The Cathay Cineplex in Handy Road, one of Singapore’s oldest cinemas, already ceased its operations from late June this year. It will be taken over by a new independent movie project.

When I read the news in the Strait Times about this during my recent trip to Singapore, I felt I’d better go and snap a few photographs of the last scenes of Cathay. And I did so on my Leica MP with a roll of Kodak set at ISO 400. It took me some time to develop the film when I got back to Hong Kong. So, this is indeed a late post.

I actually don’t know if the Cathay in Singapore is somehow related to the same namesake Cathay (國泰) cinema in Shanghai, one of the first modern cinemas launched in China, and it has been still in business to this day. Even the architecture of the two Cathays in Singapore and Shanghai does look a bit similar from outside.

When I visit Singapore next time, the same place should already have its new owner. History can be both powerful and weak; it depends on how the people keep it and remember it.