25 Apr 2025
Glasgow’s original independent cinema, Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT), has announced a busy screening schedule for May, including the release of Wes Anderson’s latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, a mini season celebrating screen legend Gene Hackman and a season of iconic classics to mark the GFT’s 51st birthday.
Seasons
GFT screened its first film on 2 May 1974, and this year the cinema will mark its birthday with a special season of classics throughout the month of May. Highlights include a new 70mm restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, new 4K restorations of David Lean’s Brief Encounter and Fabián Bielinsky’s Nine Queens, 35mm screenings of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, a 30th Anniversary screening of Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and one of GFT’s incomparable event screenings of The Room, followed by a Q&A and signing with star Greg Sestero. The birthday programme will also include four of David Lynch’s greatest films – Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man, all in 4K, and The Straight Story on 35mm. The screening of The Straight Story on Mon 26 May will be introduced by Sarah Bence from David Lynch Foundation UK, who will talk about the Foundation’s work in Glasgow.
GFT will also celebrate the career of legendary actor Gene Hackman (1930-2025) with screenings of 1971 crime thriller The French Connection, which won him his first Academy Award; his iconic performance as the dysfunctional patriarch in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums; and Clint Eastwood's revisionist Western Unforgiven, which won Hackman the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Q&As and Special Screenings
GFT will host several Q&A and discussion events in May, including a special preview screening of Make it to Munich on Thursday 15 May, fresh from its World Premiere during Glasgow Film Festival. The documentary follows the remarkable quest of Ethan Walker, a promising teenage footballer from Aberdeenshire, who decides to cycle from Hampden to Munich for Scotland’s opening match against Germany in Euro 2024 — just nine months after a near-fatal accident. The preview will include ‘An Audience With’ event, featuring an extended Q&A with director Martyn Robertson joined by the cast of the film and former Rangers, Hearts and Scotland striker Steven Naismith.
On Thursday 8 May, the cinema will screen a recorded Q&A with Jean-Cosme Delaloye, director of the documentary Desire: The Carl Craig Story, and techno legend Carl Craig himself, hosted by Marcus Barnes.
Discussion events include a special screening from the Creatives of Colour Festival on Saturday 10 May, followed by a conversation with filmmakers Razan Madhoon and Iman Tajik, along with scholar of Sudanese cinema Umloda Ibrahim, chaired by Zahra Khosroshahi. On Tuesday 13 May, GFT will screen new documentary BACKLASH: The Murder of George Floyd, followed by a panel discussion addressing the ongoing issues the film raises. GFT will also screen the groundbreaking music documentary Hang the DJ on Wednesday 14 May, as it returns to the big screen for the first time in 27 years. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion hosted by Clyde Built Radio, with all profits from ticket sales donated to the drug and alcohol support charity We Are With You and Endometriosis UK.
Other special events include 50th anniversary screenings of Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Sunday 4 and Wednesday 7 May; Tall Tales — the collaborative visual and audio cinema experience from Mark Pritchard, Thom Yorke and Jonathan Zawada — on Friday 9 May; and Ocean with David Attenborough on Sunday 11 and Wednesday 14 May, which will be followed by the cinema exclusive short A Deeper Dive with David Attenborough, which takes audiences behind the scenes with additional footage and interviews on the making of Ocean.
GFT’s popular Queer Cinema Sundays programme will continue on Sunday 25 May with a special screening of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, including a recorded introduction by Jaye Hudson, curator and producer of TGirlsonFilm.
New Releases and Re-releases
New releases arriving at GFT in May include The Phoenician Scheme, the hotly anticipated espionage thriller from Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums), featuring an all-star ensemble cast including Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend and Hope Davis.
Other must-see new releases and re-releases include Parthenope, The Ugly Stepsister, Two to One, Swimming Home, Motel Destino, The Surfer, The Uninvited, Riefenstahl, Slade in Flame, Good One, A New Kind of Wilderness, Magic Farm, The Marching Band and The Extraordinary Miss Flower.
GFT has also programmed screenings of Werner Herzog’s ambitious Fitzcarraldo, to coincide with the release of the 4K restoration of Burden of Dreams — the documentary about the making of Herzog’s film.
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 40th anniversary screening of Tim Burton’s first feature, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, on Monday 12 May, with tickets available for just £6.90.
Visible Cinema, GFT’s monthly Deaf-friendly film event, will mark Deaf Awareness Month in May with a special screening of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, selected by deaf filmmaker Klarissa Webster, whose short film Strangers will play before the feature. Strangers was created as part of Solar Bear’s Solar Reels Film School with support from Screen Scotland and after the screening, Klarissa will discuss Persona and her experience of Solar Reels, as applications open for the 2025 edition of the film school. Persona will have English-language subtitles and Strangers will have descriptive subtitles, and the introduction and discussion will have Live Captioning and BSL interpretation. Tickets are available for £6.90.
Movie Memories, GFT’s dementia-friendly film event, will screen Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. Designed to enable people living with dementia to socialise in a safe and welcoming environment, tickets for Movie Memories cost £3 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.
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, Screen Scotland and Glasgow City Council.
