Check Out UAE’s First Ever Cinema That Still Stands Today in Sharjah!

Woah!

Sharjah Paramount opened in 1943 at a British Royal Air Force base and is thought to be the first movie theater in what is now modern-day UAE. 

The old photograph captures the outdoor cinema in all its glory. Upturned petrol tins serve as seats, and palm fronds separate the cinema from the rest of the base. As the Second World War raged on, it provided a much-needed distraction for soldiers and locals.

“It [screened films] at least once a week – mostly on Sundays – for showings of mainly fairly recent Hollywood movies, said Ali Iqbal, a UAE-based Historian.

Log books at the UK’s National Archives also show the films that were shown there, such as the 1940 American comedy Slightly Tempted and the same-year drama Ma! He’s Making Eyes at Me.

“[The cinema] was a welcome relief for the airmen of convoy escorts and submarine hunters of the RAF as well as a different and fun way to spend a Sunday evening for the residents of Sharjah and nearby emirates,” Mr Iqbal said.

Present day

The RAF base closed in 1971, but the control tower, guest house for people flying through Sharjah, and, remarkably, the original wall where those films were screened, are now part of the Al Mahatta Museum, which is run by the Sharjah Museums Authority. It honors the region’s prestigious aviation history.

The museum also has a permanent exhibition dedicated to the cinema, complete with a mini recreation of the Sharjah Paramount.

Visitors can sit on some of the old petrol cans and travel back in time to wartime Sharjah.

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