PHOTO ESSAY
Balcony View – Pyay, Burma (photographed January, 2011) Peering over the balcony at the Tun Thiri Cinema. The lone occupied row of seats is the row closest to the screen in the cheap section. In other words, the patrons have tried to get as close to the screen for the lowest possible price. Photo by Philip Jablon
The Thamada Cinema – Yangon, Myanmar (photographed June, 2010) Thamada translates to "President" in English. In 1960, when the Thamada burst into the ranks of Yangon's movie theater elite, a name like that would have held a certain amount of political zeal. Things were looking promising after the casting off of more than sixty years of humiliating British-colonial rule. Myanmar, then Burma, was coming out of World War II badly damaged, but ready to move forward. Hopes were high that the country would enter the world stage, find its wings and soar to new heights via state-driven industrialization policies, the likes of which were being pursued across post-colonial Southeast Asia. A building like the Thamada, then, embodied the spirit of the times. This was the new Burma, after all, not the medieval one, nor the one subdued by foreign powers. The nation's capital yearned for a movie theater which could represent the progressive outlook of a burgeoning democracy. Sleek international style architecture was employed to achieve this end. To this day the Thamada is in pristine condition, entertaining capacity crowds on a daily basis. In operation
The Thida Cinema – Yangon, Burma (photographed January, 2011): For the Thida Cinema, a boxy façade is brought to life by a colorful tile mosaic – a hallmark style of Burmese theater architecture in the 1950’s. Five theaters with these same characteristics were encountered throughout the country. Enough to brand the style as distinctly Burmese; the Burmese Polychrome cinema halls. Demolished 2013
March 2016 / InDepth Magazine 21