The country's only cinema dedicated to showing pornographic films has been given
the go ahead by district officials to continue in business despite an order from
the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts (MoCFA) that it shut.
The dilapidated and musty Bayon Cinema, Phnom Penh's second largest, was told to
close its doors after the ministry discovered that soft porn is the theater's main
attraction.
The cinema building is owned by the district branch of the ruling Cambodian People's
Party (CPP). Deputy leader of the party, Prime Minister Hun Sen, has over the years
outlawed all manner of vice, such as short skirts on Khmer television. Most recently
Hun Sen banned karaoke parlors across the country as they were deemed to be endangering
the country's morality.
Khim Sarith, head of MoCFA's inter-ministerial committee for cracking down on illegal
film and video, last week ordered the municipal culture office to close the Bayon
with immediate effect.
"These movies are illegal," said Sarith. "When the young people see
them, they want to test out what they have seen. If we can curb this problem, our
society will become a solid and strong unit."
He said the Bayon's pornographic fare, which is screened without the necessary approval
from MoCFA, might account for the increase in the rape of young girls. The link between
pornography and sex crimes has been suggested in the West for several years.
"Watching pornographic films will encourage the audience, especially the young,
to cause crimes," said Sarith. "That will cause a decline in social morality."
However, Daun Penh district chief, Suon Rindy, told the Post the leaseholder of the
cinema building, which he said is owned by the local branch of the CPP, would have
the license renewed for another year. He said there had been no problems with the
films and denied any knowledge of an order to close from the ministry.
"These films don't seriously affect people," he said. "I will only
revoke the contract if the operator decides not to take responsibility for them."
Bayon's only transgression, said Rindy, was a single hoarding that was painted in
too racy a manner. The owner addressed that problem. He would not say how much money
the local CPP branch charged in rent, but confirmed the money would go to the Daun
Penh district account of the party.
The Bayon Cinema, whose three year lease expires May 10, has been offering blue movies
to its clientele since 1990. Back then, said Sarith, he would crack down on such
establishments himself.
These days, he said, it requires the cooperation of the municipality whom he blamed
for dragging its feet in this case. He said several leaseholders had come and gone
since then and he did not know who was now running the cinema.
"To arrest film operators [in the early 1990s] was not easy," he said,
of an earlier crackdown. "The projectionists had several VCRs and simply changed
films as soon as our team arrived."
A staff member at Bayon said that although the original films - which come from
Hong Kong, the United States and Japan - were pornographic, the sex footage was cut
out and the films dubbed into Khmer and turned into romantic movies that had educational
merit.
When asked why the Bayon did not show Chinese martial arts movies or Hollywood action
films, the staffer said no one would pay to see them "because the people watch
those films free on TV and at coffee shops".
