October 9th 2010: A 92-years-old theater is about to be brought back to life. Built in 1918 right after the Russian Revolution, this theater sits right at the center of the historic Nang Lerng community.

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E-learng is a project that invited 7 artists to produce experimental short documentaries on anything about Nangloeng community.

 

After a year of production, the project screened all 7 shorts at the Chalermthani cinema, a cinema situated at the heart of Nangloeng's community which for the past years have survived the officials' endeavors to demolish and transform it into an empty parking lot. The officials cited that with sheer expansive space that the parking lot could potentially provide, the space could generate more profit and jobs to the community itself.

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We got a note from the landlord saying:

NO SHOW IN THE THEATER TODAY;

IT'S NOT SAFE TO DO SO DUE TO AGED STRUCTURE as the crowd, the food vendors, and the backpackers are arriving for the old theater's 92-year anniversary celebration.
It was unexpected. The venue was lost, along with all the hours of planning. Currently, the Crown Property Bureau owns the property where the Nang Lerng village is located. The Bureau would have to give its approval for anything related to events and festivals.

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A bearded man standing barechested exclaims, "Why not simply flaunt it anyway - outside the cinema!" Several hours later, a giant white canvas is being spread across the historic theater; the movie will be shown there just after dusk.

In the audience, there are whispers and speculations that the ancient theater would be demolished and replaced with a parking lot. The developers are against any sort of holiday association with the theater. It would be exceedingly difficult to demolish the old theater in the public's eyes if the community unintentionally gave it new life.

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Currently, a giant poster that reads "E-LERNG: A DOCUMENTARY" is displayed in front of the theater. The food vendors secured their food carts with umbrellas when they realized that the crowd would remain as they waited for the movie to start at dusk.

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A flash of light has just shown on the white canvas screen that has been set up in front of the historic theater, "1, 2, 3.." The sun is almost visible above the horizon as they test the image, and Nammon and her guerilla crew of filmmakers are now ready to work their magic. All of this is happening while the Ministry of Culture drafts a law to censor "hazardous cinema," a law intended to prevent the release of politically sensitive films.

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