Discover Glasgow’s Cinema City at Edward House

Sauchiehall Street: Culture and Heritage District activity locations

Talks & Exhibition: Edward House, 199 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3EX

Screenings: Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB

This September, Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival invites festivalgoers to step into the story of Glasgow’s cinema-going past with a special programme celebrating Sauchiehall Street’s historic picture palaces, film culture and big-screen memories. This year, Edward House also becomes a new Mini Festival Hub for GDODF, offering festivalgoers another place to gather, explore and discover more of the city’s heritage.

Hosted and organised by the Sauchiehall Street Culture & Heritage District, the Cinema programme takes place from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 September and explores Glasgow’s history as a true ‘Cinema City’ — a time in the early 20th century when the city had more than 130 cinemas, more than any other city in Britain.

At the heart of the programme is Sitting with the Stars, an exhibition at Edward House, 199 Sauchiehall Street, open from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 September, 12pm to 5pm. Once the city with more screens per head than anywhere else in the world, Glasgow lived and breathed going to the pictures. Focusing on Sauchiehall Street’s cinemas, the exhibition will bring together the everyday ephemera of cinema-going — from box office to projection booth — including newspaper listings, tickets, film stock, posters, projection equipment, photographs and personal stories of the stars who graced the street and its screens.

On Friday 18 September, Curator Neil Johnson-Symington will present Art of Cinema Going from 12pm to 1pm, complementing the Cinema City display at the Riverside Museum. The talk will showcase the many artforms linked to Glasgow’s picture palaces through Glasgow Museums’ collections, with a special focus on cinemas on Sauchiehall Street.

On Saturday 19 September, Gordon Barr and Gary Painter of ScottishCinemas.org will take audiences on a virtual saunter along the full length of Sauchiehall Street in Going out to the Pictures on Sauchiehall Street: A History of Glasgow’s Cinema Buildings, held at Glasgow Film Theatre Cinema 2 from 10am to 11am. From converted roller-skating rinks to thirties Art Deco super-cinemas, the illustrated talk will explore cinemas that were, cinemas that are, and cinemas that might have been.

Glasgow Film Theatre will also host two heritage screenings over the Festival weekend. On Saturday 19 September, Take 2 will present a free family screening of The Wizard of Oz at 11.30am, with doors from 11am. Released in 1939, the same year the Cosmo Cinema opened on Rose Street, the film offers a fitting link to the building now known and loved as Glasgow Film Theatre. On Sunday 20 September, a heritage screening of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein will take place in Cinema 2 at 12.30pm, marking the year the Cosmo was purchased by the Scottish Film Council and reopened as Glasgow Film Theatre in 1974.

To book tickets for these events please click below:

Sauchiehall Street: Culture and Heritage District 'Cinema City' Talk & Screenings - GFT

Sauchiehall Street: Culture and Heritage District 'Cinema City Talk & Exhibition - Edward House

Together, the exhibition, talks and screenings celebrate Sauchiehall Street’s historic cinemas, past and present. Using the street’s cinemas as a starting point, the programme delves into Glasgow’s wider story as a Cinema City, inviting festivalgoers to rediscover the places, objects and collective rituals that once made going to the pictures such an important part of everyday life.