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Myanmar cinemas to become digitalized
Published on Saturday, 09 February 2013 23:56
Waziya Cinema in downtown Yangon (Photo - EMG)
All the cinemas in Myanmar will become digitalized within this year, according to Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation (MMPO).
For the first phrase, 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 the people from the film industry can run these cinemas as a public firm," said Win Kyi, secretary of MMPO said.
MMPO operated Waziya Cinema (1) and (2) for the past thirty 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 basic. This makes it difficult for the organization to upgrade the cinemas.
MMPO’s chairman Zin Wine said the organization has submitted a request to the authorities to allow them long-term rental of the cinemas.
As the organization cannot afford to buy the cinemas on its own, it will have to cooperate with businessmen, said the chairman.
“If we can cooperate like this and build four or five modernized cinemas, we will be able to fill the cinema demands,” he added.
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.