Labia Theatre, Independent cinema in Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa
Labia Theatre is an independent cinema on Orange Street in the Gardens neighbourhood of Cape Town, housed in a single building with four screening rooms of different sizes. Each room seats a different number of people, from a larger main hall down to smaller rooms that give a more enclosed viewing experience.
The building opened in 1949, founded by Princess Labia as a venue for live stage performances, and the name has remained ever since. Over time it shifted away from theater and became a dedicated cinema, a role it has kept to this day.
The Labia focuses on films outside the mainstream, showing documentaries, art-house productions, and international works that rarely reach large commercial screens. The audience tends to be made up of people who take film seriously, and the feeling inside the rooms is closer to a film club than a regular night out.
The cinema sits in the Gardens area, a central part of Cape Town that is easy to reach on foot from several nearby neighbourhoods. Going a little early is useful, as it gives you time to get something from the bar before the screening begins.
One thing that sets this cinema apart is that guests are allowed to carry drinks from the bar directly into the screening rooms, which is uncommon for cinemas in South Africa. The bar serves a mix of everyday drinks alongside more unexpected options like gluhwein and slush puppies.
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