Glasgow Film Theatre
Spotting a gap in the market, and hence avoiding the major film distributors`routine of giving preference to UK-wide circuits, up stepped George Singleton,[3] whose cinemas included elegant art deco buildings designed for him by James McKissack.
Their design for the Cosmo's geometric, windowless façade was influenced by the work of Willem Marinus Dudok, a leading Dutch modernist architect.
The international theme was continued outside in the choice of cladding materials – a mix of Ayrshire brick finished with faience cornices, set on a base of black Swedish granite – and inside, where a globe was installed over the stalls entrance.
Mr Cosmo figured on posters and adverts for the cinema, and popped up on-screen ahead of the main feature in a pose – comic or tragic – appropriate to each release.
Quality European cinema was central to the Cosmo's programming from the start, with pre-reading of film catalogues being undertaken by Charles Oakley to assist the selections by George Singleton.
[6] Big hits at the cinema included Hamlet (which ran for eleven weeks in 1948), Les Enfants du Paradis (1945), Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) and Disney's Fantasia (1941), a long-running Cosmo Christmas favourite.
[8] Over the years GFT has played host to guests including Richard Attenborough, Elmer Bernstein, John Byrne (playwright), Danny Boyle, Simon Callow, Robert Carlyle, Robbie Coltrane, Sean Connery, Willem Dafoe, Carl Davis, Bill Forsyth, Stephen Fry, Peter Greenaway, David Hayman, Jane Horrocks, Eddie Izzard, Richard Linklater, Felicity Kendal, Anthony LaPaglia, Paul Laverty, Jonny Lee Miller, Janet Leigh, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Baz Luhrmann, David Lynch, Ewan McGregor, Hayley Mills, Peter Mullan, David Niven, David Puttnam, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Christopher Reeve, Nicolas Roeg, Mickey Rooney, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Tilda Swinton, Quentin Tarantino, Giuseppe Tornatore and Max von Sydow.
GFT screens a wide variety of international cinema, classic films and documentaries alongside locally made work and material aimed at a range of community groups.
Held annually each February, the festival presents a programme of feature films, shorts, special events and live and interactive happenings from the GFT and other cinemas, galleries and unusual venues across the city.
