Rewriting The South African Cinema Script

As a regular patron of South African cinemas, Ive come to appreciate the feeling of being alone in the theatre.

As a team at Sinema Agency, which does marketing and promotion for films, we make a point of visiting the cinema at least once a month, exploring films that spark our interest.

Recently, I found myself watching A Scam Called Love at the Pavilion in Cape Town, completely alone. This solitude left me reflecting on a question that has been growing louder in my mind: What would it take to reignite the cinema-going culture in South Africa?

This was compounded by a conversation I had with a colleague who tried to see the Issa Rae-produced One of Them Days in Durban, only to find it wasnt playing in any local cinemas. This situation, while frustrating, isnt an isolated incident and ties into a much larger conversation around the accessibility of cinema and the importance of cultivating a dedicated audience for local films.

However, despite the potential, in our two years of operation at Sinema, weve yet to work on a project with a theatrical release. Most of the films we have handled have either been for streaming or festival-run projects, where cinemas have been used only for the premieres.