Film & Cinematography News South Africa

Ster-Kinekor theatres reopen

Ster-Kinekor has announced that they will be reopening cinemas from 28 August 2020.

The reopening will be done in a phased approach to ensure that operationally employees have been trained on the new Covid-19 health and safety measures and all the PPE required is ready when trading. Ster-Kinekor will start trading with 32 cinemas on the 28 August followed by the remaining 21 sites on 18 September 2020.

Deputy CEO, Motheo Matsau says “We’ve been getting ready to welcome patrons back to the cinema since Government’s announcement on the 6 July 2020. We have taken every step to ensure the safe return of our guests and staff to the cinema with our staff having undergone extensive Covid-19 operations training.”

New safety measures

All Ster-Kinekor cinemas will operate with new safety procedures that ensure compliance with directives set out by the government. Each theatre will be permitted a maximum of 50 guests per auditorium (excluding staff).

Some of the new measures taken include regulated seating, marked foyer floors to manage social distancing as well as longer show staggers to manage the number of people in our foyers at any one time. We will ensure stringent hygiene protocols are in place for the safety of our guests and staff. To limit contact, no transactions will take place in cinema and all movie tickets and snacks must be purchased through the Ster-Kinekor App or on our website.

After the show guests will be required to exit the auditorium row-by-row starting from the back of the cinema and are requested to remove their empty snack containers to discard in the dustbins which will be placed in the cinema foyers.

Our already high cleaning standards will be enhanced by a cleaning protocol designed to sanitise frequently touched surfaces in the cinema. Before we open our doors, we will use a misting device to treat all our auditoria, as well as our lounge areas, foyers, hand railings and seats.

Safe work practices

We will continue to sanitise the cinemas before and after each show and have increased our cleaning times between every show to make sure all our seats and surfaces are clean and safe.

Masks and temperature screening will be compulsory when entering the cinema foyer however masks may be temporarily removed in the auditorium to enjoy the refreshments.

All our staff will be screened before we open the cinemas each day, as well as at each shift. We will wear face masks and gloves where required and our staff have been trained on safe work practices to ensure safety for themselves and for our guests.

A number of blockbusters are heading to cinema with the upcoming lineup including Christopher Nolan’s Tenet releasing 28 August, Disney’s live-action Mulan remake set to be released 11 September.

Book your tickets at www.sterkinekor.com or download the SK App on your smartphone.

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