Glasgow Film Theatre Announces May 2026 Programme
Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) – the city’s home of cinema for over 85 years – has revealed its programme for May. Highlights include: ∙A season of big screen classics to celebrate the cinema’s birthday ∙Three special screenings in memory of the legendary Diane Keaton ∙A selection of 1980s cult classics, newly restored in 4K for their 40th anniversaries ∙Four must-see music documentaries from Doc’n Roll Film Festival, including an in-person Q&A with Tanita Tikaram ∙And a visit from actor Greg Sestero for a special screening of cult hit The Room. Seasons and Festivals May marks two anniversaries for GFT, which first opened as the Cosmo 87 years, ago on 18 May 1939, and was founded as Glasgow Film Theatre 52 years ago, on 2 May 1974. This year, GFT’s celebratory birthday programme showcases ‘big screen classics’ — a selection of visual masterpieces that can only be fully appreciated in the cinema. GFT is one of the few Scottish cinemas still equipped to project 35mm and 70mm film, and the birthday line-up will include the new 70mm restoration of John Ford’s iconic Western, The Searchers, as well as Christopher Nolan’a Interstellar on 70mm, and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient on 35mm. Film fans will also have opportunities to see Dr Zhivago, Once Upon a Time in the West, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Fall, Mulholland Drive, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Resurrection — a new otherworldly cinema experience from Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan, which will screen alongside his 2018 masterwork Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Within the birthday programme, a mini season will commemorate the screen icon Diane Keaton, who died in October 2025, with special screenings of The Godfather, Annie Hall, and First Wives Club. The UK-wide Doc’n Roll Film Festival will return to GFT in May, with four unmissable titles celebrating music subcultures. The ‘anti-documentary’ How Tanita Tikaram Became a Liar will screen on Thursday 14 May, followed by a Q&A with Tikaram and director Natacha Horn. On Friday 15 May, Rave Culture: A New Era charts the birth of underground rave culture in 1980s Britain; on Saturday 16 May, Robert Clem’s Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me dives into the culture of the Deep South, spotlighting Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton as a true blues icon; and on Sunday 17 May, Felix, Dare to Dream tells the compelling story of Felix Leu – artist, pioneer of modern tattooing, and founder of the legendary Leu Family, a bohemian clan devoted to freedom and creativity. GFT’s long-running Coen Brothers of the Month season returns in May with a special screening of the black comedy drama, A Serious Man. The May screening in the cinema’s Queer Cinema Sundays programme will be the 1984 documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, with an introduction from season programmer Rosie Beattie. GFT has also announced the return of Glasgow Youth Film Festival (GYFF) from Friday 25 – Sunday 27 September 2026. GYFF is co-programmed by a group of Young Programmers aged 15 to 18, who are mentored through a summer school with the Glasgow Film team. Applications for GYFF Young Programmers are now open at https://youthfilmfest.glasgowfilm.org/get-involved/ Special screenings On Sunday 3 May, GFT will screen Power To The People: John & Yoko Live in NYC — the 2026 multiscreen concert film of two massive live shows by John Lennon and Yoko Ono at Madison Square Garden, New York City on 30 August 1972, newly restored, re-edited and remixed by the Lennons’ seven-times Grammy-Award winning team. For the third year running, the cinema will welcome actor Greg Sestero for a Q&A screening of the cult hit The Room on Saturday 9 May; whilst event cinema fans can enjoy a National Theatre Live screening of The Playboy Of The Western World, starring Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton), Éanna Hardwicke (Saipan) and Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls), on Thursday 28 May. Looking further ahead, June will begin with two special screenings: a new 4K restoration of The Misfits playing to mark the 100th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth; and climate documentary People’s Emergency Briefing, presented by New Future, in partnership with GFT, Atelier Ten, Architecture Fringe and Architects Declare, and followed by a panel discussion with local councillors, newly-elected MSPs, and representatives from Scotland’s built environment sector. New releases and re-releases Three 1980s cult classics will return to GFT’s screens in crisp new 4K restorations. Highlander, the action fantasy film that inspired four sequels and a television series; blockbuster hit Top Gun; and the late Rob Reiner’s coming-of-age classic Stand By Me all celebrate their 40th anniversaries in May. Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel star in a highly-anticipated new comedy drama about art, legacy and money. […]
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