Irvine Welsh

Making their way across a busy Meadows at the height of the Edinburgh Festival, Renton and Sick Boy upset Spud when they start tormenting a squirrel. Their ever-sensitive pal points out that vermin status is very much in the eye of the beholder, as two passing posh wifies make abundantly clear.

After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton returns to Scotland and reunites with his old friends Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie.

7.2/10
8.1%

SHANKLY: NATURE'S FIRE explores the remarkable life and career of BILL SHANKLY, the legendary Liverpool Football Club manager who came to leave such a legacy in his adopted home city. The film is a nostalgic journey into the origins of the world's favourite game, and how legends are born and transcend generations. Perhaps no one before or since has personified the spirit of the working class culture that gave birth to the modern game. Shankly's passion for football was boundless to the point of obsession. This unique feature length documentary is an exploration of the determination and commitment to community that emerged from Britain's industrial heartlands and manifested itself in this unstoppable game: creating a love affair still etched in the hearts of the generations that followed.

7.4/10

In this new documentary, Susan Kemp explores the life and work of the great British director Antonia Bird, who died in 2013. Bird blazed a trail from the radical hotbed of the Royal Court Theatre in the 70s, via the groundbreaking early days of EastEnders and Casualty in the 80s, all the way to Hollywood in the 90s and back again. She always had something urgent to say, but her career was a long struggle to get her voice heard. Featuring many of her close collaborators, including Robert Carlyle, Irvine Welsh, Kate Hardie and Mark Cousins, this documentary is the first to examine Bird’s legacy, and to place her where she belongs – among the most important British film, TV and theatre directors of her era.

7.2/10

Documentary that outlines the 1990s and the decade the changed the world.

8.5/10

David’s life is on the slide: he’s broke, in the middle of a divorce and ‘can’t get it up’. His girlfriend, Alice, is his rock, but the magazine she writes for is going down and the pressure is on to find a story. While job hunting online, David stumbles across the perfect antidote to his boredom: a ‘Swingers’ site. The resulting inbox of lewd invitations on the home-laptop justifiably upsets Alice, until she realises this could be just the ‘story’ she needs. The idea of uncovering the swinging scene causes quite a stir in Alice’s office and, much to David’s chagrin, she is urged to pursue the story. Their first reluctant foray is an hysterically low-rent initiation, however, an unexpected upturn for David’s manhood is all the extra encouragement they need. As events accelerate beyond their control the once adoring couple become lost and fundamental questions are asked of their relationship.

4.6/10
3.3%

A bigoted junkie cop suffering from bipolar disorder and drug addiction manipulates and hallucinates his way through the festive season in a bid to secure promotion and win back his wife and daughter.

7.1/10
6.6%

A modernization of the classic western in which the Cowboys are a struggling local amateur soccer team, the Indians run a nearby Tandoori restaurant and the bandits are a group of menacing thugs led by a maniac known simply as 'American Bob'.

3.4/10

A cinematic snapshot observing the morning routine of a family in 1940s Britain. Mum makes breakfast. Dad reads the paper. Samantha tries to get ready for work but her sister, Rachael, is hogging the bathroom. Soon we see that Rachael is very young, but not as innocent as her parents might hope.

6.1/10

ECSTASY is a dark romantic comedy, based on the controversial book, “Ecstasy”, by Irvine Welsh. “Ecstasy”, was translated into 20 languages and was a number one bestseller in over 20 countries. Mr. Welsh’s first book, “Trainspotting”, published in 1993, (and voted by Waterstone, Europe’s largest bookstore chain, as one of the Ten Best Books of the Century), sold over 1 million copies in the UK alone, and has its own Cinematic Cinderella success story.

5.1/10
1.5%

A darts player slides into depression after an heart attack spooks him so much he loses his skill.

6.3/10

The film was produced by Nick Higgins from Lansdowne Productions and Noémie Mendelle from the Scottish Documentary Institute and has 10 film-chapter directors for each of the 10 chapters of the film. The film's unifying theme is human rights in Scotland with each chapter illustrating one of the "New Ten Commandments" - 10 articles chosen from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 10 film chapters of The New Ten Commandments 1. The Right to Freedom of Assembly - Dir, David Graham Scott 2. The Right not to be enslaved - Dir, Nick Higgins 3. The Right to a fair trial - Dir, Sana Bilgrami 4. The Right to freedom of expression - Dir, Doug Aubrey 5. The Right to life - Dir, Kenny Glenaan 6. The Right to liberty - Dir, Irvine Welsh & Mark Cousins 7. The Right not to be tortured - Dir, Douglas Gordon 8. The Right to asylum - Dir, Anna Jones 9. The Right to privacy - Dir, Alice Nelson 10. The Right to freedom of thought - Dir, Mark Cousins & Tilda Swinton.

7.4/10

A darkly humorous look at the lives and loves of four modern women, each with their own remarkable, intriguing and often tragic stories.

7.1/10

Stubbornness is the strength of the weak.

6.3/10

A man infected with HIV exacts his revenge on the person responsible. Based on a chapter from Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel Trainspotting.

7.5/10

The compelling tale of how a group of sacked dockers got together with scriptwriter Jimmy McGovern and novelist Irvine Welsh to turn their unique story into a film. In September 1995, five men were sacked for walking off the job when their overtime agreement was ditched. Dockers: Writing The Wrongs tells how the dockers spent a year producing the script based on their own experiences of the dramatic two and a half year dispute.

Jimmy McGovern's depiction of the mid 90s Liverpool dockers strike. Featuring script contributions from Irvine Welsh and the real dockers themselves

7.4/10

THE ACID HOUSE is a surreal triptych adapted by "Trainspotting" author Irvine Welsh from his acclaimed collection of short stories. Combining a vicious sense of humor with hard-talking drama, the film reaches into the hearts and minds of the chemical generation, casting a dark and unholy light into the hidden corners of the human psyche. Directed by Paul McGuigan, the film dramatises three stories from the book: 1- The Granton Star Cause, 2- A Soft Touch & 3- The Acid House.

6.4/10
4.5%

Mark Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.

8.1/10
9%

Detective Inspector Ray Lennox investigates the disappearance of a schoolgirl while battling cocaine addiction and a mental breakdown.