The Bioscope, a darling of independent cinema in Joburg, celebrates its 15th birthday in 2025. It's been a joy to watch how the journey has unfolded as this local institution has found its feet from its early days as a charming, DIY upstart in Maboneng to The Bioscope's current, cosy home at 44 Stanley. To mark the occasion, owner Russell Grant reflects on the past decade and a half to share a yearly milestone with us.
Fifteen years ago, co-founders Russell Grant and Darryl Els opened The Bioscope in Maboneng with little more than a white wall for a screen, and a big vision: to build a permanent home for independent film in a city that didn’t have one. Despite a sold-out opening night and early wins like the opportunity to host Joburg's first Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, Grant and Els kept their cool and focus: knowing this would be a marathon, not a sprint.
"The Bioscope was born in a time where craft and artisanal tastes were starting to take shape," Grant tells us. "We were no longer in a monoculture or mainstream where there were only 10 beers to drink and only 10 movies to choose from in the cinemas. As social media, streaming on demand, and algorithms then took further hold, it became possible to carve out an economy for smaller, more niche tastes." Reflecting on The Bioscope's path, Grant says, "As cameras and filmmaking developed, we were excited to see more unknown filmmakers approaching us to premiere their films. Concepts, audiences, and activities we never thought we would have anything to do with, became worlds we were very much a part of."
It's been an inventive journey, marked not only by The Bioscope's signature seating (upgraded car chairs from a local supplier) but by other unexpected twists, together expanding the notion of what a cinema can be. Their on-site restaurant serves pizzas, wine, and cocktails to enjoy while you watch, while they sell themed merch, books, and records in the lobby. This creative space also hosts sing-alongs and knit-alongs, stand-up comedy, late-night arcades, and screens silent films with the accompaniment of live scores. The Biscope even has its own podcast, The Video Store.
Yet through all its 'scenes' – including a big move from Maboneng to 44 Stanley in 2020, surviving the pandemic through community-driven crowdfunding, and a 2024 tech upgrade that opened access to global cinema titles – The Bioscope has stayed true to its DIY, culture-first ethos.
Read about The Bioscope's most memorable moments from 2010 to 2025, in Grant's own words, below.
2010: Beginning with a bang
We opened our doors to our permanent cinema space in Maboneng in 2010. Despite a great, sold-out opening, we knew it was just the beginning – that a marathon lay ahead. Within two months of our launch, we were able to host the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, ensuring the Cape Town-based festival could now have a Joburg venue, too. This proved there was a need for a space like ours.
2011: Joburg to Cannes
A year after our opening, we travelled to the Cannes Film Festival in France for the one and only time. It was a great treat to walk the streets and see what is very much the pinnacle of the film world. But humble realities of running our little cinema in downtown Joburg meant that we couldn't get too distracted by the glamour of it all. What films were available to us, and how to get Joburg’s attention, were our top priorities.
2012: Arrival of The Bioscope's famous car seats
In 2012 we upgraded our seats to the car seats The Bioscope is still known for today. The seats that got us started were critical to making sure we got off the ground, but they were failing us, and a proper solution was needed. Being in an industrial neighbourhood, we wanted to pay some tribute to the look and buzz of our surroundings. We were never going to be too plush and prestige. So, car seats were a lovely idea that worked for us! We found a local small business that could supply them as well. The Bioscope supporters helped pay for this upgrade and got their names written underneath the seats. It was nice realising that our unique business could access these kinds of crowdfunding efforts in times of need.
This year also saw us bring The Home Movie Factory to Johannesburg: our largest and most ambitious project ever undertaken. It was a large-scale exhibition that ran for two months, where the public could come and make their own movies. The project was the brainchild of filmmaker Michel Gondry, and was the highlight of the French and South African Season of Cultural Exchange in 2012.
2013: Hello, internet
This was the year we started our Instagram account. At the time, this was a small, complimentary effort as Instagram was still in its early days. Only later, once Instagram introduced Stories and Reels, did it become the perfect platform for a cinema to promote screenings. One lovely highlight of this year was celebrated musicians Paul Hanmer and Carlo Mombelli providing a live score to an early silent Dracula film. This was one of the unusual events we were hosting at the time to change the way Joburg saw an outing to the cinema.2014: Taking it outside
In 2014 we launched a fantastic Outdoor Cinema series across Johannesburg with Jameson. This initiative saw us present screenings on rooftops, shutting off city streets, and even making use of the boats out on Zoo Lake as the film screened from the banks of the lake.
