Fifty-eight years on, Al Hamra is still standing

On June 8, 1968, Al Hamra opened as Bahrain’s first air-conditioned cinema. Almost six decades later, films are still being shown under that name. Nearly everything that opened around it has disappeared.

The beginning of cinema in Bahrain was far less comfortable. The country’s first cinema was a cottage in 1922. The first official cinema followed in 1937, lacking both air conditioning and heating. In winter, screenings moved to an open-roofed building, where one of the walls served as the screen.

Black-and-white films were shown, mostly Egyptian productions alongside some American titles. Tarzan and westerns drew crowds, although some older citizens objected to cinema at the time, fearing it would erode traditional values.

By the 1950s and 1960s, eight more cinemas had opened, including Pearl, Al Hamra, Al Nasr and Awal. Bapco had also operated its own cinema in Awali for staff since the early 1940s.

The business took on a more formal shape on June 30, 1967, with the charter establishing the Bahrain Cinema and Film Distribution Company.

What appeared on Bahrain’s screens also followed changes in the population. Awal opened showing English-language films. As Keralite migration grew during the 1980s, it switched to Malayalam films and drew packed audiences.

Al Hamra itself nearly went the way of the others. It closed on 5 May 2000, the same day Al Nasr shut permanently, and remained dark for nine months before reopening on 7 February 2001.

The others did not return.

Awal closed on January 3, 2016, clearing the way for a shopping complex on Al Zubara Avenue. Al Jazeera in Muharraq followed on the final day of 2018, bringing another chapter of Bahrain’s old single-screen cinemas to an end.

Yet the newer cinemas were not guaranteed permanence either.

Saar opened on December 26, 2000, with four screens, representing the new multiplex era and a very different way of watching films. It closed on November 30, 2019, after 19 years.