Scala(HKAFF 2022)

A giant movie palace that became an endangered species in the age of the multiplex, the Scala cinema was the final single-screen cinema left standing in Bangkok. However, the cinema was demolished in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to close down permanently. The daughter of a former employee, Ananta Thitanat drew on her familiarity and nostalgia for her childhood haunt in this quietly moving obituary, documenting the space itself in its last days. As a former employee says in resignation, “Times change,” but that is exactly why documents of vanished heritage like this film are more important than ever.