The Painters

One of the more lamentable casualties of Thailand's movie theater industry is the movie billboard painter. At one time indispensable to the marketing of films, over the years this craft has been whittled down to a skeleton crew of active artists. 

But in the good old days of grand movie palaces, before the rise of the antiseptic theater chains, some of the nation's most talented painters made a living by creating cinematic visions to entice the crowds. Theater facades, commercial streets and prominent intersections in any sizable town were once decked out in original works of king-sized art that rotated on weekly basis.  

Billboard painter works on an ad for the Terrence Hill-Bud Spencer spaghetti western "Even Angels Eat Beans" in Khorat c. 1973 (photo credit to Craig Campen) 

Ads for Thai romantic comedy starring Sombat Methani and "Even Angels Eat Beans" 

The Chalerm Sin Theater, Ubon Ratchathani, advertising some Terrence Hill-Bud Spencer spaghetti western c. 1971 (photo credit to Jim Faiano)  

The Chalerm Thai Theater, Khorat branch. The billboard and cutout is of an unknown film, while the marquee advertises 1969's "Sabata."

The Pattani Rama with hand painted ad for Congo. c. 1996 (photo credit Wantaofek Baka)

This trade flourished until the mid-1990's, when the introduction of large format printers to Thailand caused an unfortunate and quite sudden shift. Theaters owners, already feeling the squeeze of declining ticket sales, were no longer reliant on the painters to create advertisements for their film fair. One by one theaters made the switch, laying waste to an entire guild once held in high regard. A classic case of machine making obsolescence of man.  

Today in the larger Thai cities, LED screens have become the new norm for roadside movie ads, bar-none the most effective way of drawing the eye of the passerby. But as luck would have it, there is one theater chain in southern Thailand that eschews the blinding commercialism of LED in favor of the soft stroke of the billboard painter. Colosseum Cineplex keeps at least two studios in southern Thailand in business. One in Phuket and the another in Yala.

Another theater in Sisaket - MVP Cineplex - apparently also employs a painter to do its movie ads.

Hand painted ads for "Terminator Genesis" (left) and Jurassic World (right) cloak the front of an abandoned building in Yala. 

The video below is a quick glimpse into the working life of Yala's movie billboard painters. Enjoy.

The Aurora Theater - Betong District, Yala, Thailand

The story is well told by now. Hackneyed even. On the verge of becoming a bore.

Its backdrop varies in just about every case, but the actors and circumstances remain the same. If you've read these scripts enough you can predict the plot: The movie theater is built; it serves an important social purpose for its time. It's charming and much beloved. Over the course of time things start to change. Technology changes, society changes. The theater loses its relevance, just like any earthly thing that cannot adapt to change. Then, after a gradual decline or a rapid development in technology, the theater goes out of business and is soon forgotten. The end result is either a vacant mess with a colorful past, or a repurposed curiosity. Otherwise it's torn down. End of story.

The differences are in the details, of course. The Aurora, for instance - which, for the record, falls into the "repurposed" category - seems to be of a similar age and style of a few other theaters that were encountered in Thailand's deep south. One of them, the Luna Theater in Yala City, has a similar cubist facade with grid-like windows ventilating what would have been an upper lobby and office areas. Textbook mid-century International Style, tropical iteration.

Locals in Yala pegged the Luna's development to a Singaporean builder/owner. In the case of the Aurora, with its consonant look and English moniker consistent with celestial bodies (Luna, Aurora), it could very well have been the same owner - a Straights Settlement entrepreneur easing in on the Thai movie market. Without having done any deep research, my guess is that it was part of a Singapore-based chain with its own distribution arm looking to expand its reach. But speculation is just that. Hopefully somebody will tie it all together someday, confirm conjecture or dispel myths.

The very International Style Aurora Theater - Betong, Yala

Original tile work in the lobby, which has been turned into a cheap department story.

Stairs once leading to balcony seating.

The story of stand-alone movie theaters in Thailand never lends itself to the Hollywood ending. Save for one pending case, the protagonist never finds redemption, salvation or revenge at the story's end. 

The Aurora Theater is no exception. Like hundreds of other Thai movie halls, the Aurora is now just another anonymous building with a slightly grander gauge, occupying a prime plot of the town's geography. More specifically, the building's lower level been changed into a cheap department store called Betong Plaza, while the upper level is now a go-go bar. So while the Hollywood ending is predictably absent for the erstwhile theater, a "happy ending," so to speak, does indeed figure in. 

