Relics, Ruins and the Romance of Escape
THAILAND’S MOVIE THEATRES

The very impressive "Cleopatra" (produced in Todd-AO, 1963) 6-story tall bill-board was painted by Thailand's most famous poster painter, Tongdee Panumas. It was based upon the original US poster art by Howard Terpning. Early in his career, Tongdee emulated Terpning's painting style.

The Thai premiere of "Cleopatra" is not even listed on imdb.com!

Philip Jablon’s life was altered forever when he stumbled upon a rundown movie theater in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai back in 2006. A few months later, the building was gone.

“That what the watershed moment for me,” says Jablon. “I decided I would go from town to town. I would explore the corners of the old parts of town and look for these old buildings and take photos. Sometimes I’d find them, sometimes I wouldn’t. Sometimes I would find ones that were intact, and looked exactly like they always had. The theatres have been forgotten. In rural places people tend not to go near them as there’s a greater level of superstition with ghosts and they tend to just deteriorate. But I find it exhilarating. Going there to take a picture I know I am bringing a little known piece of Thailand to the rest of the world. Some of them are pretty cool, too.”

Jablon first visited Thailand as an exchange student in 2001. He went on to take a masters degree in sustainable development at Chiang Mai University and now splits his time about evenly each year between the kingdom and family in Philadelphia. Help with his quest came from the Thai Film Archive, enabling Jablon to launch the Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project, which has seen the photographer expand his search for old movie houses through Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. He’s found more than 300 — and more publications are in the pipeline.

“I’ve got enough material to do a book now on the movie theaters of Myanmar,” Jablon says. “So I guess I’ll just keep snooping around.”