Plan to modernise cinemas around the country
Play
All the cinemas in Myanmar will become digitalised within this year, according to the Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation (MMPO).
For the first phase, the government has instructed entrepreneurs operating 27 state-owned cinemas with long-term rentals to upgrade to digital projects and improve their facilities.
“If (the cinemas) will not be converted to digital system, we will discuss about returning them back to the Ministry of Information.
“There may be entrepreneurs who can upgrade these cinemas or people from the film industry can run these cinemas as a public firm,” Win Kyi, secretary of the MMPO said.
MMPO operated Waziya Cinema (1) and (2) for the past 30 years, but the government refused to renew their contracts after they expired last year. Since then, MMPO is only allowed to operate the cinemas on a monthly basis. This makes it difficult for the organisation to upgrade the cinemas.
MMPO’s chairman Zin Wine said the organisation had submitted a request to the authorities to allow them to rent the cinemas long-term.
With the organisation unable to afford to buy the cinemas on its own, it would have to get together with businessmen to fund improvements, the chairman said.
“If we can cooperate like this and build four or five modernised cinemas, we will be able to fill the cinema demands,” he said.
A total of 116 cinemas exist in Myanmar, but only a few of them are equipped with modern movie projectors while the rest of them have poor facilities.
