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That's a belief that was widely held until about 20 years ago. Nowadays, people acknowledge it's here, but prefer to say it was brought here by foreigners.
Anyway, a friend has been doing deep research into the country's LGBT history history, and after a few years ended up producing a 30-minute documentary. The film is about gay cruising at movie theaters. It hasn't officially premiered yet, but he managed to obtain permission to screen the film at an old closed theater -- one of the particular gay cruising theaters he focused on in the documentary, which had opened in the 1970s and closed in 2010. On Saturday, he had the film screening on repeat all afternoon, so I showed up, watched it in the theater, and learned about all the sex acts that had been performed right where I had been sitting. After, I wandered around and saw more of the building.
This event was held in secrecy, as he was rightfully worried Christians could show up and ruin everything.
1. The building is part of a dense market complex, and if you've ever seen any videos about street food in Asia, it probably had footage from there.
2. I had to find one doorway, where there were still signs pointing the way. I didn't photograph the door.
3. It led up out of the market and brought me up into this unheated old building.
4. This doorway off the main stairwell led the way in. When I came out later, I went out the left door and fell down where there are no stairs.
5. I then found my way to another staircase leading officially into the theater.
6. At the top of the stairs was a box office. Previously there had been tinted glass covering it, so the worker would only see the hands of customers giving money and they would never make eye contact. There are still love motels operated like that. The poster on the right is for the event I'm at, and the whiteboard on the left shows the times of screenings throughout the day.
7. There's also an announcement declaring its closure in 2010.
8. The movie posters certainly date the place.
9. Imagine watching Iron Man while getting a handjob from a stranger.
10. Around the corner from the box office was the snack concession. There were about a dozen people there during the first screening, and I was careful to only photograph the person I know, the film's producer.
11. Past the snacks were these red seats, where older gay men used to sit and ogle people as they entered.
12. The theater had two entrances, but only this one was open.
13. The actual theater was cleaned up a bit for this event. The practice was to sit two seats in, so someone could sit in the aisle seat, and if signals were positive he would move in one more seat to be next to you. So the guy in the left side of the theater could hypothetically be waiting for company. Originally the theater would have been much darker when in operation, filled with cigarette smoke, and with the exit sign smashed to reduce light.
14. Afterwards, I decided to go up higher in the building on my own.
15. This is the floor for the balcony.
16. Up one more level, I found theater seats that had been removed.
17. The way up was still unimpeded.
18. Above the theater was a cabaret, which sounds more gay but I'm told was not. I'm on the stage, and the dancefloor is being used for storage.
19. Up one more level, and the stairs are blocked.
20. Fortunately, there was an external staircase that was wide open.
21. That led me to the roof. This shot is overlooking the market, which stretches from the building I'm on over to that new grey-and-black building on the right. From above, it's just a collection of random-looking buildings of different designs.
22. Nice lock.
23. On the way down, I got into the projector room.
24. That was one of the ways up there.
25.
26. On my way out, I got lost inside the building and had to backtrack all the way up to the theater level again. The architect must have been on LSD.
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Thanks for sharing, it is still so hard for me to believe in modern times that fellow human get persecuted for expressing themselves. And christains do have a way of ruining everything, people lives etc. I would love to see the film and hope it gets a wider distribution
Thanks for posting this Steed!!
[last edit 12/18/2022 3:21 PM by dundertits - edited 1 times]
Kabbalah is an undramatic tradition that requires great patience and stability. One of the reasons for this tempo is that everyone has to mature his potential gradually and thoroughly at his natural pace. In this way his life's work unfolds at the right moment in his own and the cosmos's time.
Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah | |
Really cool series, man. Great mixture of sociology and the more basic excitement of getting lost in a decrepit old building. Thanks for sharing!
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Really cool event and pics. I miss going to underground cultural events.
www.yoeltaom.as |
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