival, added: "This year's programme is a rich and diverse selection of prize-winners and premieres from around the globe and around the corner."

Alison Rowat's pick of this year's festival

TAKING a cue from Gene Kelly, the subject of its retrospective, this year's Glasgow Film Festival, February 16-26, is not just aiming to be singing and dancing in the rain, sleet and gales of February.

Scotland's warmest film festival is positively hoofing out galas, special events and other must-sees. As ever, tickets sell like 99s on that one day in July we fondly call a Scottish summer, so don't delay – the box office opens today. Here's my pick of the fest.

Get things started

The Glasgow Youth Film Festival opens with a very special premiere on February 5 – the new Muppets movie. Emily Blunt stars in an American indie comedy drama about friends, lovers and siblings in Your Sister's Sister, the official festival's opening gala on February 16 and 17. On February 26, the curtain comes down with Le Havre, the latest well-honed heartbreaker from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki.

Gallus galas

Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy head to India in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, February 17; Antonio Banderas leads a cast bringing Hans Ruesch's Arabian epic to the screen in Black Gold, February 17, 18; Butch Cassidy lives again in Blackthorn, February 20, 21; In Darkness, February 19, 20, set in WW2 Poland, is that country's Oscar submission; fans of Swedish noir master Jo Nesbo won't want to miss Headhunters, February 18, 19; while the Dardennes brothers deliver the utterly charming The Kid With a Bike, February 17, 18; Emily Blunt makes a welcome reappearance, this time with Ewan McGregor, in the romantic comedy drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, February 26; take a walk on the extremely wild side with Sean Penn as a goth rocker in This Must Be the Place, February 20, 21; and return to traditional Hollywood-style storytelling with Matt Damon and Scarlet Johansson, right, in the family drama We Bought a Zoo, February 18, 19.

Gotta dance

Part ballet dancer, part gymnast, all dancer, see Gene Kelly in a selection of nine films, including Singin' in the Rain (February 18), An American in Paris (February 19), and, just for a laugh, Brigadoon (February 24).

What's up docs

Become informed and be entertained by a documentary strand that includes Autumn Gold, about athletes aged 80-100, February 19; sleuthing with a difference in The Bengali Detective, February 25; civil liberties in a paranoid age in Better This World, February 22, 23; rediscover two entertainment greats in Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, February 17, 21 and Harry Belafonte in Sing Your Song, February 17, 19; watch Werner Herzog trace the aftermath of murder in Into the Abyss, February 23, 24; and take an unflinching look at Putin's Russia in Khodorkovsky, February 20, 21.

Great Scots

See a young Billy Connolly on his 1975 Irish tour in Big Banana Feet, February 26; David Tennant trades the Tardis for romance in The Decoy Bride, February 21, 22; Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy goes from page to screen, February 18, 19; and see The Maggie at The Tall Ship on February 21.

And not forgetting ...

The modern German cinema strand, including Three, directed by Tom Tykwer (Cloud Atlas), February 25; the wicked fun to be had in the Frightfest weekend, February 24, 25; the Bafta interview with a big name guest, February 21; the Kapow@GFF season, with superheroes aplenty and a special screening of Alex Proyas's classic, The Crow, February 23; the fashion meets film segment includes Vivienne Westwood: Do It Yourself, February 24; Robert Pattinson stars in Bel Ami, February 22, 23; The Blue Angel, February 17, part of the Weimarvellous extravaganza; the Surprise Film, February 22, and Surprise Family Film, February 18; Glee meets David Bowie in the British drama Hunky Dory, February 18; Australian box office smash, Red Dog, February 17, 18; another helter-skelter hip French thriller in Sleepless Night, February 17, 18; Michael Winterbottom takes on Hardy in Trishna, February 17, 18; and Dexter Fletcher of The Press Gang plays a blinder as a director in Wild Bill, February 20, 21.

Tickets

Online: www.glasgowfilm.org/festival. In person: Central GFF Box Office, GFT, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB. Phone: 0141 332 6535. Tickets also available at Cineworld, Renfrew Street, from Friday January 20th.