After nearly a year of upgrade, Da Nang’s Le Do Cinema, 46 Tran Phu, was officially reopened its door to the public in November.

New and modern makeover of the Le Do Cinema

It can be said that the Le Do Cinema is the only State-run cinema with the long-lasting history in the city.

It was built in 1975 in order to meet the entertainment demand from residents in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province.

It is also the only State-owned cinema in the country that has protected original architectural features from the subsidy period, and it has become the symbol of cinema in Da Nang.

The movie theatre was upgraded for the first time in 1993. Many years later, it was downgraded and its screening equipment was out-of-date.

In October 2016, 121m² of the front area of the cinema was handed over to the construction unit of a tunnel project which took Tran Phu under Le Duan. Therefore, the current area of ​​the cinema is only over 500m², which is not suitable for building cinema type 3 with required area of 1ha, type 2 with between 1.5 and 2ha, and type 1 with 3ha. Since then, it has lost its attraction to cinema-goers due to its narrow area and outdated equipment in comparison with the advanced machines used in other movie theatres in the city.

The Le Do Cinema is equipped with modern screening equipment

In attempting to solve the problem, municipal People’s Committee Chairman Huynh Duc Tho in July 2018 gave a nod to spend 5 billion VND from the city budget on upgrading the cinema.

After one year of construction, the 1^st stage of the Le Do Cinema Upgrade Project has been already completed. It was officially put into operation last month.

Covering an area of 523m², the newly-upgraded movie theatre has 3 storeys. The first floor of the cinema is the lounge area for selling soft drinks, popcorn, and movie tickets. Meanwhile, there will be 2 movie rooms on the second floor, and one on the third floor.

Currently, the screening room No 1 with the seat capacity of 130 has been already put into use. The 3 billion VND room features modern sound and screen system.

The 2^nd stage of the upgrade project will focus on building the remaining 2 movie rooms, purchasing HD projectors, and upgrading the air conditioning system and other downgraded items.

After the upgrade, the Le Do Cinema marked its return with the Spanish Film Festival 2019 in mid-November. During the festival, a large number of cinema-goers expressed their surprise at the impressive makeover of the long-lasting State-owned movie theater.

Mr Le Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the municipal Culture and Movie Centre, revealed that the Pacific Alliance Film Festival 2019 would take place at the cinema from 6 - 8 December.

Also, many new films will be screened at the cinema to meet the growing entertainment demand from locals and visitors over the forthcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.

By NGOC HA - Translated by MAI DUNG