IT'S girl power at this year's Glasgow Film Festival as movies directed by women will open and close the event for the first time in its history.

Former Bond Girl Eva Green leads the cast in Proxima, directed by Alice Winocour, which will open the 26th annual festival with its UK premiere on February 26.

While Coky Giedroyc directs the big-screen version of Caitlin Moran's How to Build a Girl which closes the festival on March 8.

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Glasgow Times:

Proxima, which also stars Matt Dillon, sees Eva Green take on the role of astronaut Sarah Loreau in the movie which is a heartfelt portrait of a woman torn between professional ambition and the demands of motherhood.

Alice Winocour, director and writer of Proxima, said: "I am incredibly excited that Proxima will have its UK premiere at this year's Glasgow Film Festival. It is a privilege to be the opening film for the festival especially as it will be the first time in the festival's history that the opening and closing films are directed by women."

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Glasgow Times:

How to Build a Girl is about a 16-year-old extrovert from the outskirts of Wolverhampton with raging hormones, an unstoppable imagination and gigantic dreams.

It stars Beanie Feldstein, Alfie Allen, Emma Thompson, and Chris O'Dowd and features cameos from Lily Allen, Michael Sheen, and Sue Perkins.

Caitlin Moran, writer of How to Build a Girl, said: "It is the greatest thrill of my life to finally unleash Beanie Feldstein as the noble, swashbuckling Sex Pirate Johanna Morrigan at the Glasgow Film Festival - and to have the honour of closing this joyous cinematic explosion means the whole audience can come straight to the nearest pub with me, and celebrate the hotness of Alfie Allen as John Kite. Unless Glasgow’s gone off that kind of thing since last time I was there. Which I doubt."

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Allison Gardner, Co-Director Glasgow Film Festival, said: “This year we close the festival on International Women’s Day and we are delighted to host the UK Premiere of How To Build A Girl, based on Caitlin Moran’s cherished, semi-autobiographical bestseller."