IPSWICH Film Theatre is set to reopen next month, it has been announced.

The venue will open its doors on May 20 showing the Bafta-winning and Oscar-nominated A Single Man in the main screen.

The second screen will also reopen with the French language film Seraphine.

The film theatre has been silent since previous operator Hollywood Cinemas pulled out of the town last October.

It will initially be open three days a week – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – although The Ipswich Film Theatre Trust, which is taking on its management, hopes to expand that to four days and to start Saturday matinees.

It wants to create a community cinema – a cinema showing films which are not screened elsewhere.

The film theatre is to be staffed by trained volunteers and it hopes to make links with Suffolk New College and UCS to programme films that will fit into their courses.

Other films lined up in the coming weeks include Stephen Poliakoff’s acclaimed Glorious 39, starring Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Julie Christie and David Tenant.

It will also show The Last Station with James McAvoy, Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer, and Michael Moore’s controversial Capitalism: A Love Story.

Ipswich Film Theatre Trust spokesman Andrew Clarke said: “This is just the beginning. But the cinema will not flourish without the support of film-lovers. It is your cinema.

“If you don’t use it, then it will go for good. This really will be the last picture show, certainly as far as independent cinema goes.”