Maitland's nonprofit arthouse cinema and home of the Florida Film Festival
1300 South Orlando Avenue, Maitland, FL 32751
Age
Varies by film
Cost
$$
Ticketed shows; cinema-cafe with Eden Bar food and drink service.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Single-screen cinema-cafe with wooded grounds
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1985 · Founding venue of the Florida Film Festival (1992) · Central Florida's only full-time nonprofit cinema · Independent film programming
The Enzian Theater is a nonprofit arthouse cinema at 1300 South Orlando Avenue in Maitland, Florida, a few miles north of downtown Orlando. Founded by Tina Tiedtke and her father John Tiedtke, the theater opened on February 15, 1985 with a screening of D.W. Griffith's Broken Blossoms, attended by silent-film star Lillian Gish. John Tiedtke, a longtime Central Florida philanthropist, purchased a small wooded parcel and built the theater after a search for an existing venue did not turn up a suitable building.
In its early years the Enzian programmed six to twelve classic films per week alongside occasional live performances. In 1989, the theater refocused its programming around first-run independent feature films, a direction that helped lay the groundwork for the Florida Film Festival, which the Enzian launched in 1992. The festival is now an Oscar-qualifying event in the Live Action Short and Animated Short categories and has hosted directors and actors of national prominence.
The Enzian is the only full-time nonprofit cinema in Central Florida and operates as a single-screen cinema-cafe with the adjacent Eden Bar offering full table service during films. The theater programs roughly 400 to 500 films per year, including its weekly schedule, mini-festivals, an annual classic-film series, and outdoor screenings on its wooded lawn. The theater celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025.
Sources
Local tradition among Enzian patrons holds that a faintly visible figure has been reported in a corner of the main theater during late-night programming. The story, repeated in Central Florida ghost-story compilations, describes the figure as a disembodied head of a woman that drifts from one corner of the room toward the adjacent restaurant building before fading. Some accounts attach the figure to moonless nights and to a one-AM hour. No corroborating record of a specific person associated with the building has been documented in newspaper coverage.
The Enzian is a small, well-staffed venue and the lore is not part of the theater's marketing. Patrons interested in the cinema should consult the theater's published programming rather than visit in pursuit of investigation activity.
Attend a screening at one of Florida's most distinctive cinemas, a single-screen arthouse with table service from the adjoining Eden Bar. The Enzian programs independent feature films, classics, mini-festivals, and outdoor films year-round.
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