Myanmar movie theaters in focus

It's been almost six years since my eyes were first opened to the charms of Myanmar's cinema halls. Six long years since that first foray into a country flush with stand-alones and where most towns still had the almost virginal grace of not being beholden to the automobile, or its requisite bedfellows in space-consuming infrastructure. I mention that because, besides the fact that I'm seriously prone to road rage, cars are the main cause of decline in stand-alone movie theaters. Not home entertainment systems, DVD's, VCR's and such things as most prevailing logic assumes. Yes, those gadgets play a strong role, but if cinema-going was killed off by home entertainment then why, at present, are there more movie screens in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and a half dozen other Thai cities than there ever has been in history? The answer is because 99.9% of those screens are in shopping malls, the primary access point for which is the parking garage, via car, and Thailand is a car dependent country. Oil addicted, one might say. Going to the movies is still a beloved pass-time, but now a huge percent of those able to afford a movie ticket in Thailand live in car dependent suburbs, or are simply just accustomed to driving everywhere. The thousand seat stand-alone movie theater that once stood in the heart of town didn't supply secured parking. The multiplex theater in the shopping mall at the edge of town does. But I digress.

My last trip to Myanmar for a theater survey was back in January, 2011. Five years ago. That netted me a huge amount of photographic content from Shan State, Magwe, Bago and Thanintharyi divisions. Ever since then I've been yearning to get back there to pick up where I left off. By my estimates, there are are still a solid 30 or 40 old theaters yet to be documented in Myanmar, a good portion of which may still be in operation. But that number is dropping fast.

After mulling it over, I decided that there's no better time than the present. Tomorrow, February 18th, I'm flying over to Yangon to start a third Myanmar movie theater survey. This trip will hopefully lead me trough Irrawaddy Division, then back up to Shan State, into Kachin State, back down through Sagaign, Mandalay, Magwe and Bago Divisions, and ultimately into Mon and Karen states. I'm not sure that all of that is possible given only 28 days, but I will do my best.

In addition to the survey there will be a photo exhibition of some of my past work in Myanmar opening on February 20th at Myanmar Deitta Gallery on 44th Street just off Merchant Road in downtown Yangon. All 15 images on display will be for sale to help offset the cost of this expedition.

The highlight of this exhibition will be a panel discussion on the important social and cultural role of the cinema hall. Aside from myself, panelists will include US Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell; Yangon Heritage Trust director Daw Moe Moe Lwin; Director of Urban Planning for the Yangon City Development Committee Dr. Toe Aung and Myanmar Motion Picture Organization Patron U Aung Lwin. Our talk will hopefully build awareness to the plight of the Waziya Cinema a classic downtown movie palace in Yangon which recently closed down.

Below are a collection of photos of Myanmar cinema halls that have either closed or been demolished since I was last there.

Thida Cinema - Yangon. Closed 2013

Kemarat Cinema, Keng Tung, Shan State. Demolished 2012

Win Cinema, Toungoo, Bago Division. Demolished 2012

Shwe Mann Cinema, Yangon. Demolished 2012

Myoma and Shwe Gon cinemas, Yangon. Demolished 2012

King Cinema, Yangon. Demolished 2012

Hsoo Htoo Pan Cinema, Yangon. Demolished 2012

The Paradise Theater - Pattani, Thailand

Push aside the grisly headlines regularly connected to Thailand's 3 southernmost provinces. Behind the reports of terrorist bombings and religious extremism is a gem of a region inhabited by some of the most hospitable people in the land. Pattani, the largest city in the region, is no exception. And despite an absence of active cinemas, mall-bound or otherwise, this is a town that deserves its due among Thailand's urban geography.

Within an hour of setting foot in Pattani I was being whisked around town on the back of a motorcycle belonging to a coffee shop proprietor who, aside from closing up his shop expressly to give me a guided movie theater tour, also refused to let me pay for the coffee. Two hours in, I was sharing a beer with a direct descendant of the founder of the city, a 7th generation Pattanian who graciously gave me an unsolicited tour of his 150-plus year old Sino-Portuguese manor, established by his illustrious forefather on land granted to him by King Mongkut. Old Town Pattani as the neighborhood is informally known, would no doubt be an attraction were not the city so closely associated with sectarian violence.

