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.
The Christophers, directed by Steven Soderbergh, opens at GFT on 15 May.
Other new releases and re-releases arriving in May include The Stranger, Amelie, Exit 8, Wild Foxes, I’ve Seen
All I Need to See, Romeria, Being Ola, Our Land, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Wake in Fright, Sailm nan Daoine
(Psalms of the People), Queer as Punk, Orphan, Kokuho, Hen, The Balloonists, Eagles of the Republic, and
Power Ballad.
Everybody to Kenmure Street — the documentary about a spontaneous act of civil resistance in Glasgow’s
Pollokshields, which has proven hugely popular with GFT audiences— will continue through May. Film fans will
also have a second chance to see some of GFT’s most popular films of the past year, with No Other Choice,
Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent and One Battle After Another all returning in May.
Accessible Screenings
In addition to an extensive programme of captioned and audio described screenings, GFT has announced the
May editions of its long-running accessible film events.
Access Film Club, delivered in partnership with the National Autistic Society Scotland, includes a film screening
and post-film chat in a friendly and welcoming environment. For the May event, GFT will present a dubbed
screening of the Oscar-nominated animation Arco. Tickets are priced £7.40.
Visible Cinema, GFT’s Deaf-friendly film event, returns in May with a screening of Celine Song’s Past Lives,
accompanied by Solar Shorts from Solar Bear. There will be full access for Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing
cinema-goers at this screening. The film will have descriptive subtitles, and the introduction and discussion will
have Live Captioning and BSL interpretation. Tickets are priced £7.40.
Movie Memories, GFT’s dementia-friendly film event, will present a special screening of the classic Western,
3:10 to Yuma. Designed to enable people living with dementia to socialise in a safe and welcoming
environment, tickets for Movie Memories cost £4 and include free refreshments and live music.
Tickets for GFT’s May programme are on sale now from glasgowfilm.org and the GFT Box Office.
If May’s programme includes lots of films on your watch list, GFT’s memberships are one of the best ways to
save for regular attendees. CineCard (£51 per year) provides four free tickets, a discount of £1.50 on tickets for
standard screenings, and additional perks including priority booking for Glasgow Film Festival and discounts at
local restaurants. CineCard+ membership (£100 per year) provides all of the same benefits as the CineCard
membership with an additional four free tickets, 2-for-1 tickets for select screenings each month, exclusive
invites to twice-yearly surprise screenings, and a 10% discount at the GFT café/bar.
GFT is operated by Glasgow Film, an educational charity which also runs the award-winning Glasgow Film
Festival and Glasgow Youth Film Festival, and is the lead organisation for Film Hub Scotland.
GFT is the city’s original independent arthouse cinema and the home of film in Glasgow.
Glasgow Film is funded by Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland.
