GAP
2026 PROGRAMME
GAP
Dreams PG
Japan/USA | 1990 119 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Akira Kurosawa
STARRING
Akira Terao|Mitsunori Isaki|Martin Scorsese
28 January 2026 WEDNESDAY 14:45
AUDITORIUM
ALL Tickets £5.00
Dreams is mesmeric, challenging, and unique: one of the final films of the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, in which he presents a visualisation of eight of his recurring dreams. With themes such as death, guilt, fear, and nuclear fallout, each vignette, comes across like a mystical folk tale of old. Although the screenplay was penned entirely by Kurosawa, the production was a collaborative effort, also involving George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Films like Dreams echo through the generations, transcending linguistic, economic and geographical barriers.
Note that this film has been selected by the University of Gloucestershire for presentation to a party of students from its Illustration Department. During the film the lights will be dimmed but not extinguished to allow the students to make drawings as the film progresses based on inspiration from what they see on screen. Members of the public are encouraged to attend at the concessionary rate of £5 per ticket and will be most welcome.
GAP
The Blues Brothers 15
USA | 1980 133 minutes
DIRECTED BY
John Landis
STARRINGJohn Belushi | Dan Aykroyd | Cab Calloway
28 January 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £9.00|£5.00 (under 26)
Christmas has come and gone. The New Year doesn’t seem so new anymore. WYGD? Laugh it off!
On our new night of Wednesday, it’s comedy night at The Eclectic Cinema with a screening of The Blues Brothers, in which said brothers (Jake and Elwood) get the band together again after a break that has been necessitated by Jake’s incarceration. Finding and persuading the old band members to come back takes time, ingenuity and plenty of bullshit, but despite every setback, the brothers succeed where others might have failed because they … they are on a mission … a mission … from God (or at least from Sister Mary Stigmata). Hallelujah!
This film is a cult classic; it’s fun; it’s funny; it has an extraordinary soundtrack and an astounding cast to support Belushi and Aykroyd in their key roles - including Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Chaka Khan, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher, and Twiggy.
So, pack up your troubles, and join us for a fun night at The Eclectic Cinema! (Suitable outfits and accessories are encouraged.)
GAP
Fried Green Tomatoes PG
USA | 1991 130 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Jon Avnet
STARRINGKathy Bates | Jessica Tandy | Mary Stuart Masterson
25 February 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26) inclusive of fees
If the traditional Valentine’s Day with its emphasis on Love, Truth and Beauty didn’t quite work for you, then try this film with its emphasis on Friendship, Truth and Beauty. Actually, the friendship between Ruth and tomboy Idgie looks a lot like love as well. But being set in 1920s Alabama, it was never spoken of by that name.
But this is also a film very much about female empowerment. Jessica Tandy excels as Ninny Threadgoode, an old lady in a nursing home whom Evelyn Couch (played by Kathy Bates) meets when visiting her husband’s aunt. Evelyn’s marriage has reached middle age and is going nowhere, so Ninny’s stories of life back in the day become a form of therapy, helping her to regain her confidence that has been sapped by many years of being the trad wife to husband Ed.
So, the film moves between the present and the past when Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker) and Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) developed their bond while running the Whistle Stop Café.
It’s a moving story as well as being very funny, and it’s the perfect alternative and follow-up to Valentine’s Day. Perhaps you’ve seen the film before, but it’s certainly worth re-visiting for the fantastic cast and the eye-popping colours. If you haven’t come across it before, then make a date to see it. You won’t regret it!
GAP
Volver 15
Spain | 2006 121 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Pedro Almodóvar
STARRINGPenélope Cruz | Carmen Maura | Lola Dueñas
11 March 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26)
inclusive of fees
For a film screening so close to International Women’s Day – it’s on 8 March – what better than to choose a film populated almost entirely by women, and what better than for the film to have been directed by Pedro Almodóvar: a director who has dominated Spanish cinema for decades and is known for giving female actors wonderful parts to play in his films?
In this film, released twenty years ago, the six main characters are all women. In fact, at Cannes, the six of them were joint recipients of the award for Best Actress. The only important male character is frozen out of the narrative at a fairly early stage – and with good reason.
Volver, meaning ‘to return’, is a drama about family and friends, exposing the complexity of their inter-relationships, against the back-drop of a rural, superstitious and insular Spanish community. Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) is a working-class mother, living with her husband Paco and daughter Paula. Raimunda and her sister Sole (Lola Dueñas) now live in Madrid, but were raised in a small village. The sisters, together with Paula, visit the village to tend the grave of their parents, who died in a fire some years previously. But then their mother appears to them as a ghost, and she seemingly wants to set a few matters right that she was unable to do before her death. It’s a great story, with many twists and turns, and a lot of dark comedy.