The following day I was invited down to city hall to talk movie theater history with the City Comptroller, whom I had met the previous evening while sipping beers with my new friend. As it turned out, the Comptroller's father was the movie booker for Pattani's quintet of cinema halls in the 1960's and 70's. We chewed the fat about the good old days of the cinema business, before the the threat of terrorism in Pattani scared people from going to public places. For Pattani, this was a key factor in the decline of movie theaters. 

The Paradise Theater stand's at the far end of an alley, just across from the river.

Of the 5 movie theaters that served the city over the years, only one remains that has any resemblance to its original function - The Paradise Theater. Unsurprisingly, the Paradise was newest of all the theaters built in Pattani, dating only to 1981, the tail end of Thailand's stand-alone movie theater construction boom. Its most recent owner, the southern Thai movie producer/director Khom Akaradej, closed it down in 2006, not long after the southern insurgency gripped the city. 

While the Paradise's dimensional signage still sits boldly atop the cornice, gently reminding people of merrier times, the once cavernous auditorium has been turned into a swiftlet's house.  

6 year sago, moreover, a story about the Paradise was submitted to this blog. You can read that here.

Dimensional rooftop signage, a hallmark of Thai stand-alone movie theaters.

Research led me to the Office of the City Comptroller of Pattani. Here we are creating good will over movie theater memories. 

Some photos taken near the King's Theater, now destroyed, supplied by the Pattani City Comptroller.

The Globe Cinema - Narathiwat, Thailand

For the past 7 years, the cinema has served me well as a conduit of inquiry into wider Southeast Asian society. From their dusty depths, the echos of yesterday have billowed out with torrential force, stirring forgottenisms that would have otherwise remained just that. Towns have gained context, cities have gained form, all from the memories of those involved in the world of the cinema. Bury your face in as many history text books as you can read, dear friends, you won't get a shred of the insight you would from breathing in that lung full of Histoplasmosis laden air in an abandoned movie theater. 

As for the Globe Cinema - Narathiwat's lone claim to cinematic history - insights went undiscovered, I'm sorry to say. It was a hit-and-run mission. Arrive in town, locate theater informant and unbury its past. If no informants turn up after an hour or so, on to the next town. Much of my most recent tour of southern Thailand went down like that.

The Globe Cinema - a fixture of Narathiwat's streetscape since 1957.

Ticket windows indicative of a different era.

Looking closely at the number above the window, it's clear that the 0 in 20 was painted over to be a 5. 25 baht was likely the last and highest ticket price at The Globe before it went bust.

Ticket windows and queuing channels.  

In lieu of hard data, what I can offer is a little seasoned conjecture as to the exigencies The Globe.  

First of all, The Globe is the third theater in Thailand's deep south I came across that had a Western name related to the Cosmos. The other two, The Luna and The Aurora, are both in Yala province, albeit at opposite ends. The interrelated names that this trio shares might be simple coincidence, but it also could be a cultural distinction of Thailand's deep south. Historically, the deep south of Thailand has more in common with the Malay speaking world than with Thai. And for many years the Malay world was a colony of Great Britain, making English the primary language, especially when it came to such things as naming businesses and buildings. 

As for the references to the cosmos, that's simply ornamental.

Architecturally, The Globe takes cues from the International Style, a movement which was spreading throughout the world in the years following World War 2. A few distinctions keep it from being definitive of the style, however. For one, other than the facade, the theater appears to be mostly wood. Views of the auditorium, not pictured in this series, reveal a clap-board wooden exterior, more akin to Thai vernacular theater building techniques than any formal architectural milieu. International Style is grounded in concrete, brick, stone and steel. Not wood.   

The overall lack of ornamentation on the facade was not without good reason. What looks like design laziness was actually simple logic, as that dead space on the facade would be have been covered with vivid hand-painted movie billboards. Matched against the gold-painted moldings of the date (๒๕๐๐ - 1957) above and the name on the shaft tower ("เดอะ โกล๊ป ซีนีมา"), this would have been the most visually exciting building in town, if not the most exciting overall given its function. 

