High court to settle rumpus over ‘Roadmap to Apartheid’ screening

A protracted feud over an independent cinema’s refusal to screen a film about the plight of Palestinians is expected to come to a head as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and the Labia Theatre face off in court today.

The two have been at loggerheads since 2012 when the PSC first approached the Labia and arranged a screening of Roadmap to Apartheid, a documentary by SA-born Ana Nogueira and Israeli-American Eron Davidson. It compared the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to apartheid.

The cinema subsequently cancelled the screening, with manager Ludwig Kraus quoted at the time as saying the film was “pure propaganda” and that the cinema did not “get involved in politics”. The PSC then lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which initially refused to hear the matter but, on appeal, found against the cinema and directed it to screen the film within three months.

To date, no screening has taken place and after a series of failed negotiations, the PSC is pressing ahead with an equality case against the Labia. The case has been set down for hearing in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town today, together with an application from the Labia to review and set aside the SAHRC’s findings.

The Legal Resources Centre, which is representing the PSC, said the views reflected in the film were “widely held”. However, in its court papers, the Labia argued the PSC had not targeted other cinemas and in the review application that the appeal had been procedurally unfair.

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