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In the midst of giant cinema multiplexes, a sole figure breaks through a film theatre industry dominated by big muscle groups. House in RCA (located on the second floor of the Tops complex) is a small (and stylish) new player in Bangkok’s otherwise monotonous cinema scene. We talk to one of House’s founding partners, Khun Pongnarin Ulice (Jong) about film, House and being small in a big world… House has been open since July last year, how has it been going?  t’s been going well, quite slow and a bit quiet but that’s okay because we’re a small theatre, we show small films from small production houses to small audiences. Some movies maybe from Hollywood, but they’re still not blockbusters. So far everything has been going just step-by-step. We’ve had no money for advertising as we had big renovation costs and have only seen small profits, but we were lucky to have a big sponsor. And really these modest advances fit in with our character which is all about the little man in film.
How did it all begin?
The reason we opened was because we thought Bangkok should have this kind of cinema and we had been waiting a long time for it, but nothing happened, so we started the project ourselves. This was just one of the many projects my boss and friend had floating around. We just wanted to show films we wanted to see. There’s a small market for this kind of film, but it’s still there. We were also mindful of the fact that we shouldn’t be too “arty”, because that excludes and scares some people off – we want to make House accessible to the average person.
We’re four founding partners who have all come from varying backgrounds, but none of us had any experience in theatre management. We had no idea about the system, so this has all been a learning process for all of us.
Our greatest challenge now is to survive. We renovated 95% of this space – it used to be the old theatres, UMG 4 and 5. We don’t employ many people – there’s very few of us working here. It’s time to educate the audience on good film and that will take time. We’ve just taken the first step which is to provide a venue and platform to screen good films.
Who was responsible for the design?
House was designed by THIS design. We also contracted artists for some of the art work. For our feature wall, we only had two days to finish it before the deadline. We didn’t know what to do but I had a quick simple idea for a dot-to-dot mural. I commissioned my friend to do it – and we finished it in time!
It looks cool we like, we like. So what else goes on here at House?
We have a café, a small library and an internet station. Soon, we want to open a dvd shop as well.
House is more than a theatre. It’s a venue for art exhibitions, music events, anything like that. Last year, we held the Soi Music Festival because I’m also one of the organizers for the event. Other groups also use our venue for their various projects.
It seems like we’re seeing more and more film festivals, the major one notably the Bangkok International Film Festival, what do you make of the Thai film scene in general?
 ost Thai films cater to mainstream audiences and use big studios for production which means they have to fit into the system of marketing and promotions and so on. There are no Thai indie films. I believe there are many good Thai directors and filmmakers but they don’t fit into the system. There’s no money or support for small independent films here. Not only that, but there’s also no audience for these kinds of film. We’re only at the beginning few stages in Thailand for appreciating quality cinema and film production. We still have a long way to go. That’s one reason we opened House: to show that there are many different kinds of films out there and to generate awareness about them.
Swishly designed, conveniently located (if you have a car) and as one of the only venues screening decent films in Bangkok, the only drawback of House is its lack of internationability. The House website is mostly in Thai and so are their newsletters and menus. Although this is easily excusable with the oft-remarked comment “Well, we do live in Thailand after all.” Still, one would think a much larger market of farangs could be tapped to boost revenue.
But being too small to pose a threat to the colossal cinema companies, House is quite happy to plod along in their “small” and unassuming way, ensuring us they will be in it for the long haul. And confessing a soft spot for small-time ventures, it’s nice to know someone out there cares more about art than profits.
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