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!