AND now for something completely invigorating.

It is a mark of the Glasgow Film Festival's growing maturity and self-confidence that the lauded director and Monty Python member Terry Gilliam has been lined up for a special appearance at its 10th birthday celebrations. Gilliam, who is re-forming with the rest of the Monty Python team for a series of shows in London this summer, will be at the red carpet gala for his latest film, The Zero Theorem, which is showing at the festival on February 27.

He will be a most welcome guest. Both as a director and a screenwriter he has never been afraid to eschew crude commercialism in a favour of a bold, imaginative approach to his art - witness such diverse films as Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Fisher King, and, of course, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The festival, which runs from February 20 to March 2, has taken a fittingly eclectic approach when drawing up its programme, with such figures as Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon, fashion legend Agnes B and magician and actor Ricky Jay also in the spotlight. Let the opening credits roll.