At some point, Songkhla City is bound to take its place among Southeast Asia's top cultural heritage destinations. With its gracefully-aged, yet well-preserved architecture set against a sleepy maritime backdrop, it's puzzling why the southern Thai town is not already ranked with the likes of Luang Prabang, Laos or Georgetown, Malaysia, on the heritage map.
The Saha Cinema in Songkhla.
Among the lesser-known gems of Songkhla's early-modern and Sino-Portuguese architectural inventory, tucked away in the heart of so-called Old Town, is an 85-year-old former cinema.
To your average passer-by the structure would hardly register as a movie house. Its lack of any telltale insignia common to cinemas, combined with the fact that it's mostly wooden — an unlikely material for a cinema in this day and age — place it under the radar of all but the most discerning observers. Its current incarnation as a parking garage, moreover, further obscures its cinematic past.
But to long-time residents, however, the Saha Cinema is a well-known if not legendary piece of Songkhla's heritage.
When it first opened for business in 1930, originally under the name of The Chernchom Cinema, the age of the motion picture officially arrived in the bustling port city. Movies became an instant hit, giving rise to a succession of cinemas in the years to come.
"Forty or 50 years ago, the Saha was full at almost every screening," recalled Vinai Sabprueng, who operated the cinema from the mid-60s until its closure in 1990. "Songkhla's cinemas were where everybody came together. People came to watch the movies, of course, but it was more than that. It was the best way for people to meet one another in public."
Like many of Thailand's old stand-alone movie theatres, the Saha is set back from the street-side building line, leaving an open plaza in front where pushcart vendors once sold snacks to moviegoing masses. Cozy one-story shophouses on the plaza's perimeter, erected in conjunction with the cinema, were rented out to other businesses catering to the crowds.
"This place was full of life when Saha Cinema was operating," said Goson Eua-Anukunphong, a second generation tea shop proprietor renting one of the cinema's adjoining premises. Goson's parents founded the tea shop over 60 years ago, when Saha Cinema was doing brisk business. "All the shops in this court serviced the movie theatre in one way or another."
On an overcast Sunday morning, Goson's shop hosted a flurry of customers, all long-time patrons now in their golden years of life. Once this clientele stops coming, closure for Goson's shop is almost certain and so will go the last business linked with the Saha.
Within its current context, the Saha Cinema seems due to follow the same trajectory of countless other stand-alone movie theatres throughout Thailand. The building will linger on, with few if any repairs or improvements, until every bit of economic value has been squeezed from it. Neglect will eventually run its course, at which point there will be no other option but to demolish it. Or so the prevailing logic goes.
In Thailand, the lack of a working model for the adaptive reuse of outmoded entertainment venues like movie theatres, many of which are architecturally unique, makes reversing that trend difficult. But that tide could be starting to turn with the plan to renovate Nang Loeng cinema in Bangkok, which, when completed, will hold the enviable title of the oldest active movie theatre in all of Asia.
The Nang Loeng project ought to serve as a new model for the renovation of other dormant stand-alone cinemas in Thailand, of which there are many that could work. In Songkhla, where a gradual rise in preservation consciousness is beginning to take root, it couldn't be more apt.
"Local people are starting to recognise the potential of this town," remarked Bangkok transplant Narichya Saichua. Just over a year ago, Narichya and her Canadian-born husband bought and renovated a mid-century modern shophouse in the centre of town, turning it into a boutique bed & breakfast.
"But I think for Songkhla to be really good," she says, "it needs to have all components of its past life." A living Saha Cinema would be a huge step towards fulfilling Songkhla's potential.
Philip Jablon is an independent photographer and researcher. Visit seatheater.blogspot.com for more information on his Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project.
Goson Eua-Anukunphong's tea shop at the Saha Cinema in Songkhla.
