Did they show short films before the feature in the 1990s?

[Pentoman]

I have this weird memory from when I was a teenager, that I must share. It happened when I went to see, I think, Goldeneye with my brother and my Dad. It was at the Cheltenham Odeon or some other traditional Gloucestershire cinema, rather than a modern multiplex, and it was the first time I had been with the family. I was prepared for some simple Bond excitement, but what I got was an odd experience that has stuck with me, enough that I am writing about it today.

We sat down in the theatre. For the first 10 minutes of the showing, I couldn't work out what on earth was going on. This Bond film was nothing like the others. I had so far spent my time experiencing an incredibly dark, fantastically brooding production, clearly nothing to do with James Bond, with an atmosphere as distressing to me as those horrible nuclear explosion scenes were in terminator 2. There were no people that I remember, but there was a narration. Some guy talking deep, depressed nonsense while the picture was just lot of shots played on the screen, of a viewpoint taken from a city looking up into the sky. It was almost disturbing. I think this guy talked about how he liked to film the sky, just film it for some reason, but at some point a huge ship of some sort came into shot and hovered above the city, giving me a huge sense of fear, more so as I had no idea what I was watching. This ship was just as in Independence Day a year later. The shots from street level had real power as this beast menaced overhead. What on earth was this? It ended as quickly as it began. There was no story, no beginning or end, just this strange moody.... thing.... That just happened. Then Bond started.

This entirely strange experience has stuck with me. I remember thinking we had wondered into the wrong screen, or that I wasn't going to enjoy this moody and dark Bond flim. I'm sure I asked why this was happening. Why was I watching a short film about a moody alien ship terrorising a city with no beginning or end and some guy just talking over it?

So what did I see? Was this a common phenomenon in the 1990s? Were there 15 minute long short films before the main event? Can anyone even name this film or point me in a direction?! I know this was not a trailer, or if so it was outrageously long and did not advertise a film.

Help me find out so that I can ease the broody memories it has left me with!!