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Plus & minus points
This venture by Caribbean Cinemas means that after about seven decades of perhaps about four dozen cinemas throughout Guyana ( a period which drew to a close about a dozen years ago, when local cinemas began to feel the negative effect of several factors, including different processes of film-viewing and audience-seeking), the return of cinemas is a happening that calls for careful speculation and analysis of both the positive and negative aspects of this venture; or, to put it another way, the new opportunities it brings, and the ones lost. Perhaps there are aspects of how cinemas were managed in the past that would be an additional boost to their re-introduction via Mr. Carrady’s company.
When Caribbean Cinemas open their doors with its first selection of films in March 2013, if all goes well, the adventure and excitement of cinema-going in Guyana, or Georgetown at least, will not be the same as it was for seven decades earlier. One factor this venture by Caribbean Cinemas has in its favor is that a new generation of Guyanese with no experience in how the previous decades of cinema-going worked, will simply accept or adjust to their opportunity to enjoy the obviously new facilities with the latest comforts and hi-tech projection equipment, including the over-bearing thunderous noise made by some advertisements and even ‘boom-box’ film soundtracks. They might have little interest in if they have lost anything valuable or socially beneficial which the previous local cinema-going experience provided for them. What is it that may be lost by the new Cineplex cinema-going process?
No neighborhood cinemas
Cinemas will no longer serve neighborhoods in city and rural communities as in the past, but exist as a special single site on the outskirts of the capital reached only by driving, but very little walking or cycling, except perhaps by those villagers living nearby. The importance of cinemas to various neighborhoods in the past meant the convenient daily presence of intelligent popular interests in the form of professionally chosen visual stories containing world geography, diverse cultures, etc, easily reached by people of all races and classes via Hollywood, European, and Bollywood Indian films, stimulating constant thought and aspirations. The decline of cinemas in Guyanese neighborhoods, especially in the capital, occurred when ethnic specialization and competition from Indian Films under similar ownership and management began to convert major popular neighborhood cinemas in the capital, such as Empire, Liberty (formerly Rialto and Doren) and Plaza, into purely Indian cinemas. Consequently most of the neighborhood and civic clientele dropped.
Success Recipe
The success of Guyanese cinemas in the past was related to the cosmopolitan diversity of topics, people, and countries seen and experienced in diverse film genres like Westerns, Film Noir, social dramas, comedy, romance, adventure, and beneficial intellectual narratives, presented. The fact that cinemas allowed such topics and styles to be continuously present in screenings that occurred more than once, and were often repeated at other cinemas in other locations, not to mention the three different pricing and seating sections, guaranteed their relevance to diverse Guyanese and made them a success. Even more important was the fact that these films were from the 1930s up, shown and appreciated without any silly preference for ‘new’, or just made films, since Guyanese then had sense enough to know that ‘new’ really means what they have not seen, and was therefore new for them. This success was underlined by knowledgeable, literate, experienced film buff management and staff, who carefully selected these diverse films for their audiences.
The plus of Caribbean Cinemas
The plus for Guyanese when Caribbean Cinemas open their doors in Giftland’s Mall will comprise the opportunity to see numerous brilliant films from the 1970s up, especially from European countries like France, Italy, Britain, and Spain, also Russia (Tarkovky’s films are a must) which have never publicly come to Guyana, neither in cinemas, TV, or DVDs. Now also the opportunity for a wide audience to see the brilliant contemporary films of Brazil, Hong-Kong, Japan, non-Anglo Africa, and Scandinavian Europe, should also become a reality. Each of the eight cinemas, or even two, can simultaneously present films in various genres and topics, especially much denied intelligent ones as opposed to only ‘action flicks’. Bollywood films can now at least have one of the cinemas all to itself, without denying or alienating anyone. Issues of security, desired behavior, even dress code, should be established, no cell-phone use during screenings, or smoking anywhere on the premises should be permitted. The outer cinema lobby could feature appropriately stimulating structural paintings by Guyanese artists as a preface to visual stimulation, and film magazines like FILM COMMENT, PREMIERE, SIGHT & SOUND, and FILM CULTURE should go on sale at a lobby shop. Finally, the vacant spot where the renowned historic city cinema, the PLAZA on Camp Street, should be kept as a cinema site that will cater to intelligent Georgetown audiences, as in the past. No other street site is as appropriate as Plaza’s on Camp Street for the retaining of at least one new cinema of quality in the downtown Capital, and it would be a waste to see yet another boutique, mechanic shop, fast-food service, supermarket, etc, on Plaza’s site, when they can go elsewhere. The demand for intelligent pursuits should be met in a contemporary Guyana in dire need of such social betterment. Mr. Robert Carrady’s welcome Caribbean Cinemas venture on the East Coast should just be the beginning of that betterment via popular film culture in Guyana.
