Burmese movie-going in 1954

Nice post on an interesting blog about Burmese cinema and movie-going in the 1950's. The author takes a very thoughtful approach that entwines the socio-political aspirations of post-colonial Southeast Asia and the film industry.

A few of the theaters mentioned in the old ads are still in operation, including the Bandula Cinema in Taunggyi.

BBC's Cool Theater List

If the criteria is strictly cool, then yes, I suppose there are some winners here.

Jaipur, India's Raj Mandir Cinema tops the short list of the BBC's World's Coolest Movie Theaters.




Photo courtesy of BBC

Another blow to the silver screen

There's a pile of things I've been meaning to post about, but lack the time to do so. Naturally, this site being what it is, most of the said topics relate to movie theaters. The most relevant, however, does not relate directly to the rapturous stand-alones of Southeast Asia, even though in some places and certain cases parallels do abound. We turn instead to the halls of corporate Hollywood, against which the directorial elite are up in arms over the future of movie-going.

About a month ago, four Hollywood studios began negotiations with a cable television provider to make new releases available on-demand shortly after their theatrical debuts. Such a move, argue some of Hollywood's top filmmakers, would have adverse affects for the movie industry across the board.

If the deal goes through, the latest in film could be accessed via Video On-Demand television a mere two months after hitting the big screen, further undercutting the profits of already-hurting movie theaters, many of which recently doled out large sums to buy 3D-capable projection systems.

But its the demise of the movie-going experience which most worries the likes of James Cameron, Peter Jackson and twelve other Hollywood heavyweights whom have spoken out against their corporate employers. Economics aside, there is no better way to view a movie than on the silver screen, the way the medium was developed. The arbitrary undermining of this practice would further diminish one the modern eras richest social practices.

At least one Hollywood producer has suggested that the only way to rationally get around this impasse would be for the studios to start investing in their own movie theaters. Doing so would guarantee larger box-office returns for the huge conglomerates by overturning anti-trust legislation passed over 60 years ago in the case the United States Vs. Paramount Pictures (filed originally by Philadelphia's own William Goldman Theater Co.). The landmark case forced Hollywood studios to sell off their theater holdings, thus opening the door for smaller exhibitors to show the latest goods from Tinseltown. It was a genuine instance of FDR-style Trust Busting finding application in the cinema.

What all this means for movies and movie theaters throughout Southeast Asia is yet to be seen. Likely each country will experience different effects depending on the profusion of Hollywood movies into the local market. That is, if anything happens at all. Regrettably, the SEA Movie Theater Project places little faith in the corporate world of modern motion pictures to do right by anybody other than themselves.

Never cry wolf

A few days ago I posted a link to a Bangkok Post article which seemed to indicate that the charred remnants of the Siam Theater would be getting some renovation money from landlord Chulalongkorn University. Unfortunately that's not going to be happening. Apparently the entire section of Siam Square between sois 3 and 4 was known as Siam Theater. 270 million out of 1 billion baht will be used to renovate that particular area, but not the theater itself. A shopping mall will rise in its place. Such creative geniuses those Bangkok city planners are!

On a more inspirational note, here's a New York Times article about a city in India, Pondicherry, which has succeeded in preserving large sections of its old neighborhoods in the face of often careless redevelopment.

Resurrecting the Siam?

Are my eyes deceiving me, or is Bangkok Post writer Prapasri Vasuhirun just playing a dirty trick? In a September 11th article, Vasuhirun outlines measures that Chulalongkorn University will be taking to rebuild the parts of Siam Square that were set ablaze during violent clashes between protesters and government troops on May 19th. Regular readers of the SEA Movie Theater Project, along with other high-minded members of the human race, know that the ultimate tragedy of the burnings was the destruction of Apex's Siam Theater. Ensuing speculation was that the 1960's movie mecca would rest in peace for eternity rather than undergo a costly rehabilitation job. An even grimmer rumor had it that Siam Square in its entirety would be ripped down to make way for yet another shopping mall. But now I'm reading otherwise:

"Renovating the burned-out Siam Theatre and the surrounding area will cost more than 1 billion baht, says Group Captain Permyot Kosolbhand, the vice-president of Chulalongkorn University.

Investment costs for renovating the nearly seven rai of land at Siam Square will be paid by the university itself." Read more

If these claims come through I may have to take up a religion.

