GLASGOW’S Film Festival will close with the premiere of major new film starring David Tennant about controversial Scottish psychiatrist RD Laing.

Mad to be Normal will be the closing gala film of the festival and Tennant will attend its first showing on February 26.

The European Premiere of a coming-of-age story, Handsome Devil, will also be the Opening Gala for the 13th annual festival (GFF) on February 15.

Handsome Devil, directed by John Butler stars Andrew Scott, the Irish actor known for playing Moriarty in the BBC series Sherlock, alongside Fionn O’Shea and Nicholas Galitzine.

O’Shea portrays 16-year-old Ned, a “bright, artistic lad who faces his own hell on earth when he is sent to an all-boys Irish boarding school where the manly pursuit of rugby is virtually a religion”.

Scott plays an inspirational teacher, Dan Sherry.

Mad To Be Normal chronicles the life of RD Laing, who established the controversial Kingsley Hall facility in east London.

It also stars Elisabeth Moss, Michael Gambon and Gabriel Byrne and is directed by Robert Mullan.

GFF said Mad To Be Normal “offers a powerful account of Laing’s Kingsley Hall experiment with a stunning performance from David Tennant that really gets under the skin of an utterly compelling figure.

“Tennant’s nuanced, complex work conveys a sense of Laing’s immense personal charm and the combination of intelligence and arrogance that made him revered and reviled.”

Laing was born, raised and trained in Glasgow, attending Glasgow University and working at hospitals in the city before moving to London in the 1950s.

There he became a maverick figure who challenged many of the conventions of psychotherapy, most notably the use of drugs and breaking down barriers between doctors and their patients.

Allison Gardner, co-director of the GFF, said: “I am so excited to share the news about our great Opening and Closing Galas. Handsome Devil is a real crowd-pleaser with a joyous spirit that makes it a perfect film to launch the festival.

“David Tennant gives an absolutely stunning performance as RD Laing in Mad To Be Normal and it seems only fitting that Glasgow should have the honour of hosting the premiere of a film about one of the city’s most complex, charismatic figures.”

Tickets for the Opening and Closing Galas go on sale at 10am on Monday 9 January from: glasgowfilm.org/festival

The full programme for Glasgow Film Festival will be announced on Wednesday, the 18 January 18.