Molded concrete signage, "The Globe Cinema," transliterated into Thai, "เดอะ โกล๊ป ซีนีมา" 

Today, this relic of Narathiwat's cinematic past is a bird's nest harvesting house - a common adaptation for old movie theaters in Thailand's coastal provinces. 

Dating to 1957, The Globe ranks fairly old for an extant Thai movie theater. 

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Just a reminder, there are now only 3 copies remaining of The Movie Theater of Thailand photo portfolio. Once these are gone they will never be printed again. The entire box set is on sale here and here exclusively for $300 dollars each. For comparison, my photos currently on exhibition at H Gallery in Bangkok now are listed at $550 dollars for a single print. This set consists of 20, albeit much smaller images.

Get one of these while you can,

The Globe Cinema - Narathiwat, Thailand

For the past 7 years, the cinema has served me well as a conduit of inquiry into wider Southeast Asian society. From their dusty depths, the echos of yesterday have billowed out with torrential force, stirring forgottenisms that would have otherwise remained just that. Towns have gained context, cities have gained form, all from the memories of those involved in the world of the cinema. Bury your face in as many history text books as you can read, dear friends, you won't get a shred of the insight you would from breathing in that lung full of Histoplasmosis laden air in an abandoned movie theater. 

As for the Globe Cinema - Narathiwat's lone claim to cinematic history - insights went undiscovered, I'm sorry to say. It was a hit-and-run mission. Arrive in town, locate theater informant and unbury its past. If no informants turn up after an hour or so, on to the next town. Much of my most recent tour of southern Thailand went down like that.

The Globe Cinema - a fixture of Narathiwat's streetscape since 1957.

Ticket windows indicative of a different era.

Looking closely at the number above the window, it's clear that the 0 in 20 was painted over to be a 5. 25 baht was likely the last and highest ticket price at The Globe before it went bust.

Ticket windows and queuing channels.  

In lieu of hard data, what I can offer is a little seasoned conjecture as to the exigencies The Globe.  

First of all, The Globe is the third theater in Thailand's deep south I came across that had a Western name related to the Cosmos. The other two, The Luna and The Aurora, are both in Yala province, albeit at opposite ends. The interrelated names that this trio shares might be simple coincidence, but it also could be a cultural distinction of Thailand's deep south. Historically, the deep south of Thailand has more in common with the Malay speaking world than with Thai. And for many years the Malay world was a colony of Great Britain, making English the primary language, especially when it came to such things as naming businesses and buildings. 

As for the references to the cosmos, that's simply ornamental.

Architecturally, The Globe takes cues from the International Style, a movement which was spreading throughout the world in the years following World War 2. A few distinctions keep it from being definitive of the style, however. For one, other than the facade, the theater appears to be mostly wood. Views of the auditorium, not pictured in this series, reveal a clap-board wooden exterior, more akin to Thai vernacular theater building techniques than any formal architectural milieu. International Style is grounded in concrete, brick, stone and steel. Not wood.   

The overall lack of ornamentation on the facade was not without good reason. What looks like design laziness was actually simple logic, as that dead space on the facade would be have been covered with vivid hand-painted movie billboards. Matched against the gold-painted moldings of the date (๒๕๐๐ - 1957) above and the name on the shaft tower ("เดอะ โกล๊ป ซีนีมา"), this would have been the most visually exciting building in town, if not the most exciting overall given its function. 

Molded concrete signage, "The Globe Cinema," transliterated into Thai, "เดอะ โกล๊ป ซีนีมา" 

Today, this relic of Narathiwat's cinematic past is a bird's nest harvesting house - a common adaptation for old movie theaters in Thailand's coastal provinces. 

Dating to 1957, The Globe ranks fairly old for an extant Thai movie theater. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a reminder, there are now only 3 copies remaining of The Movie Theater of Thailand photo portfolio. Once these are gone they will never be printed again. The entire box set is on sale here and here exclusively for $300 dollars each. For comparison, my photos currently on exhibition at H Gallery in Bangkok now are listed at $550 dollars for a single print. This set consists of 20, albeit much smaller images.

Get one of these while you can,