A new festival is to launch in Glasgow, focusing on art documentaries and films, which in its first year will feature movies chosen by Martin Scorsese.

The Art Screen festival, backed by the BBC, will be staged at the Glasgow Film Theatre and the city's Centre for Contemporary Arts from April 10 to April 13.

The programme includes a strand of films chosen by New York film director Martin Scorcese and a question and answer session with the former lead singer of Pulp, Jarvis Cocker, after a showing of The Big Melt, a tribute to steel working, co-directed by Martin Wallace.

The festival will open with Rio, a film in which cult ­British filmmaker Julien Temple profiles Rio de Janeiro as it prepares to host both this year's football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

This film, commissioned by BBC 1, will be followed by a question and answer session with Temple, hosted by Kirsty Wark.

Scorsese has selected a strand called 'Italianamerican' for Art Screen audiences, with films chosen from his own personal archive.

The screenings will be accompanied by a special introduction from Martin Scorsese, filmed for Art Screen.

Also showing is The Bruce Lacey Experience, a film by Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller and filmmaker Nick Abrahams, who also appear in a Q&A.

Art Screen will also host the world premiere of the BBC documentary Facing Up to Mackintosh, about the design and construction of the new Reid Building at the Glasgow School of Art.

The festival has been created by the BBC in collaboration with Glasgow International, British Council, and other partners.

Jonty Claypole, head of arts for BBC Productions, who is based in Glasgow, said he hopes it becomes an annual event - as the UK, unlike other European countries, does not have a festival specially for arts documentaries.

He said: "There are many things about making arts documentaries that need to be discussed, especially the ethical question of how one can depict art on screen and still make a successful film."

The programme also includes a screening of Francis Bacon's studio interview, Fragments of a Portrait, as well as documentaries about artists Louise Bourgeois, Susan Sontag, Andy Warhol, Guy Bourdin and many others.