Scotland’s oldest art house cinema is set to go undergo a multi-million pound makeover over the next few years to help secure its long-term future.
Fundraising to revamp the Glasgow Film Theatre is expected to get underway before the end of the year.
Outgoing GFT Allison Gardner said a “significant investment” would be needed to bring the building, which dates back to 1939, up to scratch.
Read More:
The planned work includes refurbishing the two main cinema screens, installing new heating, lighting and ventilation systems, and to help the GFT become a “net zero” building.
It is thought at least £5 million will be required to bring the GFT – which has played host to the Glasgow Film Festival for the last 20 years – up to scratch.
The Glasgow Film Theatre dates back to 1939 when it opened as the Cosmo cinema.(Image: Supplied)
The plans for an overhaul of the GFT, which attracts around 200,000 cimemagoers every year, have been revealed by Ms Gardner as she bowed out from the GFT after working there for more than 30 years.
She said the need to raise money for the revamp would be the next big challenge to face the Rose Street cinema.
James McAvoy was at the Glasgow Film Theatre earlier this year for an in-conversation event.(Image: PA)
It was the UK’s first purpose-built art house cinema when it opened its door as the Cosmo in 1939.
An advert in the then Glasgow Herald promised audiences “continental fiction films, revivals of British and American fiction films, documentary films, cartoons and news reels”.
It added: “There is only one qualification – they must be of first rate quality”.
The first major overhaul of the building was in the 1970s when the building was sold by the Singleton family to the Scottish Film Council and renamed as the Glasgow Film Theatre.
A second screen was created in a former conference room in the basement in 1986, while the café-bar was relocated in 2013 to make way for a third screen.
Filmmakers and screen stars who have attended screenings at the GFT have included Richard Attenborough, Danny Boyle, Robert Carlyle, Robbie Coltrane, Sean Connery, Willem Dafoe, Bill Forsyth, Stephen Fry, Peter Greenaway, David Hayman, Richard Linklater, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Baz Luhrmann, David Lynch, David Puttnam, Martin Scorsese, Tilda Swinton and Quentin Tarantino.
Seonaid Daly, who has been executive director of Glasgow Film, which runs both the GFT and the film festival, was unveiled as the new chief executive in July and has just started in the role.
Ms Gardner said there had already been extensive planning behind-the-scenes to explore what needs to be done at the GFT, which is at the heart of an official Glasgow “culture and heritage district” on and around Sauchiehall Street. Other key venues include the Royal Concert Hall, the Pavilion and King’s theatres and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Read more:
She told The Herald: “The GFT is a jewel in the crown in the city centre. The GFT cannot be turned into anything else. It’s a custom-built cinema.
“The next challenge will be to raise capital funding to maintain and improve it.
“It needs significant investment. It is really important to invest now in its success.
“You have to remember the GFT was built in 1939. It’s a challenging building.
“Some of the work will involve refurbishing cinema one and two, including putting in new seats.
“It will be about how to weather-proof the building, conserving energy, looking at how there can be cold air in the screens. Air conditioning has never been a thing in cinemas in Scotland, but it is needed more often than not know.
“We’ve done as much as we can in terms of small stuff to reduce the carbon footprint of the building. Bigger changes need a real rethink about how the GFT uses gas and electricity.
“We’ve been thinking about all of these things quite a while ago. We’re quite good at long-term planning. We know what needs to be done.
“It’s probably going to cost in the region of about £5m. Things are still at the planning stage. The first step will be to start fundraising and then there will be a timetable for the work, but the GFT would remain open as it did during previous refurbishment work.”
“Now is the right time to pass things on to a new team who will be able to see the project through. There has been proper succession planning for a successful organisation.”
Read more:
Ms Gardner started working at the GFT as a duty manager in 1993, and worked as head of cinemas and programme director before she was appointed chief executive in 2020.
She was also co-director of the Glasgow Film Festival with Allan Hunter until he stepped down in 2023 and led the event for the last time in February and March of this year.
Ms Gardner was appointed as chief executive in December 2019 and took on the role in April 2020, just as the global film industry was grappling with the impact of Covid lockdowns.
She said: “Luckily for the GFT, we had done the hard years in the 15 years before the pandemic.
“We felt we needed to change the audience demographic. We wanted to attract younger people and more diverse communities. We had done a lot of that work by the time of the pandemic.
“When we reopened, we definite saw a younger demographic come back quicker. We were able to bounce back fairly quicky and had a steady comeback rate.
“More independent films got made in Britain during the Hollywood strikes and they began to come through, whereas it was very threadbare for multiplex cinemas. We were able to capitalise on that.
“The GFT was also quite fleet of foot. We were able to look at the data, make changes, talk to our audiences directly and say ‘let’s do this, let’s do that.’ The crucial thing is that decisions are made within the GFT.
“I think the GFT will go from strength to film in future. People can watch films on so many different platforms, but I think they are really hungry to see them in the cinema now.
“I can feel it in my waters, as my mother used to say, that young people are going to the cinema now as it gives them a break from being bombarded with information.
“I don’t really focus on something when I am watching it at home.
“But when I am in a cinema, my phone is off, I am really focused on the film, I’m fully engaged with in story, I’m really in the room with other people and I’m getting their emotions.
“I think young people really appreciate that as there is so little downtime for them. There are also great films being made.”
