Hand painted movie billboards & old movie theaters.

With the continuous growth of Philippine cinema came the construction of Philippine theatres in Metropolitan Manila and the provinces. These theatres provided the venue for regular bodabil performances (an indigenized form of vaudeville), film showings, and festivals, all of which enriched Philippine culture. Several theatres built within the city of Manila were designed by prominent Philippine architects, including national artists Juan Nakpil and Pablo Antonio. Juan Nakpil conceived the Capitol, the Ever and also designed the Avenue Theater while Pablo Antonio created the Galaxy, the Ideal, the Scala and the Lyric theatres. 

Most of these movie theatres have since then closed, and several of them have been demolished.

Many people from Manila remember Rizal Avenue as the center of city's social life. The stretch of Rizal Avenue, from Plaza Goiti to Claro M. Recto, was the Greenbelt or the Glorietta of the post-World War II era. The avenue was lined with shops, restaurants and movie theatres.

As the years went by, the area was victimized by urban renewal.

The main culprit for the deterioration of the area was the LRT, a sort of metro train above the ground. The train was conceived to ease traffic in Rizal Avenue and Taft Avenue although in doing so killing businesses along the route. The cinemas themselves resorted to showing double feature B-movies and soft porn, as people transferred to the more fashionable cinemas in megamalls around Metro Manila.

The availability of cheap pirated DVD’s was another factor that contributed to the downfall of old and iconic movie houses in Manila. Gold RTM (previously Cine Noli), Lords, Roben, Vista, Hollywood, Lider and Dilson are among the only remaining cinemas as of today. Most of them have dilapidated and acquired a dubious reputation for being a front for prostitution dens. 

I still vividly remember the vast hand-painted billboards advertising new movies when I first visited the Philippines twenty years ago. Today it is hard to find them in the streetscapes of Manila. The ones you can find toady are much smaller than those that existed in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

The downfall of the old movie theatres also brought the end of companies making hand painted movie billboards. BM Sagmit which is located in Tondo is to my knowledge the only remaining company still making hand painted movie billboards.

Nowadays most billboards are electronically printed on tarpaulin but the old cinemas can hardly afford them. They continue to ask for small hand painted billboards on canvas that are cheaper as after each use a new billboard is painted upon the old one.

This photo series will show you the artists making the billboards and also give you a glimpse of some of the old movie houses remaining along Avenida Rizal, Recto Avenue and Quezon Boulevard (Quiapo).

Fixer: Dennis Villegas

Archive pictures of BM Sagmit.     

Comments

[Frau]

I miss seeing the hand painted posters along the MacArthur highway in Angeles City. I also remember the slight oil smell from a fresh one. There is something about that smell that takes me back.
BM Sagmit could still make money. There has been a rise in popularity for having a hand painted poster for weddings, birthdays and such, in the US.

[Randele A. Arcilla]

The Old Movie and Cimena Billboards in some of parts in Metropolitan Manila was ended in the mid 2000s after the few years and 4 decades from 1960s to 2000s.

[Supra Skytop]

CO CO CO ......COME BACK TO ME....MY GIRL MY GIRL.....

[Marie]

superbes photos, avec toutes ces publicités.

[dodong flores]

Excellent series, Sidney. I have to view every posts from the newest backward...

[carla]

another superb series, sidney. it seems like i only see these hand-painted movie billboards in manila nowadays.

[Calusarus]

Une forme d'art que je ne connaissais pas.

[The Nomadic Pinoy]

These old movie billboards do remind me of my childhood years in the Philippines. I was always amazed at the skills of painters who churned them out quick enough before a movie's release. Too bad we don't see them that much these days!

[JJ]

Amazing shots and so interesting to learn how the billboards are hand painted

[pieterbie]

Beautiful that first one!

[petra]

Love to see the Philippines thru your eyes

[don]

A fine series on this aspect of the theatre business. Amazing size to be painted.

[dong ho]

my father used to do some those in the province. he's really good at it. hope you get to find more of these. mostly in quiapo like some of your photos here.

[Chantal]

sourire !! c'est vraiment moche tous ces panneaux ... qu'ils soient en France ou ailleurs dans le Monde ... je préfère la verdure des petites routes de ma Bretagne .... cordiales pensées à tous ...

[Zing]

Love those billboards, interesting shots!

[yz]

the weathering adds a lot of impack to the image on the top

[Michael Rawluk]

That is all so cool.

[Ginnie]

Very educational again, Sidney, as you are so good at doing for us. And yes, I did notice the Metro Manilla Baptist Church!

[SD (Aspherical)]

Interesting topic - there's nothing similar here in the U.S. that I know of. I'm looking forward to this series, it's something completely new to me. Finally, that close up first photograph is amazing - I couldn't figure out how you did it or what it was until I read the text. I like how the canvas and decay abstracted the woman.

[Zhu]

Hand painted? Wow, that,s original! I don't think I have ever seen that, even in Latin America.

[lagalog]

the days of handpainted movie billboards and banners were over as soon as photographic printing became cheaper and cheaper. With printing on tarpaulin becoming cheaper by the month, we probably may never see those again except outside the cities. I kind of miss them; like the Sarao jeepney art, they're a throwback to a bygone era when artists rely more on their hands to draw and paint, not to click their mice and view the computer screens

[rian]

yeah, i do remember seeing these movie billboards.. it's a pity they're slowly dying out..

[docgelo]

you never run out of ideas for your series, sidney! this is simply amazing! those hand painted movie posters might be uniquely manila, is it not?

[Annalyn]

I miss all those movie theaters. Most of these places were parts of my day to day life.

[John]

I look forward to this series, hand painted, very cool.