THE red carpet was rolled out in Glasgow and Greenock last night for Scotland's most talked about film of the year.

A string of celebrities arrived at the UGC in central Glasgow for the first showing of Sweet Sixteen.

Among the famous faces was that of Martin Compston, the 18-year-old Greenock footballer, whose acting career has been launched to great acclaim by the movie.

At Greenock, there was a more local flavour as extras from the Ken Loach film and local VIPs gathered for the simultaneous gala premiere. Loach signed photographs outside Greenock's Waterfront cinema before leaving to carry out official duties at the UCG cinema in Renfrew Street.

As he was leaving, he told The Herald he would rather stay and see the film among Greenock people and find out how they enjoyed it.

Mr Loach said: ''It was extraordinary to launch the film here. We were determined to do it. I would really like to have seen the thing with the audience here. I will come back, although not tonight, to talk to people about it.''

But the director, whose best known films include Kes and Carla's Song, admitted later in Glasgow that the film would be shown with subtitles at a later showing in London.

He said: ''There is talk that, to appreciate the rhythms of the west coast accent and the special humour, the first reel will be subtitled at no extra cost to the English.''

A huge cheer went up as a limousine bringing key people behind Sweet Sixteen arrived from the Glasgow premiere to introduce the Greenock screening. Around 100 people had lined the entrance hoping for a glance of Loach, Paul Laverty, the screen writer, and especially Compston. William Ruane and Annmarie Fulton, cast members, also appeared, along with Rebecca O'Brien, the producer.

For the Greenock audience, it was an unusual event as they were not only among the first in the UK to watch the new release but they were also looking out for familiar places and faces in the movie.

This applied most of all to Compston. The last time he visited the same venue it had been to see My Name is Joe, by Loach, little knowing he would one day be signing autographs at the entrance after starring in a picture by the same director.

He was besieged by fans as he left the cinema after watching Sweet Sixteen with his mates and local community figures. Compston said: ''I was definitely more nervous about seeing the film here with people I know. ''

However Compston, who is to be the focus of the documentary later this month, was not the only local expecting to see their face on the silver screen last night.

Bernadette Harper, 34, a student at Greenock's Second Chance Learning Project, was used as an extra .

Although she did not spot herself during the film, she, like many others, found the storyline close to home.

Steven McLennan, a bus driver from Greenock, said: ''It was very good the film. It was true to life, everyone knows a story like that. That is the reality, that is what happened.''

Lisa Dow who runs the Second Chance Learning Project was also moved by the film. She said: ''I was welling up at the end. It was hard hitting, I was really quite choked.''

Sweet Sixteen won Laverty, the Glasgow screen writer, the Cannes jury prize for best screenplay. Compston also received a best actor nomination at the festival.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival wanted to premiere the movie in August, but was turned down.

Sweet Sixteen is about a Greenock teenager's attempts to create a normal family life when his mother, who has served a sentence for a drugs conviction, is released from prison in time for his sixteenth birthday. The film sparked criticism from the Greenock community who feel its focus on unemployment and drugs portrays the town in a negative light.