The Siam Theater - Yala, Thailand

Geographically speaking, the Siam Theater feels like the center of Yala. Not just the center of the old commercial section of town - which it is the center of - but the entire province. It's almost as if the old Mandala system of Buddhist monarchical rule, in Yala, fanned outwards from its cosmological core at the Siam Theater. If only in name, that's not such a stretch, as the theater's original moniker was The King's Theater. 

With its terminated vista setting anchoring the middle of old downtown, the Siam is a spectacle even in post-life. One can only image its affect on the town's image when festooned with colorful movie billboards and twinkling lights.  

The Siam Theater at the terminus of a cozy urban vista 

Dating to the early 1960's, the Siam was once the premiere movie theater of Yala. International Style architecture, then the vanguard of modern building design, was deftly employed to help the Siam achieve its top tier status. 

Hand painted signage in Thai and Chinese

Sadly, in conjunction with the usual socio-technological factors that cause stand-alone movie theaters to fail, Yala and the rest of the deep south have had an on-going insurgency to further dampen the movie going spirit. That constant fear of violence has kept locals indoors for all but the most necessary activities. Leisurely pursuits like movie going lost their appeal, leading to theater closure after theater closure. Today, a mall-based Coliseum Cineplex is the only option in Yala for watching a movie on the silver screen.

As for the Siam, for the past 5 years it's been a swiftlet nesting house.

The Pata Theater - Yala, Thailand

Before the strife 

in southern deep

Movies shown 

and on the cheap

Picture houses 

grand and small

Brought great delight 

to one and all

Of three or four 

across this city

A brutal gem 

lurks in the nitty

Concrete bleak 

with retro fittings

A sight to see

 for the unwitting

To see this hall

one must enter

Into a zone

a bit off center

Market smells

of fallen rot

Waft through the air

to mar the spot

Rats with wings

perch on the wires

A blighted scene

to cull desires

In lobby filth

upon the ground

Unlucky man

upon is found

With habits etched

into his brain

Oh man! his actions

were insane

So much so

to not repeat

Just think, what might

one do with meat?

If not for man

oh slacken creeper

Venture in

we'd dig much deeper

But eerie sounds

and uncouth scents

Wicked sights

of people bent

Our gaze was stuck

upon facade

Without much luck

in land so odd

Yet old past glory

it must be stated

A noble story

to be related

Relate in photos

it must suffice

For Pata Theater

was once real nice

The Luna Theater - Yala, Thailand

On the main drag of downtown Yala, just a stones throw from the city's lone cineplex, a classic mid-century movie theater stands partially buried behind a frontage of cheap new construction. Fortunately the concealment is only partial, giving the observant passerby a chance to notice the telltale fin sign jutting skywards off of the building's cubist concrete facade.  

From the street, much of the Luna's facade is obscured by a new, frontal addition.

Neon letters spelling "LUNA" in English, Chinese and Thai span the vertical length of the sign, paying quiet homage to the theater's past.

Luna signage 

The Luna Theater was built in 1960, at the height of the International Style movement in architecture. The builder was apparently a Singaporean transplant, which might explain why it has an uncommon aesthetic for a Thai theater (have a look at these Malaysian theaters for comparison). 

Old Luna stayed in business until the mid-1990's, after which its auditorium was gutted and turned into a parking garage. Nothing therein remains that's worthy of documentation.

Parts of the lobby, fortunately, have been spared the hatchet, allowing the decorative details to remain visible for all who enter. In particular, the right lower lobby and accompanying staircase, which once led movie-goers up to balcony seating, seems to be fairly well preserved. If this colorful little sliver of preservation is any indicator, the Luna must have been a sight to see.

The Luna lobby, now part of a spa facility

Tiled flooring and stair in the lower lobby.

In its current iteration, the Luna Theater has been largely given over to a beauty spa. For this, the owner has smartly made use of the old theater's decorative lobby splendor. Beautification of the female form in an artfully designed cinema lobby: What a combo!

Ascending the wrap-around staircase like countless movie-goers from decades passed.

Inside the projection room.

Like a pair of rusted cannons on a forgotten battlefield, the Luna's carbon-arc projectors stand as a hidden reminder of the past. 

Diesel generator, suggesting that Yala City did not have a steady electricity supply when the Luna Theater was built in 1960.

Luna signage - more akin to theaters from neighboring Malaysia/Singapore than Thailand.