Kickstarter

The Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project is an initiative to document the architecture and atmosphere of stand-alone movie theaters throughout Southeast Asia. Through photography, I have built a visual archive of the architecture, spatial typology and cultural life that the stand-alone theaters embody. 

To date, I have conducted fieldwork in more than half of Thailand’s provinces, most of Laos and more than a dozen cities in Myanmar. For the next phase, I will take the project into Cambodia to document what remains of its once-prolific movie-going culture. 

The rapid economic development currently being experienced in Cambodia is causing a perceived redevelopment imperative. As such, many older buildings considered out-of-date or outmoded are in danger of being demolished, and stand-alone movie theaters are high on that list. 

The goal of this project is to document, in detail, each of Cambodia's stand-alone movie theaters while they are still standing. The time to start is immediate.