Galileo Open Air Cinema

The Galileo open air cinema has been going for a few years now. It started just at Kirstenbosch on Wednesday evenings, but now they have a few venues: Hillcrest Quarry (Tuesdays), V&A Waterfront (Thursdays) and various venues in the winelands (Saturdays). They show different movies at each venue so you could theoretically go more than once in a week.

My first visit was just a few weeks ago, as I wanted to give them a chance to settle in. And I’m glad I did, because it was a slick operation by the time I went.

You can purchase your tickets online, choosing whether you want to include a blanket or chair, or both. I was invited and my ticket included a blanket and chair. It was early November and it got very cold at Kirstenbosch so the blanket came in useful, although you can take your own blanket. But you can’t take your own chair, so if you want something to lean back against, you need to order one of their chairs.

The organisers encourage people to make it a fun evening out and there are prizes to be won if you dress up on certain evenings. You can check the website for details on that. There was a fancy dress station on the night I was there. I’m not sure if it was just for the media launch or if it’s there all the time. We donned some gear and took photos, it was fun.

The food and beverages are provided market style. There is a bar for drinks, selling craft beers, wine and soft drinks. Then there are a selection of food stalls selling tasty options like pizza, Mexican, Argentinian, etc. There is even a popcorn stand. But you can take your own food and drinks if you prefer. My friend and I decided to support the Argentinian stand. I thought the food was good looking, she thought the guy serving the food was good looking.

The we settled in for the movie, which was Moulin Rouge. It’s been so long since I saw that movie. I’m not sure I really appreciated it properly the first time I saw it. It’s a masterpiece. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The screen was nice and big, the sound was good, and we were relatively comfortable. I was warned by some that there can be an issue with people talking during the movie, but we didn’t have much of that at all.

Overall I thought it was a great evening out and would definitely do it again. In fact, perusing the programme (see below), there are some very cool movies I would like to see…

Find out more at the Galileo Website. I recommend reading through the FAQs, there are some good questions there.

More photos in my gallery here.

2014/2015 Programme

(for the ones that say VOTE, you need to go to their Facebook page and vote for your favourite out of the ones on offer that evening)