Stay tuned for further developments.

("CU to spend B1bn on Siam Square." 11 September 2010: The Bangkok Post online)

Film festivals of a new kind

Let it be known to all you cinephiles in Thailand and Laos, or anybody who might be headed in that direction, there are two inaugural film fests taking place very soon. Next week, in fact, from August 6-8, begins Bangkok IndieFest. The motley mix of independent, international programming for this first-time film fest will be screened at Bangkok's HOF Art Gallery. This may be the initial run for BKK IndieFest, but the organizers are veterans of the trade, having held successful festivals for three years and counting over at Cambofest, in Phnom Penh and Kampot, Cambodia. Their inaugural Bangkok version is shaping up to be an event worth making time for.

Across the border and few months down the road, the Luang Prabang Film Festival is set to run from December 4th to the 11th in the picturesque Laotian city it's named for. This is an exciting prospect for little Luang Prabang, which is notoriously lacking in entertainment options once the sun goes down. There's no doubt that the ancient capital of northern Laos will benefit enormously from this dose of the silver screen.

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of their organizers, neither Bangkok IndieFest nor the Luang Prabang Film Fest will be screening films in any classic stand-alone theaters this year. But maybe - just maybe - if enough people turn out to get their fix of film this time around, next year's festivities will be held in one of the few remaining stand-alone theaters in Bangkok or Luang Prabang. A lurid possibility which I hope to see happen more often at local film fests.

Tricks of the trade

Wee Chiang Mai offers two movie theater options. You can go to the locally-owned Vista Gad Suan Kaew 7, or the nationwide chain, Major Cineplex. Never mind that they're both in chintzy shopping malls, the bane of this web-site's content. That's irrelevant to the issue of the day. Today's complaint is how the latter successfully squeezes movie-goers here in Chiang Mai and throughout Thailand.

As a regular movie-goer, I am devoted to Vista for two reasons: they're within walking distance of the abode and, the point of this post, the viewing aspect ratio in their auditoriums is much better than at Major. The latter has a bum tendency to build its theater auditoriums wider than they are long, so that spectators are forced to scan the screen from side to side if they want to see the entire picture. A major pain in the neck, I tell ya! The only seats offering palpable aspect ratios are the last two rows at the back, seats which conveniently cost about one-fourth more than the already inflated standard. In other words, we've been duped! We have to pay a premium to enjoy a viewing aspect ratio that a well designed theater has for all seats, save for those way up front. But Thai movie fans are not the only ones getting swindled by a greedy theater chain.

Author Luke Holland has written a piece ("One man's rant: the soaring cost of going to the cinema") about how theater chains around the world are very slyly employing similar price gouging schemes; ones which entail actually detracting from the cinema experience rather then improving it. He cynically calls such practices 'Less-Product-For-The-Same-Price-Or-More-Product-For-A-Premium-Even-Though-You-Didn't-Ever-Want-It' (L.P.F.T.S.P.O.M.P.F.A.P.E.T.Y.D.E.W.I, ©). Here's an excerpt:

"The other day my missus and I decided to go and see Russell Brand being paid handsomely to pretend to be Russell Brand, but in a film, and we bought our tickets, a tub of popcorn and a fizzy beverage. Didn't see much change from twenty-five pounds, there, but no worry.

Then we go into the cinema and sit down, only to find the drinks holders have been surreptitiously removed since our last visit. Not only this, but either my legs are prone to spontaneous structural erections or there is decidedly less legroom than when I last visited not two weeks ago. It didn't take long to find out why.

The three rows in front of us have been refitted. "VIP SEATING", a sign says. Huge chairs that each take up the space of two original pauper stools, soft leather armrests with two drinks holders and a slot for popcorn. And, oh yes, there's all my legroom, right there billowing about in huge, superfluous clouds, as each and every one of these seats remained unoccupied for the entire duration of the film, while all the cheap seats (now sans legroom and holders) were filled with an increasingly exasperated gaggle of irate Northeners who'd just spilled another glug of icy Sprite right across their genitals.

Read the entire article here...

Old theaters back in business in the US heartland. Why not Thailand?

