In the Moment with Instax: Russell Grant of The Bioscope

The Bioscope started in 2010 and as Jozi’s only independent cinema is the go-to destination for cinephiles across Gauteng. We chatted to Russell Grant, founder of The Bioscope and co-host of The Video Store Podcast, about how it got started, his love of video store recommendations and a few of his favourite Instax moments.

What inspired you to start The Bioscope and how did it come about?

I realised quite early into film school that I didn’t necessarily want to be a filmmaker, but that there are other opportunities in the film industry. My good friend Darryl Els wrote his thesis on whether there was space for such an independent cinema in Johannesburg. I loved this idea and between the two of us, we realised we had to get this going.

These cinemas used to exist all around Joburg and then, like the rest of the world, the shopping mall multiplex closed them down. So, despite business models and projections not looking too optimistic, we decided to give this a try because we could just change a small part of the history of the city by bringing independent cinema back.

We opened The Bioscope’s doors in June of 2010 and we’ve been going ever since. Our first location was in Maboneng, downtown Johannesburg and we loved those years. But the precinct changed, it got a bit too loud, chaotic and congested. It got to the point where that kind of nighttime crowd wasn’t a cinema going crowd and our cinema going crowd wasn’t necessarily going to go there for a movie.

We started looking around and found 44 Stanley a natural fit, because it’s just so much calmer. When you come to watch a movie you know you are in a good and comfortable space.

The Bioscope is more than a movie theatre, there’s also a coffee shop with awesome cinematic themed art and t-shirts. Can you tell us more?   

Every cinema in the world will tell you where they make their money and that’s with the drinks and snacks. But for us, we wanted it to be more than that. We wanted to be a space that serves alcohol which, back in 2010 when we opened, was quite a novel thing for South Africans to have a beer while watching a movie, plus we focussed on more substantial food like pizza.

We also have the only cinema themed gift shop that I know of, with posters, toys, books and vinyls. It’s home to Limited Edish, which is us producing clothes and art prints from all our talented friends, both locally and international. 

The Bioscope can also be hired out, for anything, from the celebration of an anniversary or proposals, to parties for kids or adults. We enjoy it when filmmakers use us for anything from rough cut screenings to big premieres, and we’ve also done a number of corporate launches including cars, fragrances and TV channels.

You’re obviously a cinephile. What are a few of your favourite movies?

Amélie was a perfect movie for me. It sees the world in a different way; you get this kind of French look on life, which is sometimes quite different to other parts of the world. But also, it is a very digestible film, easy to watch and not too complex. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is perhaps the opposite of that. It’s complex and that’s what I love about it. But it’s also very practical as well – much of its effects were done in camera, which I really admire.