Downtown Winston Salem Community Cinema

About

a/perture cinema is a nonprofit art house cinema in Downtown Winston-Salem, and the only art house cinema running all year in the Piedmont Triad. With 4.5 screens and 231 seats, it shows more than 250 films and special events a year, choosing work that informs, provokes thought, promotes diversity and builds community, with local concessions plus beer and wine. The name comes from photography: the slash stands for an f-stop. It opened on January 8, 2010, with s/tudio 1 and s/tudio 2, later added s/tudio 3 and petit a/, and earned a place in 2015 as a Sundance Art House Project Cinema. Over the years it has added education programming such as girls + screen, streetside cinema, a/ mobile, Sundance Satellite Screenings and a/movie prom. In January 2025 it marked its 15th anniversary under a new executive director, after a successful #saveaperture campaign.