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movies and even spoke the character’s dialogue. Most films did not have subtitles as they are in ‘Bahasa
Melayu’, and the audience is native to the language.

The audiences of films at that time were segregated according to their ethnicity, as Van der Heide
(2002) observed when he was watching To Live (1994) by Zhang Yimou in Malacca. The audience was
mostly Chinese and they responded well to the film he felt that even though he had a better understanding
and reading of the film than most of the audience, he could not relate to their ‘Chinese-ness’.

‘Chinese-ness’ refers to “the film’s social rituals of gambling, eating, marriage arrangements and funeral
ceremonies as ‘local knowledge.’” He felt isolated and it limited his ability as an analyst. While watching
Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express (1994) in Kuala Lumpur, he also found that talking on the phone while
in the cinema hall was accepted at that time. He also watched Femina (1993) in March 1994 in a cinema
in Kuala Lumpur with his translator, the film was also without subtitles.

It was due to the small currency that the country was having at that time as he refers to it. Van der
Heide adds that back then, expected popular films were released during Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Through
personal experience in a lecture with Professor A. Razak, he told the class that back in the day, people
watched movies during Hari Raya celebrations because that was one of their entertainment. Also, through
the personal experience of others, my mother remembered watching Isabella (1990) in the Odeon cinema
in Seremban when she was in school and watching the film during Hari Raya celebrations on the third day
with her friends.

A study by Frymus (2022) also showed that there will be at least one cinema in every gazette urban
area in Peninsular Malaysia. She mentioned that in the mid-1970s, there were around 368 cinemas in
Malaysia. The number of cinemas in Kuala Lumpur exceeded Singapore in 1978 and it has played a crucial
role in contributing to the entertainment in the city that attracts all kinds of ethnicities, genders, ages and
classes. She found that in Kuala Lumpur itself, there are about 30 cinemas for the people to choose from,
and which majority of them sit along Bukit Bintang and Chow Kit.

Among the brands of cinemas are Capitol, Federal, Odeon, Coliseum, Central, Hindustan,
Pawagam P. Ramlee, Cathay, Pavilion, Rialto, Sun, Sentul, Mido, Golden City, Rex, and Madras. Both Capitol
and Federal were managed by Shaw Brothers. All of these cinemas cater for different types of ethnicities,
social classes, and types of movies. I have constructed the table below that shows some of the cinema’s
characteristics based on Frymus’ study on cinema-going in Kuala Lumpur.

The interviewees in Kuala Lumpur recall regularly taking the bus to cinemas, eating out, and
shopping at nearby shops. The affordable tickets allowed them to watch movies regularly, and word of
mouth was an effective marketing tool. Cinemas were designed with façade differences to target different
audiences, such as the upper class's artistic Coliseum and Capitol, the Chinese-owned Chong San and Gen
Dou Cinema, and those outside the town centre.

Cinemas near residences often play shows based on the demographics of the people living near
them. Indian films, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China are popular among Chinese audiences. Indonesian films
attracted Malays, filling the void in the struggling Malaysian film industry. Rex, Cathay, and Coliseum are

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