The lights are out and the curtain has been pulled back from the screen, but no one is coming to see a movie at the Minglalar Thiri Cinema. Dust stirs in the thin shards of sunshine that have punched through the ceiling and the long-disused theatre seats are stacked into musty piles that tower overhead. It has been years since eager theatre-goers crowded into this hall, chomping through fistfulls of sunflower seeds as they watched the latest weepy drama or slapstick comedy. The audiences may have forsaken the Minglalar Thiri, but it is far from deserted.   

Secret nooks and crannies of the old theatre are home to about 20 people, a community of kindred spirits who came to Dawei in search of a better life.

Most of the people living here are men working for the adjoining restaurant. Its awnings partially conceal the cinema structure — a lipstick pink 1950s hulk — from the high street. 

Upstairs on the balcony washing lines hang like giant cobwebs around the projection box and men’s shirts are slung on string around the auditorium to dry. Through a side door there is the sloshing sound of bathing and music drifts through the vast hall. 

We found Nyi Nyi Aung shrouded in a mosquito net in a dark little cubby behind the cinema screen, his face lit by the blue glow of his phone. He is 34 but there’s a weariness to his expression that makes him seem older.    

“When I first got here, I lived in a room over there with some others. There were four or five of us,” he said, pointing to the far corner of the cinema. 

"When you have to live with other people, it can get quite noisy. I wanted a quiet and peaceful place of my own so I set up here. Nobody was living here before.

“I now have a room exclusively for me. I made the bed myself using the wood from the chairs in the movie theatre. It’s good enough for one person.

“We have 24 hour electricity too. I rigged up the power line here myself so I could also charge my phone. 

“There are mosquitoes though. That’s why I had to set up the net.

“In the evenings I just play Buddhist sermons and sleep. 

“I don’t hear sounds of any creatures but some of the kids say they see things. There’s a guardian spirit here and you can’t do things the spirit doesn’t like, like making a mess. I just tell myself before I go to sleep that even if there are creatures, they can live freely and I can do the same. 

 “Some of the kids are afraid of ghosts, but I’m not scared. Ghosts came from human beings who have not moved on to another realm. As long as you play sermons and share your merit, they don’t bother you.

“I came here around July last year. It was my first time in Dawei.

“I’m originally from Myaung Mya in the Ayeyarwaddy delta. I worked with my parents in the village. We would repair farm machines.

“It’s not that my parents’ repair business was struggling. (I just thought) if I stayed there I wouldn’t expand my horizons. If I moved to the city and worked there, I’d have to work with a lot of people and will understand human nature. 

“I worked at restaurants in Yangon since 2004. Then a cousin working here (in Dawei) asked me to come so I moved here. 

“When you work in Yangon, you have to interact with all kinds of people and you have to get along with them. If you’re living with your parents only, then that’s all you understand, not about the wider world. 

“I decided (to leave Yangon) because I had been there for a long time and it was getting tiring. So I wanted to try somewhere new and see if it would work out. 

“Here (at my new workplace), they produce their own food and beverages and they have their own way of doing things. You can work freely.

“Quite a lot of employees are also from my previous work place,” he added, laughing. “We all live here” 

“The restaurant I’m working at has been opened for about 3 years now. I will start working at 10.30 today. 

“We don’t have days off, we just work in shifts. If you start work after 10 then you can take a break around half past four and start work again after five. If you started working very early in the morning, like six, then you can take a break around noon. 

The Mingalar Thiri was still showing movies in 2011, but it has since fallen into crumbling retirement, losing out to Aung Mingalar Cinema across town. 

“I haven’t heard anything about (repairing this cinema)," said Nyi Nyi Aung.

“There aren’t any valuable things here. But I treasure this sound box -- it’s actually from the cinema,” he said, gesturing towards a speaker that was part of the cinema's sound system. "It still works! 

“I use it to play Buddhist sermons and music. 

“I have a lot of Buddhist sermons but I don’t meditate every night because this isn’t a monastery or meditation centre so sometimes it’s difficult to concentrate. But if I can I meditate after work around 10 at night. Sometimes I only start working after saying the prayers. 

“I play music during the afternoon break. I tend to listen to singers like Wine Wine, Lay Phyu and Myo Gyi. So rock music. But sometimes I also listen to rural songs.” 

(Interview November 2016)