GLASGOW'S annual film festival has cemented its position as one of the most popular events of its kind in the UK, with attendances at a record high.

The head-count at films and other events totalled 35,000 in the 10 days before the festival closed last night with the UK premiere of the award-winning movie Le Havre, by the Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki.

The festival encompassed 239 screenings and events in 18 venues across the city. Last year saw just over 34,000 attendances at films and other events, a 12% rise on 2010.

Last night the festival's directors Allan Hunter and Allison Gardner said they were thrilled by the response to the festival.

Mr Hunter said: "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.

"We are particularly pleased by the response to some of the films receiving their British premieres at the festival, especially Your Sister's Sister, Silver Tongues and In the Family, and we want to thank the many warm and gracious guests from around the world who have made the journey to Glasgow to introduce their films."

Guests at the eighth festival included Lynn Shelton, Bertrand Tavernier, Andreas Dresen, Annie Ross and Brian Cox.

Mr Hunter added: "It has been a fantastic year and we can't wait to start working on the 2013 festival."

Last year, The Herald reported that the festival was now attracting more film-goers than the more established festival in the east, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

Edinburgh's festival in 2010 attracted 5525 "unique visitors" – individual film-goers, who may have been to several screenings – according to the Edinburgh Festivals Impact Study, published by BOP Consulting.

This compares to the 9474 unique visitors recorded by consultants EKOS for last year's Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) in February.

Total attendance figures in total were higher in Edinburgh, with nearly 45,000 in 2010. However, the figure for the unpopular 2011 EIFF may have been lower.

This year's Edinburgh event will be led by a new artistic director, Chris Fujiwara, who has said it will host twice as many premieres as last year.

The final attendee figure for the 2012 Glasgow festival will not be known for a few days, but organisers are confident it is close to 35,000, the highest total yet.

The GFF attracted more than 40 film-makers, producers and actors to the city, including Lynn Shelton, who flew from Seattle to be present for the festival's opening film, Your Sister's Sister.

Brian Cox, the Scottish Hollywood star, was in town for an account of both his early career and his current acting life at a BAFTA in Scotland event.

Other Scottish attendees included the veteran director Murray Grigor and the cinematographer David Peat, who presented a screening of the only copy in existence of Big Banana Feet, his film of Billy Connolly's 1975 Irish tour.

Richard Jobson talked about making his latest film, The Somnambulists, based on the experiences of soldiers who fought in the war in Iraq. Among more than 30 sold-out screenings were Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy, directed by Rob Heydon; and UK premieres of The Decoy Bride, starring David Tennant; and The Raid, directed by Gareth Evans.

Glasgow was the star of Death Watch, introduced by director Bertrand Tavernier. The futuristic drama starring Harvey Keitel, Romy Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton and Max von Sydow has long been unseen in the UK.

New venues this year included The Arlington Baths, St Andrew's in the Square and The Tall Ship.

The festival's accompanying short film festival, which ran from February 9 to 12, expanded to four days, while 31 films competed for the inaugural Scottish Short Film Award, which was won by Will Anderson for The Making of Longbird.

GFF 2013 will take place from February 14 to 24 next year.