40 Years of GFT

For four decades Glasgow Film Theatre has been at the heart of Glasgow film culture. While other much-loved picture houses like The ABC (now the O2 ABC) and The Salon (currently Hillhead Book Club) swapped double-bills for double Bacardi and cokes back in the 90s when cinema ticket sales were on the slide, the GFT has remained steadfast. In fact, it continues to grow, adding a third screen last year.

For Glaswegians with film taste that extends beyond that of a 13-year-old boy’s, the GFT's screens provide a window to cinema from cultures beyond North America and Europe. It's also the HQ for the ever-popular and inventive Glasgow Film Festival, which celebrated its own ten year milestone in February, and it is now, in the age of digital projection, one of the few cinemas in the country with the capacity to screen films from 35mm and 70mm prints. Basically, if you're a cinephile living in or around the city, it's your second home.

We speak to some of GFT staff and GFT movie-goers to find out what the place has meant to their own cinema educations and ask them their favourite memories of time spent in this Glasgow institution.

Adam Stafford
Musician and filmmaker – first film at GFT, ornithology documentary Winged Migration (Jacques Perrin) circa 2004 (he and his friend liked it so much they went back to watch it two more times!) 

I find it's the perfect place to discover films new and old, populist and esoteric, especially during the Glasgow Film Festival and the specially curated regional screenings they have. Recently I've been making a point of going to see old classics that I've never had the chance to see on the big screen before and at the end of the month I'm going to try and catch as many of the Mark Cousins-curated Cinema of Childhood films as I can.

I've had many memorable film-watching experiences at GFT, including both my own two short films, the last of which was exhibited in the beautiful brand new third screen. But I think the most memorable one, for some strange reason, was a showing of the odd slasher film Slaughter High. It's such a poorly made, limp, paint-by-numbers horror, but there was just something about the tone and nastiness of the film – the cheapness, the crapness, the 80s-ness, the ridiculous music and the quality of the original print – that made the experience feel grubby. I'm all for the fun of crap films, but this, screened as a double with Tobe Hooper's equally crass The Funhouse, got under my skin.

Sean Greenhorn
Glasgow Film Festival Programme Coordinator – first film at GFT, a late night screening of The Thing (John Carpenter) 

I moved to Glasgow to study film – and I do not know how I would have lived without the GFT! From seasons on Agnes Varda to programmes of Hans Richter short films with live improvised music, the programme at GFT has both helped open my eyes and focus my interest in cinema. I also took a keen interest in the act of cinema-going, something that was also supported by the event-cinema nature of Glasgow Film Festival. After years of not really 'getting' Jan Švankmajer, seeing his work brought to life with such vigour and aplomb as part of 85A's installation/event/party at the 2012 festival is still one of my most cherished memories. 

Margaret Lynch
GFT Head Cleaner & Bar Staff – first film at GFT, The Sound of Music (Robert Wise), she ushered for it 

Being in the 60s age bracket, I never went to art cinemas from school. Working in GFT has opened up another world of film experience for me. The best of which was ushering for Nelly and Mr. Arnaud – it was the first French film I saw.

Louise Welsh
Author and card-carrying GFT Cineclub member – she can’t remember her first movie at the GFT, but it was sometime in the mid-80s 

I live not far from the GFT – I can make it in 12 minutes, but I’d prefer not to – so I go quite regularly. I’m one of those people who goes through the programme and highlights what I want to see and then miss a lot of it because of other commitments, but I’ve always been somebody who’ll just run up the road if I realise I’ve some free time – so that’s why you sometimes might see me at a film looking a right old state. But that’s what I like about the pictures. I tend to go with friends, but you can also just go on your own when the whim takes you. 

The GFT is where I first saw Louise Brooks’ silent movies. My first was Pandora's Box, by G. W. Pabst, and it was on a double-bill with Broken Blossoms starring Lillian Gish. I remember that being a real seminal film for me and one that I thought about a lot. I went off and sought out biographies and books about Louise Brooks; I was a student when I saw it and I’m pretty sure it’s affected the way that I dress. Many years later I wrote a book called The Bullet Trick, which is partly inspired by that movie, so I guess that’s a screening that had a big effect on my creative life. So thanks for introducing it to me, GFT.

I also remember seeing Brokeback Mountain there and the man behind me was crying his eyes out really loudly and I was just thinking, God, how important is it sometimes for people to see something on screen? It can be a real conduit for expressing experiences that people have had. The way that people can see themselves on screen in films that, on the surface, are rather different from their lives – what do cowboys in America have to do with living in Glasgow? Film can really touch people, and it's so important to have a place where we can all go and experience those feelings together.

Corinne Orton
Glasgow Film Festival Producer – first film at GFT, Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman) 

I didn't go to film school, I studied languages, so I came to cinema from the perspective of learning about new cultures and places. In the four years I've worked at GFT I've seen so many things I may never have given a chance, such as Haxan – the silent film/live score that was brought to GFT during the BFI Gothic season – some of the Crossing the Line programming and Japanese cinema, even anime. 

One event that springs to mind is recently watching Claudia Lennear, a former Ikette and backing singer for The Stones, sing to a captive audience along with a gospel choir, after the Festival screening of 20 Feet from Stardom. It was so moving and brought a tear to my eye!

Fatemeh Nokhbeh
Member of the 2014 Youth Film Festival programming team – first film at GFT, probably Ice Age (Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha) as a kid 

It has allowed me so much access to international cinema and in general allowed for a chance to step outside the box and try areas of cinema which I was just not used to before. There are often discussions and events around certain films. Especially with all the different themed months and festivals, there is so much to dive into!

Most memorable experience at GFT? It was quite something when someone proposed to his girlfriend before a screening of Beetlejuice during the festival this year! 

Anne-Marie Copestake
Artist and Margaret Tait Award-winner – she can’t remember her first film at GFT, but it feels omnipresent in her life 

Watching and listening to films in a cinema feels very important and necessary at times. It's an obvious thing to say, but it can be easily overlooked, you cannot pause and repeat sections but the gains are hugely apparent. 

When my Margaret Tait film [And Under That] showed at GFT I felt on alert throughout the whole screening night as there was also a live music soundtrack part, by Stevie Jones, Jer Reid, and Muscles of Joy, playing from the film, but it was an incredible experience altogether. One thing that struck me deeply was observing how various shots or images appeared very differently on a large screen. Shots that worked but that even seemed a little dull on smaller screens came to life in an extraordinary way on a large screen.