2015: A tech glow-up
In April of 2015, we installed an actual screen! Now, you would have thought that would have happened on day one, but before this, we were projecting films onto a RhinoLite white wall! With these small advances, we were starting to take ourselves more and more seriously. Also this year, we bedazzled the cinema windows with stickers ahead of the release of Jenna Bass' film Love The One You Love – proving that unique approaches to unique films can pay off when done right!2016: Fond farewells
Co-founder Darryl Els left in 2016 to become the festival director of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival. During this year, we hosted other major events, among them the launch of Red Bull TV.2017: Limited Edish merch and ice-cream dreams
In 2017 I started the clothing company Limited Edish. It was originally intended to be a new and separate business, but wound up finding its home inside of the The Bioscope lobby and became the platform through which we released the cinema's own merchandise. This was the year we started focusing on merch properly, making good quality Bioscope T-shirts. We also started selling Paul's Homemade Ice Cream: something that has been a staple ever since!
2018: Songs and games
The Bioscope started the Late Night Arcade in 2018, a pop-up event that featured a host of gaming, along with a special cinema offering and a bar. We also hosted our first ever Sing-Along, another way we were challenging what one could do inside a cinema.2019: The end of an era
Almost 10 years since we opened, 2019 brought with it the realisation that we needed to move out of Maboneng. It had treated us well for many years, but as a cinema, we were finding ourselves in the wrong spot. Good cinema is often patient and intricate, and Maboneng was getting too loud and chaotic for us.2020: The Bioscope lands at 44 Stanley
2020 marked our big move to 44 Stanley, and what was ultimately a renaissance in terms of The Bioscope's energy and approach. The time apart from the usual during the Covid-19 pandemic reminded us how special it is to be in a room full of other humans, having a beautiful shared experience. We ran a benefit drive during this period, which we originally thought was going to last for just a few weeks. The months of lockdown that ensued meant this drive was becoming more and more of a lifeline. We were blown away at how generously people gave over this time! Right out of the gate, in our new venue, we started hosting stand-up comedy in the cinema, something that would become a huge part of our identity going forward!
2021: Re-emerging and refining
In 2021 it felt like our heads were down and we were just building what the cinema was to become in a post-Covid world. We were looking at how to perfect our systems and how we could evolve the customer experience to be the best it could be.2022: The Bioscope speaks
The Bioscope’s official podcast called The Video Store launched in 2022, and an episode has been released almost every week since then. Through this podcast, we have been able to tell the story of The Bioscope and helped promote our screenings, all the while commenting on what good film and TV is out there for South Africans to enjoy. Also in 2022, we commissioned the Johannesburg print we have been selling in the gift shop. This was designed to give the city some dignity and elegance, where often these sorts of prints have been comical and satirical. We take great joy in knowing our print is up in living rooms around the world (it's about to kick off its third edition).2023: Bringing the universe to the stage
In 2023, we helped the production The Universe On Stage to develop. This happened by hearing the initial intentions of its creators [Dr Luca Pontiggia and Yasheen Modi] in passing one day during a visit to the cinema, and encouraging them to develop it and try it at The Bioscope. Every single performance of the show has sold out since, which has gone on to some of the biggest theatres in the city. We also started working with Joburg Underground to make sure that smaller, more independent and experimental cinema continues to have a home. Another highlight was hosting Rob Van Vuuren in the cinema for a run of shows for his character Namaste Bae. As someone who was raised and moulded by the Grahamstown Arts Festival, getting to know Rob and hosting him in my own venue was a real full-circle moment.
2024: Comedy wins
Photo: @bioscope_sundays.
The year 2024 saw The Bioscope's big upgrade to DCP, which is the system and technology that all major cinemas use. This unlocked access to so many more films that we had always wished to screen. The kinds of films you simply don’t want to watch in a shopping mall. We also won Best Show for our weekly comedy show, Bioscope Sundays. Being voted for by the comedians themselves meant a lot to us, getting that approval and recognition.
2025: Perfecting the craft
So far this year has been about me becoming the expert of my world by understanding more about my projector, the technology, and how to make the experience the best it could be. It's felt like up until now it's been about just getting it done. These days, it's about trying to get it perfect!
Check out The Bioscope's current and forthcoming attractions here.
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