The Flicks Community Movie Houses

The Flicks Community Movie Theater was the first independent movie house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Its venue offered big screen movies in an air-conditioned movie room to the expatriate community.

The Flicks are a member of the Motion Picture Association of Cambodia (MPAC) and registers all of its screening titles with the Cambodian Department of Cinema & Cultural Diffusion, making it the only movie theater in Cambodia to do so.

History

Martin and Jeanette Robinson founded The Flicks Festival Movie House in 2009. They renovated a pre-Khmer Rouge villa into one with an air-conditioned movie room with a bar. In March 2011, Dutch serial entrepreneur ⠀⠀Ramon Stoppelenburg took over the business after an online fundraising effort to save the movie theater. The flicks closed down on 8 August 2021. According to Stoppelenburg, it was due to the impact that Covid-19 had on the industry, particularly on independent film venues.

The Flicks 2

Demand rose for a second location in the city center. A brand-new movie venue was constructed on #89, Street 136, inside the 11 Happy Backpackers Hotel. The Killing Fields (film) screens daily. The Flicks 2 could seat 20 people and closed in December 2017.

The Flicks 3

The Flicks 3 on #8, Street 258, between Wat Botum Park and the Hotel Cambodiana, opened its doors in August 2014 and was the first venue to also be a restaurant, cocktail bar and guesthouse. The Flicks 3 could seat 30 people. The Flicks 3 closed in December 2017.

External links

• The Flicks Community Movie Theaters The Flicks website
• 7 Questions to Flicks owner Ramon Stoppelenburg (Phnom Penh Post)
• A Cinematic Tour of Theatres in Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh Post)
• A decade of Phnom Penh’s first Independent Theatre A decade of Phnom Penh’s first Independent Theatre (the Khmer Times)