producer David Puttnam and composers Elmer Bernstein and Carl Davis.

The GFT Development Project, launched in the early 80s, combined corporate funding, grants and a popular seat sponsorship scheme, and by 1991 GFT 2 was open, creating 144 extra seats and allowing a flexibility impossible with just one screen. Cafe Cosmo, described by one critic as "inexpensive and trendy with great art exhibitions" also opened in 1991 and in 2005 has recently been refurbished.

Projection facilities cover a wide range of film formats, from 16mm up to 70mm, indeed GFT is now the only Glasgow cinema with 70mm capability. Digital projection equipment has been installed and the GFT is now part of the Digital Screen Network, an initiative of the UK Film Council aimed at increasing the range of non-Hollywood films shown in Britain, and the world's first such network.

Now in its 32nd year, the Glasgow Film Theatre is an essential part of the cultural life of Glasgow and upholds The Cosmo tradition of bringing the best of world cinema to Glasgow.

season of press - related movies such as All the President's Men, while late shows featured horror and SF favourites like Creature from the Black Lagoon and Plan Nine from Outer Space. By the eighties, popular films included Betty Blue, Diva, Cinema Paradiso and the films of Bill Forsyth, whose Comfort and Joy had its premiere at the GFT. Nineties highlights included Last Exit to Brooklyn, The Fabulous Baker Boys, new prints of Hammer Horror classics and Christmas shows of It's a Wonderful Life, a film that has become a festive favourite.

Since opening, GFT has been an essential part of the many festivals which take place in Glasgow, including the Jazz Festival, Mayfest and Glasgay. French and Italian film festivals are now an annual feature of the cinema's programming as are a selection of films from the Edinburgh Film Festival. The recently established Glasgow Film Festival is also based at GFT.

Over the years, GFT has also brought the film-makers to Glasgow. Directors Alexander McKendrick, Richard Attenborough and Nic Roeg have all appeared to talk about their work, as have Oscar winning editor Thelma Schoomaker,

The Cosmo closed on April 21st 1973, was taken over by the Scottish Film Council and underwent a year of refurbishment - in an ill conceived move, the original stalls were transformed into a exhibition/conference area, reducing the already small seating capacity to just 404 seats.

Glasgow Film Theatre opened on May 2nd 1974 and although the makeover of the Cosmo was not to everyone's taste, the quality of the films was as high as ever.

Programmes in the seventies included jazz films, Marilyn Monroe double bills and a