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| The GFT in happier times Photo: Max Crawford |
The Glasgow Film Theatre, which was one of the last venues in the world to host a major film festival before lockdown, is to reopen on the last day of August, it was announced today. Cinemas in Scotland are allowed to reopen from 15 July but staff at the venue want to make sure that all due safety measures are in place to minimise risk to the public from Covid-19.
"We have taken the decision that we want to re-open as safely as possible, and the planning and implementation of our safety plan to achieve that takes time and training. We are working with our staff to devise a safe operating plan in accordance with the guidance provided by the UK Cinema Association," said Glasgow Film CEO Allison Gardner. "We will be taking our time to make sure we have everything in place for everyone to have the best possible cinema experience. Going to the cinema will obviously be a little different, but the magic of watching a movie on the big screen is one thing that will never change."
The venue, which is run as a charity and runs a number of educational programmes as well as schemes aimed at making cinema accessible to everyone, will only be able to open at 20% capacity in order to be able to allow for social distancing. It is asking its supporters to donate in order to help it keep going at this difficult time.
Other independent cinemas around the UK are expected to open around the same time, at a point when several eagerly anticipated independent films are due to be released.
