Pulp Cinema was issued with a notice of expiry which means that, as of 31 December, it will no longer be operating from the Neelsie Student Centre. Although the business’s lease was coming to an end, owner Werner De Swardt, a Stellenbosch University (SU) alumnus, was upset to hear the university did not wish to renew his contract.
The owner of Pulp Cinema, Werner De Swardt (above), received a BCom LLB from Stellenbosch University and has been running the Pulp Cinema since 2011. PHOTO: Byron Latham.
SU spokesperson, Martin Viljoen, said in a statement to the media that it was agreed between Pulp Cinema and the university that the cinema would not continue operating after the expiry of the lease agreement.
De Swardt contested this, saying that “no additional clauses were added to specify that Pulp shouldn’t have a reasonable expectation for renewal after the agreed upon rental period came to an end”.
In the same media statement issued by the university, Viljoen states that the venue will, going forward, be managed by the Central Events and Conferencing Office (CECO), and that “Pulp will still be able to use the Neelsie and the students’ film society does not have to be affected by the lease coming to an end”.
However, the notice of expiry De Swardt received indicates that he will need to remove all equipment and fittings from the venue – stated in his lease agreement – which is used to screen the Pulp film Society’s films.
According to Viljoen, using the space as a general venue – as opposed to solely a cinema used by one society – will allow for wider usage of the facility. However, De Swardt argued that “Pulp Cinema already does between three to five events and conferences per week for the [university’s] admin and academic personnel, residences and PSOs and societies”.
According to De Swardt, although he charged a fee to use of the Pulp Cinema venue in the past, he told SU that he is willing to offer the space free of charge going forward.
The chair of the Pulp Film Society, Annike Hohbach (above), a BEng (Electrical and Electronic) student. Hohbach believes that if the society were to continue without the cinema, it would most probably become diminished in scope and presence on campus and become unrecognizable. PHOTO: Byron Latham.
The Pulp Film Society
Annike Hohbach, the chairperson of the Pulp Film Society – the largest society at the university – was assured that the society would be taken into consideration, she said. The cinema’s movie selection, curated by De Swardt, was something that attracted many members to the society, Hohbach said.
“I don’t think that Pulp Film Society will be able to continue without the cinema as we have been building up this society with the help of the cinema for the past ten years,” she said.
Pulp Cinema images before and after owner Werner De Swardt installed close to one million rand’s worth of infrastructure on the premises. The venue had previously been a Ster-Kinekor, however, it had been empty for some time, said De Swardt. PHOTOS: Werner De Swardt.
Timeline showing Pulp Cinema’s history. VIDEO: Byron Latham.
Will Pulp become a conference centre?
The non-renewal of the Pulp Cinema rental agreement appears to be in contradiction to the revised risk mitigation proposal for student centres. The proposal was mentioned in SU’s Operations and Finance department’s annual report compiled in September (page 37), that “was aimed at the survival and retention of the commercial tenants”.
The Pulp Cinema on the ground floor of the Neelsie Student Centre. The cinema has screened movies for the Pulp Film Society, caters for Stellenbosch University events and hosts the Filmfees, an offshoot of the Stellenbosch Woordfees, according to De Swardt. PHOTO: Byron Latham.
The Neelsie Student Centre
Other tenants in the centre were upset to hear that the cinema’s lease would not be renewed.
“Everybody benefits from [Pulp Cinema],” said one tenant, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of having their lease expire in a similar fashion.
“Pulp attracts quite a wide market for the Neelsie,” said another tenant who also asked for anonymity for the same reason. “It would be really sad for the centre and the Stellenbosch community,” he said.
Beyond the university
An employee at the university and member of the Pulp Film Society, Joe Warren, believes that Pulp Cinema is an important cultural institution for students, as well as the townsfolk of Stellenbosch.
“If SU shuts Pulp down, it would be abrogating its responsibility to promoting diversity and creativity in society,” Warren said.