James McAvoy grateful to Glasgow for giving film 'a real Scottish crowd'

Actor James McAvoy has been paying tribute to his home city as he picked up an award at the Glasgow Film Festival.

The Cinema City award recognises outstanding contribution to film.

The star of Filth, X-Men First Class and Speak No Evil, is making his debut as a director with a film about two Scottish musicians who reinvented themselves as Californian rappers.

Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd pretended to be American and lived a lie to promote themselves in the music industry as Silibil N' Brains for three years.

Speaking to BBC Scotland's arts correspondent Pauline McLean ahead of receiving his award, McAvoy said a scene for California Schemin', filmed at the Barrowlands with a crowd full of Glaswegians, proved to him the amazing energy of the city.