Here's a little inspiration for all you movie theater enthusiasts out there: a New York Times article about the revival of main street movie theaters in the American mid-west. The following excerpt pretty much sums up my own views on the matter:

"To Tim Kennedy, a professor of landscape architecture who has traveled across the state [of North Dakota] to survey little theaters for a book, the communal will of rural towns that keep theaters going represents “buildings as social capital,” forged “outside the franchise cinemas and their ubiquitous presence at the malls....”

As anybody who's followed this blog knows, there are hundreds of old movie theaters across Thailand just sitting vacant, or being used in ways that pale in comparison to their original cinematic designs. Wouldn't it be nice to see some of them put back in commission?

The poster painters of Phuket

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a Luddite; an analog man trapped in a digital world. Beginning in high school I shunned computers, equating their regular use with brain cancer, obesity and nerdhood. But as time went by, I slowly took up the mantle of digital technology. Now my life sucks more than ever! I'm a laptop lackey, a whore to the hard drive, and the megapixel is my master.

So when I stumbled across these guys in the garage of a Phuket row house my jaw dropped, my heart skipped a beat and I felt a touch of the old, pre-digital me come alive again. Brethren of the brush, not the mouse pad!

Until the mid-1990's, when computer technology really began to come into its own, most movie billboards (also called "hoardings") in Thailand were painted by hand. Artisans like Somboon and Phairoj shown here were employed by the theaters to create these art works, deftly applying a guild-age trade to the joys of film. In Bangkok, hand painted movie billboards would vie for space along the busiest stretches of road, adding a galaxy of color to an otherwise drab concrete labyrinth.

Somboon applies text to an nearly complete billboard. Notice that he uses a computer generated poster as a guide for his painting.

Phairoj adds shadowing to the letters for the movie "Kru Ban Nok" (Country Teacher)

Nowadays, this once prolific art form is nearly extinct in Thailand. Giant printers costing millions of baht have replaced the artist's hand. Be that as it may, it was a genuine treat to meet these guys. Truly the last of a dying breed. If you're wondering, Somboon and Phairoj work for the Coliseum-Paradise Cineplex in Phuket town. Coliseum - which I believe is based in Hat Yai - has movie distribution jurisdiction over southern Thailand. The owner of Paradise, a Mr. Pornphiman, has been in the film exhibition business for decades, once owning some of the island's now-defunct stand-alone movie theaters. Fortunately, Mr. Pornphiman, out of his own good will, or his eye for the arts, has kept the pair of painters employed for the past 20 years, bucking the trend towards digital.

After these guys retire, there won't be much left of this art form in Thailand.

Somboon stands beside his latest co-creation. It took them two days to complete.

Kru Ban Nok: Ban Nonghi Yai, a remake of a 1978 film of the same name (by the same director) opens in theaters across Thailand tomorrow. You can read about the movie at the Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal. This one-of-a-kind billboard, however, can only be seen on a Phuket street side.

From the many, to the few

In last Friday's edition of the Bangkok Post, Kong Rithdee wrote an article entitled Thai Cinema: The decade in review. The final section of the article is dedicated to the lack of diversity in Bangkok's vast cinema scene, despite the fact that the city has more movie screens than it's ever had before. More screens, yes. More owners, no. The near-monopolistic conditions currently afflicting the Thai movie exhibition business are an insult to an industry which once hosted a movie line-up as diverse as anywhere in the world, thanks, in part, to its wide-range of owners. Vertical integration, or the coupling of film distribution and exhibition within the respective big theater chains, likewise limits what makes it to the silver screen.

At the end of the article, Rithdee suggests that it might be time for the government to step in and play a role in opening up the nation's screens - hence people's minds - to more stimulating material. Problem is, I'm reasonably sure that the current government likes things just the way they are.

Here's the text in its entirety.

Screen savers: The multiplex factor

According to the report by Sanchai Chotiroseranee, there are now 136 multiplexes in Bangkok, offering altogether 616 screens. This is, by a modest estimate, over a 50 percent increase from year 2000. Excluding "second-class" cinemas specialising in soft-core flicks, there are now only two stand-alone theatres left, Siam and Scala.

Despite a large number of screens and hiking ticket prices, these theatre chains, ruled by Major Cineplex and SF Cinema, do not serve up a rich variety of films. More screens don't translate into more diverse kinds of movies.

