Viewing diaries
One screening followed from the queue to the last credit. You get the timing, the crowd, the small failures and the moments that worked, so a night you missed still reads like you were in the room.
Film criticism, interviews, and repertory notes
Every piece we run follows a set shape, so you know what you are reading before you start. Here is what each format gives you, and how to use it.
One screening followed from the queue to the last credit. You get the timing, the crowd, the small failures and the moments that worked, so a night you missed still reads like you were in the room.
Directors and colourists in their own words, lightly edited for clarity. Useful when you want the reasoning behind a decision rather than a summary of it.
Frame-by-frame notes on cinematography and editing choices. We name the lens, the cut and the grade, and explain what each one does to the scene.
A programming run tracked across Braamfontein, Rosebank and Maboneng. You see how a season is built, what gets paired with what, and which prints survive the schedule.
Collected notes from local short-film programmes, written on the day. Short pieces, quick turnaround, and a record of what actually screened.
Audience behaviour, queue logistics and snack-bar economics. The unglamorous side of running a room, written for people who have to make it work on a Friday night.
Each format is credited to a named contributor and tagged by venue and projection format. You can follow a format, a venue or a contributor across the weekly rhythm. Start with the 35mm booth diary, or send a screening note if you have one of your own.
Every format below runs on the same rule: name the contributor, tag the venue, and say which projection format was in the room. Here is what each one looks like in practice.
One screening followed from the queue outside to the last credit. Ticket check timing, seat fill, the moment the room goes quiet, and whatever the projectionist had to fix mid-reel.
Directors and colourists in their own words, lightly edited for clarity. We keep the hesitations and the disagreements, because those tend to explain the decision better than the polished version.
Frame-by-frame notes on cinematography and editing choices: lens and light on a specific scene, a cut that carries the whole sequence, and what the alternative would have cost in time or money.
A programming run tracked across Braamfontein, Rosebank and Maboneng. Which prints travel, which titles hold a weeknight crowd, and how a season gets built around what is actually available.
Dispatches from local short-film programmes, written on the night and filed the next morning. Screening order, audience reaction, and the shorts that deserved a second slot.
The unglamorous side: audience behaviour, queue logistics, snack-bar economics and what a midnight marathon costs the people running it. Useful if you program, and honest if you only watch.
You can follow a single format, a venue or a contributor across the weekly rhythm. Start with the projection booth diary from Braamfontein, or send a screening note through the contact page.
Every format on this page moves through the same five steps, from the first note in our inbox to a credited piece on the site. It is not a fast pipeline, and that is deliberate.
Someone sends a screening note, a pitch or a tip through the contact page. We log the venue, the projection format and the date before anything else.
We decide whether it becomes a viewing diary, an interview transcript, a craft breakdown or a practical note, then match it with a writer who was actually in the room.
Notes get taken in the booth, the queue or the grading suite. We keep timings, reel changes, sound decisions and the small things that never make the poster.
Transcripts are trimmed for clarity, technical claims get checked against the crew who ran the screening, and every name is confirmed before it goes in the byline.
The piece goes out with a venue tag, a projection format tag and a contributor credit, so you can follow a thread across the weekly rhythm.
If a programmer or projectionist writes back with a correction, we update the piece and note it. A recent example sits in the Braamfontein booth diary.
Want to start at step one? Send a screening note or a pitch through the contact page.
Every piece in Ennead Cineplex fits one of a few shapes. Knowing which one you are reading tells you how it was put together, who filed it, and where it was watched.
One screening, followed from the queue outside to the last credit. Notes on the room, the print or file, the crowd, and whatever went sideways during the show.
Tagged by venue and projection format
Directors and colourists in their own words, lightly edited for clarity. We keep the pauses, the corrections and the parts where someone changes their mind mid-sentence.
Contributor credited at the end of each piece
Cinematography and editing decisions walked through frame by frame, with the reasoning behind a cut, a lens choice or a grade that did not go the obvious way.
Written with the crew who made the work
Repertory runs tracked across Braamfontein, Rosebank and Maboneng, plus dispatches from local short-film programmes. Practical notes on queues, audience behaviour and snack-bar economics sit alongside the programming itself.
Follow a format, a venue or a contributor