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The end of the reel: Jakarta's lost and losing theaters

"There was a time when this place was packed everyday," Akiat, a weathered man in his fifties said, as he looked over the dimly lit waiting room of the Prima Theater, spared from complete desolation by several couples sitting on battered chairs

The Jakarta Post
Mon, August 24, 2009

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The end of the reel: Jakarta's lost and losing theaters

"There was a time when this place was packed everyday," Akiat, a weathered man in his fifties said, as he looked over the dimly lit waiting room of the Prima Theater, spared from complete desolation by several couples sitting on battered chairs.

As the sun sank, its afternoon rays shone through the wide windows to reveal the loneliness of the theater, located on the third floor of the Slipi traditional market in West Jakarta.

Nothing is left in the theater, save for a few empty chairs and dusty panelling, but several reminders of the theater's glory days remain intact.

Slick neon-colored signs show customers to their theater and the modern "now playing" display section looks strangely similar to those found in the Cinema 21's that dominate the country's market.

"A few years ago, this theater too was part of the Cinema 21 chain," Akiat said. "But since there was another Cinema 21 just a few meters away in the mall, they decided to let this one go."

As it clutches to its past, what's left is a sad caricature of the Prima Theater's heyday - the female staff still ware the "21" batik uniforms, despite the lack of customers.

But the Prima Theater, one of the last independent theaters left in Jakarta, is about to have is last screening. "This place will be closed down soon," Akiat said, "The theater's contract with PD Pasar Jaya *The city's market operator* will end next year and there's no sign of a renewal."

Akiat has been working for cinemas for over twenty years. Several theaters, such as the Nusantara and the Nirwana, benefited from his services. But like Prima, they too have seen better days.

"The Nusantara Theater in Jatinegara is closed now," he said, "it was badly managed after I left and wasn't able to compete with the big cinemas."

Many cinemas have met the same fate. The Rivoli Theater in Kramat, Central Jakarta, ended its career as the reel-bearer of Bollywood movies in the 1990s, after 40 years of operation. The Globe theater in Pasar Baru, the Orion in Roxy and the Djaja in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, are just a few others that have closed their doors in recent years.

Even the historic Guntur Theater in South Jakarta, with its once dignified art deco architecture, is now barren and deserted, despite a plan by the local authorities to turn it into a movie museum.

Hamim, who once worked at the now-defunct Viva Theater in Tebet, recalled the slow but sure death of not only the Viva but the Wira Theater and the Tebet Theater, which once competed side by side for enthusiastic audiences.

"Back then, in the 1980s, there were so many people lining up to see the movies, literally hundreds of them," he reminisced. "My boss first established the Wira Theater in the 1960s, then Tebet and Viva followed, because we didn't have enough space to accommodate all the moviegoers."

The theaters benefited greatly from local movies back then, Hamim said, "I remember when Rhoma Irama and Rano Karno movies first came out; people flocked to see those flicks."

But over the decades they fell one by one. "Tebet and Wira were the first to go, about five years ago," Hamim explained. "Then after years of having only five or six viewers a day, Viva finally gave in and closed down two years ago."

The theater, which once entertained around 1,800 viewers a day, will soon be torn down to make way for a new office building.

Hamim's employer and the owner of the property, still however keeps the Grand Theater in Senen, Central Jakarta, alive.

However, the condition of the place does not reflect its name; the smell of mildew and dampness oozes from inside, repelling everyone except several men with faraway looks and middle-aged women caked in heavy makeup.

But for Rp 5,000, anyone can see a film at the Grand for Rp 10,000 less than they could at a Cinema 21. On the wall of the waiting room, next to a scribbled "now playing" sign, hangs a small poster depicting an erotic scene from a Chinese movie.

Just above the Grand Theater is the Mulia Agung, or "Great and Honorable" Theater, with its dark waiting room, broken mirrors and long-since-faded flashing tiling.

"Sometimes we only have 20 customers a day," Parmin, the usher at the Grand Theater, said. "When there are only a few people in one of the two studios, we just tell them to join the audience in the other one. I don't think an one really bothers about the movie anyway," he says, hinting at the cinema's new-found use.

As he rips a middle-aged man's ticket, a heavily made-up women following briskly behind, Parmin smiled knowingly. "That's the way it is now, I guess."

Akiat said such scenes were no stranger to him when he worked at the Nirwana Theater in Pasar Minggu. "All those women, all those things going on inside the studio," he said, rolling his eyes, "I only lasted a week there.

"I couldn't stand it, even though there were more people there compared to here," Akiat said, "So I came back to work here." Still, he claims he is tired out now, and so is the business. "I want to retire soon," he said, "It's hard to make ends meet by running an independent theater, and I think it's time to give up the fight." (dis)

 

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