Small Thai films that deserve a wider audience find it hard, if not impossible, to penetrate the lucrative slots occupied by big Hollywood releases. Sometimes SF and Major struck deals with independent filmmakers for limited release of their films (like Wonderful Town), but the short shelf-life usually didn't allow word of mouth to travel. Even Thai studio films sometimes find it exhausting to compete with new American blockbusters - hence the glut of Thai comedy and ghost films to snatch back multiplex screens.

Multiplexes are thus increasingly influential in shaping the taste of Thai audiences. Alternative cinemas such as House, established in 2005, and the veteran Lido, indeed offer choices, yet they represent less than 0.5 percent of the number of total screens in Bangkok. If creativity comes with diversity, this is another area that the government must look into as we step into the new, more competitive decade.

Gloomy Thursday

I had all intentions of making a new theater post today, but I'm so distraught over a certain unfortunate state of affairs that I just had to express myself. You see, it's Thurday in Chiang Mai, usually one of my favorite days of the week. That's because on Thursdays the new movie releases open at the local theaters. Here in little old Chiang Mai there are two operating cineplexes to choose from: Vista, which is locally-owned and has their 7-screen cineplex on top of Central Gad Suan Gaew, and Major Cineplex - the national chain owned by the Bangkok-based Poonworalak family - atop Robinson's Airport Plaza. Between the two theaters there are 14 operating screens in Chiang Mai. Of those 14 operating screens there are two different movies playing, both of which I'd rather stick my tongue in an electric socket than go see.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that what's being shown on Thailand's big screens has as much to do with trends among movie distributors as it does the theaters themselves, but give me a break! This is absolutely pathetic! This is almost a breech of anti-trust law, isn't it? I mean, it's well known that most film production companies cater to the teenage movie-going market, a demographic that is usually more concerned with how they're perceived by their peers than the quality of movies they watch. Market-savy movie producers can get away with creating cinematic puke and still turn a profit because they understand these unfortunate circumstances. But what's the deal here in Chiang Mai? Can't one of the two theaters take the effort to squeeze in something just a little different? The Twilight Saga: New Moon and 2012 is all you're gonna give us?

Bangkok Post movie listings c. 1974 & 1980

The below microfilm enlargements come courtesy of the Chiang Mai University Library.

Notice the listings beneath where it says Sa Chalerm Thai Circuit Proudly Presents. Presumably, Sa Chalerm Thai was the predecessor to Pyramid (now Apex), which is listed in the 1980 paper. At this point I'm not sure whether Sa Chalerm Thai (Apex) was just the film distribution company or whether it also owned the theaters listed under it.

I especially like the ad for "Nixon's Trip To China," playing at the Century, Srirajwong, Metro and Krungkasem theaters.

In the 1980 listing, some of the theaters that were clearly under different ownership are listed under Pyramid Entertainment Corp.. Perhaps Pyramid (Apex) bought them up, consolidating their ownership over Bangkok's first-class stand-alones. I know that the Hawaii, the New York and the Asia were not originally Pyramid theaters. Then again, being listed under a certain company may also indicate distribution, not ownership.

If anybody has any deeper insights into these matters please feel free to write in.

Signs: a free postcard post

I'm very pleased to see that there are a few people out there who take an interest in these old movie theaters from this corner of the world. As a token of my appreciation I've printed up a small pile of postcards depicting some of these theaters. You can get one for free! All you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of this post and vote for your favorite movie theater sign by typing your selection in the comment box. As supplies are limited, only the first 50 voters will get one.

E-mail your mailing address to sea.theater@hotmail.com.

Offer expires June 5th, 2009.

Choose between the rustic Pua Rama Theater....

...the stately Mansruang Theater...

...the simple yet handsome Wiang Mai...

...the trilingual Viang Samay...

...the faded, but still charming Thepbanterng Theater...

...the dazzling Peth Siam...

...the perennially classic Laochaleun..

...the subtly attractive Peth Rama...

..the very green Hong Rama, from Sokhothai, Thailand...

...the worn down, yet imposing Vista Theater...

...the colossus of Udon, the Amporn...

...the exotic Bua Savan, from Vientiane, Laos...

...the very 1950's Chalermradna Theater, another Udon giant...

...the always inspiring Amarin...

...the plain but nice Rasopsuk Ram Theater...


and the distinctively angled Payao Rama.

Vote today and get your free postcard while supplies last.