Digital killed the stand-alone

According to this report, the last of Bangkok's 2nd-run movie theaters are under imminent threat of closure. The only way to stay competitive in the movie exhibition market these days it to upgrade to digital projection systems, but under-capitalized 2nd-run movie theaters can't afford the high cost of the upgrade. 

The report is in Thai, but there are some good shots of Bangkok's last operating stand-alones for those who can't understand.

For the sake of efficiency

The built environment of any city is always a tenuous subject. What was once in vogue becomes obsolete or even hideous as time goes by and paradigms change. In terms of modernization, by its very definition the more modern a city becomes the more efficiently it is regulated.

In looking over these images of the last days of Washington Square, where the Washington Theater was once an anchor institution, I can't help but place it in the context of a slum clearance. Not the typical squatter settlement slum, comprised of resident-built shacks made from scrap material, and found throughout peri-urban Southeast Asia, but of formal housing which - over time - lost its value and took on slum characteristics.

Washington Square, a mid-century concrete cul de sac featuring 3-story shop houses surrounding a stand-alone movie theater, was once a state-of-the-art development. Its design and function was emblematic of the 1960's modern Bangkok that covered over vast tracts of swamp and paddy land. Today, the remaining Washington Squares of Bangkok have degenerated into working slums, filled with low rent shops and housing that planners and developers think nothing of demolishing.

But if there is anything to be learned by examining the life cycles of cities, it's that architectures which fall out of fashion can regain popularity. The shopping mall which will be built in its place will never be able to replicate Washington Square's human scale intimacy - to say nothing of its unique social history.

Film crew exploring the ruins of Washington Square

These photos were passed along by Bangkok film maker Wattanaphum Laisuwanchai, who explored the remains of Washington Square for a movie he is making about vanishing Bangkok. That's a film I don't want to miss.

As viewed in Vientiane

Below are a few shots from the SEA Movie Theater Project photo expo at the I:cat Gallery in Vientiane. The set was hung as part of the 3rd annual Vientianale International Film Festival, which ran from February 26th to March 2nd in the Laotian capital.

The Vientianale exhibition marks this project's second time being exhibited in Laos, it's sixth exhibition in conjunction with a film festival and it's eighth exhibition overall. With any luck there will be many more exhibitions to come. And if the gods of the cinema smile down upon me with enough zeal, maybe - just maybe - I will one day take to the road again. Boy, do I miss it. 

Scala upgrades to digital projection

By Kong Ritdee

Bangkok Post, March 7, 2013

For 42 years Scala cinema has projected films as film was supposed to be projected: with 35mm print, rolled into a plate as light beams through the strips and atomises the moving pictures that hit the screen. Now the theatre has evolved, along with the whole world.

As the last functional stand-alone cinema in Bangkok, Scala, Siam Square's icon, is also among the last movie houses in town to have upgraded its projection system to digital.

Professional estimates have it that by the end of 2015, the global transformation to digital projection will be complete. More than 80% of cinema screens in Europe are now digitally equipped, for instance, and there are more than 12,000 digital screens in China as of last year. About half of the movies we see in Bangkok today are being shown digitally _ through Digital Cinema Package, a sort of hard drive that plays high-definition video images.

Scala, one of the two cinemas of Apex Group in Siam Square, showed its first digitally projected film last Thursday, the thriller Stoker starring Nicole Kidman. At the nearby Lido, also an Apex outfit, two of the three screens have already been upgraded to digital; the first film to be shown in the new format is Jack The Giant Slayer.

The upgrade to digital of Scala and Lido means more than just technical advancement. Last year, news about the imminent demolition of Lido, and possibly Scala, prompted a quick and passionate outcry of people who regarded the two cinemas as historical landmarks and even as the last stronghold against the fervid urban expansion. Even though Chulalongkorn University, which owns the space, alleviated fears by assuring that there was no immediate plan to demolish the two cinemas, the situation seems to be hanging in uncertainty.

By investing in the expensive digital projectors, however, Apex seems to be indirectly giving hope to its fans. If Scala and Lido were about to be demolished, as the rumour mill keeps stating, the operator wouldn't have spent money upgrading the system. Or at least that's the reading from observers. An executive of Apex doesn't confirm this though. In a phone conversation, he only said that the cinemas need to adapt to the changing times, since digital is becoming the norm. He didn't elaborate on the future of Scala and Lido.

Most cineplexes charge higher prices for digital screenings, but Scala and Lido are charging the same 100 baht _ still the cheapest. This is why people love them, analogue or digital.

SEAMTP exhibit included in Chop Shots video recap

Here's a video recap from the Chop Shots Documentary Film Festival S.E. Asia held last December in Jakarta, Indonesia. At 1 minute, 52 seconds there are some good shots of the SEA Movie Theater Project exhibit that accompanied the festival.

The Peth Kasem Theater - Nakon Pathom, Thailand (Guest Photos)

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis was bad for Thailand's independent movie theaters. From the moment of impact, followed by months of downward spiral, scores of already-struggling family movie theaters closed their doors as crowds and access to credit grew scarce. The crisis came to a head because of unregulated speculation in the Thai currency market. When that speculation bubble burst, the financial system collapsed, leaving countless theater operators, with their costly overhead and dwindling attendance, out in the cold. (Of course, the impact went well beyond just theater operators, but for our interests here at the SEA Movie Theater Project, we'll stop at their lament.)

Featured below is the Peth Kasem Theater, a casualty of the '97 crisis located in the Bangkok satellite city of Nakorn Pathom. Like most small Thai cities, many of Nakorn Pathom's locally owned and operated movie theaters closed after the '97 meltdown. Today the structure lives on as a dingy parking garage in a narrow alley, its former luster a thing of the past.

The Peth Kasem Theater once had a seating capacity of 1,200.

Veranda area

What was once the concessions area.

 

Side doors

Poster of former starlet Jarunee found in upper level.

"Projection room"

It's good fortune that there are a few followers out there who take the time to send in their own movie theater photos. The Peth Kasem is one such submission. These photos come courtesy of a dedicated friend of the Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project, Regis Madec, who's web-site Thai Worldview lists, among other things, numerous Thai film synopses and listings. It's a great resource for those with a yen for Thai cinema.

Vientainale Int'l Film Fest to Hold Exhibition

At the end of February, a full year will have passed since my last foray into movie theater documentation. This year long hiatus, following 4 years of more or less steady work, has indeed made the heart grow fonder. Hopefully something will give at some point down the road, and the chance to explore the towns and cities of Southeast Asia will arise. Hopefully, then, there will still be a few old theaters to chronicle. In the past year, the rate of attrition for stand-alone movie theaters in Southeast Asia has been extremely high. 

In the meantime, the photographic output of this project continues to show its wings. Just in time to celebrate the one year anniversary of my last documented theater, an new exhibition will be unveiled. 

The 3rd annual Vientianale International Film Festival, in Vientiane, Laos will feature as a side event a 10-image set of SEA Movie Theater Project photos. The images will remain on display at the I:Cat Gallery for two weeks after the end of the film fest, which will run from February 26th to March 2nd.

If you're in the neighborhood stop by and enjoy some free movies and photos.