James McAvoy to receive outstanding contribution award at Glasgow Film Festival

Scottish acting star James McAvoy is set to receive a prestigious award at a film festival in his home town of Glasgow next month.

In a career spanning film, TV and stage productions, McAvoy’s best-known roles include Dr Nicolas Garrigan in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, and as Professor Charles Xavier in the blockbuster X-Men franchise.

Other major roles include Robbie Hunter in the 2007 adaptation of Atonement, Lord Asriel in the His Dark Materials TV series, and the role of Dennis in the 2016 thriller Split, directed by M Night Shyamalan.

The 45-year-old actor is set to to receive the Cinema City Honorary Award – established in 2004 to recognise filmmakers who have made an outstanding contribution to cinema – during this year’s Glasgow Film Festival (GFF).

The festival also features a sold-out In Conversation event with McAvoy, where he will be looking back at a 20-year career that has taken him from Glasgow to the heights of Hollywood stardom.

The event will be followed by a special screening of his breakthrough role in The Last King of Scotland, introduced by McAvoy himself.

Allison Gardner, chief executive of Glasgow Film, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Glasgow’s James McAvoy to receive the cinema city honorary award at his hometown film festival.

“Ever since James broke out on the big screen with his role as Dr Nicolas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland, he has carved out a Hollywood career spanning 20 years.

“From blockbuster franchises like X-Men to his recent spine-tingling turn in Speak No Evil, James is one of contemporary cinema’s most versatile leading men and we can’t wait to welcome him to Glasgow Film Festival to celebrate his career.”

Last year, the inaugural cinema city honorary award went to The Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen.

The award takes its name from a nickname given to Glasgow in the 1930, when the city was reputedly home to more cinemas per person than anywhere else in the UK.

Other big-name stars due to attend the 2025 GFF include Ed Harris and Jessica Lange, who will be at the UK premiere of their new film, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and 1917 actor George MacKay, who returns to the festival with the Scottish premiere of the post-apocalyptic musical, The End.

The GFF will run at Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) and venues across the city from February 26 to March 9, with a programme featuring 13 World and European premieres, 66 UK premieres and 12 Scottish premieres from 38 countries.

The GFF is one of the leading film festivals in the UK and is run by Glasgow Film, a charity which also runs GFT.

It is supported by Screen Scotland, the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, Glasgow Life and EventScotland.

Tickets for the festival on sale at glasgowfilm.org and at the GFT Box Office.