Theatre ordered to show controversial film

Nine years after Cape Town’s Labia Theatre refused to lease its premises for the showing of what it termed a ‘highly controversial, pure propaganda, Israel bashing’ documentary, the independent cinema has been directed by the Equality Court to screen it. In a report on the GroundUp site, legal writer Tania Broughton notes Western Cape Judge Andre le Grange ruled that the Labia had not wanted to screen the film, Roadmap to Apartheid, because of its ‘differences’ with the consciences and beliefs of the members of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC). He said while the Labia had rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and freedom of expression, it was now well-established in law that private persons can attract a duty to make contractual offers where a refusal to do so would be unfairly discriminatory. ‘For example, an employer cannot refuse to employ someone because they are HIV-positive. A hairdresser cannot refuse to cut a black person’s hair. And a baker cannot refuse to sell a cake to someone because he is gay. The conduct of the Labia clearly amounts to discrimination,’ Le Grange said. The matter had its roots in an attempt by the PSC to book the theatre for a special screening. When Ludi Kraus, the theatre’s manager, discovered the film was ‘highly controversial’ – an anti-Zionist production – he feared it would ‘alienate and offend’ the theatre’s patrons and harm the business and decided not to lease the theatre to the PSC because it did not ‘engage in political activity’.

Protests followed, but a mediated settlement was brokered by Right2Know (R2K), in terms if which it was agreed that the film would be screened at no charge; that the Zionist Federation would be invited to the screening; and that R2K would arrange a balanced debate afterwards. The Zionist Federation, however, refused to participate. According to Kraus, this was a precondition for the screening of the film and he cancelled the event, resulting in further public criticism and debate, notes the GroundUp report. Le Grange said the Labia occupies a unique place in the cultural and political life of Cape Town and had, in the past, often screened critically acclaimed films which were commercially unattractive to mainstream cinema chains, because these films were too controversial or even banned. The judge agreed with lawyers for the PSC, who argued that the theatre was attempting to hide behind an agreement to conceal an act of unfair discrimination. ‘To view this case in a contractual context alone would amount to a superficial and mechanical approach,’ he said. ‘This, in turn, would undermine the foundational values and principles underlying the Equality Act.’ He said the PSC held a genuine and reasonable belief that the people of Palestine were being subject to an illegal Israeli occupation and this belief fell within the prohibited grounds in the Act. ‘The argument that the Labia does not screen overtly political or controversial films is seriously at odds with the objective facts,’ he noted, and ordered the theatre to screen the film within 60 days, irrespective of whether or not the Zionist Federation accepted an invitation to attend. The Labia was ordered to pay court costs.