Film criticism, interviews, and repertory notes
Johannesburg cinema journal
Ennead Cineplex is written by projectionists, festival volunteers and film-school graduates who spend most weekends in screening rooms. We publish weekly notes on 35mm and digital projection, repertory seasons, sound mixing and the short-film programmes running through Braamfontein, Rosebank and Maboneng.
Long-form viewing diaries, interview transcripts and honest notes on audience behaviour. If you shoot, program or just watch films in Gauteng, there is a place for your screening note here.
Start with the booth diary: what 35mm actually sounds like in a Braamfontein booth.
Next Step
If you run a booth in Braamfontein, program a repertory season in Rosebank, or just keep a viewing diary from the back row in Maboneng, we want the specifics. Tell us what the print sounded like, how the queue moved, which reel arrived late. One clear note is enough to start.
Prefer to see how a note reads before you write one? Start with a projectionist's weekend in a Braamfontein booth.
Short answers to the things readers, programmers and first-time contributors ask us most often.
A small crew of projectionists, festival volunteers and film-school graduates, mostly based around Braamfontein, Rosebank and Maboneng. Every piece carries a byline, and if a contributor only helped with research or a transcript edit, we say so.
Weekly. Some weeks it is a viewing diary from a repertory season, other weeks an interview transcript or a breakdown of an editing decision. When a midnight marathon runs long, the write-up sometimes slips by a day.
No. We write about digital projection just as often, including the quirks of DCP delivery, sound-mixing choices and the small failures that only show up in a full room. Format matters less to us than what the screening actually asked of the people running it.
Yes. If you shoot, program or simply watch films in Gauteng, send a note about a screening you attended or a pitch for a longer piece. We read everything, though we cannot always reply the same week.
Always. Directors, colourists, booth staff and volunteers are named at the end of the piece unless they ask otherwise. Transcripts are edited for length and clarity, and we note where that editing happened.
Still unsure about something? Read the help page or reach the crew through the contact page.
We are a small team, and most of us are in a booth or a queue on weekends. Messages land in one inbox and get read by whoever is not threading a reel. If your note is about a screening, a pitch or a correction, say so in the subject line and it moves faster.
For anything already answered in writing, the help page covers the usual ground first.
Best for screening notes, pitches and interview requests. Replies usually go out within two working days.
Phone
+27140199629Weekdays between 10:00 and 17:00. Outside those hours we are likely in a screening room.
Post
57293 Fortuin Crossing
North Werner, GP 0188
Use this for press kits, printed programmes and anything that will not survive an attachment.
Response times