The Labia Theatre in Cape Town, the oldest independent art-house cinema in
South Africa, has launched a crowd-funding campaign in order to fund well-needed cinema upgrades and a migration to digital projection.
Converting to digital has become an urgent and necessary action as the items
needed to maintain screening equipment are no longer available and the film
industry no longer releases movies on film. For the Labia, this will mean raising
R150,000 funding for renovations and technological upgrades.
Owner Ludi Kraus remarked, “If you want to play, you need the equipment.
There is no choice. We’re in the penalty shootout phase.’
The crowd-funding campaign is featured on Thundafund, a South African
platform for the collective funding of creative and innovative projects by the
public. By contributing towards the initial goal amount of R150, 000, funders are
not only able to help save the small family owned cinema, but can reap rewards
in the form of discounted movie tickets, Labia Theatre memorabilia or the
opportunity to name one of the four featured screens.
“There’s no place like the Labia,’ Kraus says. “It still has the magic of the old
world, so hopefully we can combine that with the equipment of the new.’
For more information or to make a pledge towards the campaign, visit the Thundafund website.
Watch the Labia Theatre’s
crowd-funding video.
Visit the Labia Theatre website.