You should not miss this excellent Almodóvar, with its six Best Actresses. Of course, it will be on the big screen, in the main auditorium, presented in Spanish with English subtitles.
GAP
Picnic at Hanging Rock PG
Australia | 1975 115 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Peter Weir
STARRINGRachel Roberts | Anne-Louise Lambert | Dominic Guard
22 April 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26)
inclusive of fees
This is
the pre-eminent film of Australian New Wave Cinema, first released fifty years
ago. It was both a critical and commercial success, even though one American
distributor at a preview screening complained that he’d wasted two hours of his
life and felt compelled to throw his coffee at the screen. Why? Because it is a
mystery unsolved, and by the end of the film much remains unknown.
The
advertising material says: “On St Valentine’s Day in 1900, a party of
schoolgirls set out to picnic at Hanging Rock … some were never to return.”
It is a
costume drama, the schoolgirls in white frocks, tightly corseted, innocent,
perhaps, repressed, perhaps. The stern headmistress (played by Rachel Roberts)
issues her instructions before the party leaves the school for their picnic. A
sense of incipient danger is instilled even before they arrive at Hanging Rock.
Once there, some girls opt to disobey instructions and explore the Rock,
climbing higher, and passing deep into its tempting recesses. There is a frisson
of unresolved sexual tension, and the Rock seems to cast a spell over the group
of renegade girls.
The cinematography
is superb and perfectly captures the heat and atmosphere of the place. It’s
high time to revisit this film – on the big screen in Cheltenham. Just don’t
expect resolution by the end. And please, don’t throw your coffee!
GAP
Vertigo PG
USA | 1958 128 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Alfred Hitchcock
STARRINGJames Stewart | Kim Novak | Barbara Bel Geddes
24 June 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26)
inclusive of fees
In all
probability, you will have seen Hitchcock’s Vertigo before, but now you
have an opportunity to see it given the big-screen treatment in a fully-restored
version.
It stars
James Stewart as an ex-cop (Scottie) who has been retired from the San
Francisco police force on health grounds after an incident that has caused him
to suffer from extreme vertigo. Later, he is hired as a private detective by an
acquaintance who wants to discover more about the strange behaviour of his wife,
Madeleine (Kim Novak). Scottie begins the investigation and soon becomes
obsessed with his subject, who appears to be in some sort of dream-world of her
own: all this based in and around the streets and landmarks of San Francisco,
where it was filmed on location.
It may
seem hard to believe now that when Vertigo was released in 1958, it was
not particularly well received. American critics found it too long and too slow
- The New Yorker even opined that the director had ‘never before
indulged in such far-fetched nonsense’. British critics were also mainly
negative; on the other hand, the French felt they could recognise a masterpiece
when they saw one, and Hitchcock himself maintained that Vertigo was one
of his favourite films.
So, don’t
miss the chance to make your own assessment of a film which is, by now, a
regular entry in the top-ten best films of all time.
GAP
Kneecap 18
UK | 2024 105 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Rich Peppiatt
STARRINGMichael Fassbender | Kneecap
8 July 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26)
inclusive of fees
Kneecap
is a real Northern Irish rap group comprising three members who portray
themselves in this film. Their stage names are Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ
Próvaí. The film documents the origins of the group and their involvement in
promoting Gaelic as an official language in Northern Ireland through rapping in
Gaelic.
But it’s
not a documentary. It’s a raucous, raunchy, and very funny piece of cinema with
music that’s infectious, even if you’re no fan of rap. The style is imaginative
and fast-paced – and for those for whom Gaelic is not their first language,
there are subtitles. Much of what occurs in the film is true – especially the
best bits!
After
many years of campaigning, Gaelic was eventually recognised as an official
language alongside English in Northern Ireland in December 2022. The Scots had
to wait until St Andrew’s Day 2025!
Of
course, Kneecap has continued to be controversial in real life, notably for
their appearance at Glastonbury and their support of the Palestinian cause.
Government and opposition figures deemed their appearance ‘inappropriate’, but
it went ahead anyway and got a five-star review in the Guardian.
The
Eclectic Cinema official advisory is: Come to this film with an open mind, and
you’ll find plenty to enjoy.