JEDDAH, 16 December 2005 — Cinema theaters have always been an obsession for many people in the Kingdom.

Since the country’s law forbids them, some eager moviegoers have gone to extremes to catch the latest blockbuster. People in Riyadh and the Eastern Province have been known to drive all the way to Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) just for the purpose of watching a movie on a big screen.

Others invest in projectors and set up their own cinema environment in the privacy of their homes.

The latest trend for desperate moviegoers in Jeddah is the cinema cafe.

Unlike conventional large cinema theaters, these cafe cinemas allow customers to order food, drinks and even Shisha (hubbly-bubbly) during the show. There are no tickets for screenings; a customer merely pays for his drinks and food.

When approached by Arab News, managers of these enterprises preferred not to call them cinemas (they do not advertise the showings, nor do they present the latest releases) and indeed opted to keep their names out of the paper until clearer regulations are established.

One cafe in Al-Baghdadia has reserved one of its three floors for screenings. Equipped with a large screen projector, the cafe offers a number of smaller plasma televisions on the sides for the hall for the spillover audience. The sound system is also set up dynamically to give a theater-like effect.

The Moroccan manager of the cafe, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the demand is overwhelming.

“Customers are having to make reservations for weekend shows,” he said.

He claimed that the movies are original copies that are bought from licensed retailers. “We play a selected varieties of famous movies,” he said, adding that the features usually begin in the evening and can run until late after midnight.

While the copies of the movies may be legal, global copyright law states that a special public-viewing license is required for commercial establishments to present features. Movies are not played according to customers demand.

“We have a person who’s responsible for choosing and playing the movies according to certain categories,” he said.

Another cinema cafe in Al-Rawdah District is also showing to a regularly full house.

The Egyptian manager of the cafe said the success of the business strategy is causing him to consider printing and distributing a weekly movie schedule.

“I can never miss a weekend in this place,” said Nazeeh Abdul Baqi, a Saudi customer of one of the area’s cinema cafes.

Abdul Baqi, a bachelor in his mid-twenties, highlighted the need for such places.

“We have nowhere to go, especially with the very limited forms of entertainment that are set up for singles in Jeddah,” he said.

He said that he gathers with his friends every weekend and watches a couple of movies before calling it a day.

“We still hope for a conventional movie theater, where the screens are much bigger and crowd noise is much less,” he said.

Ahmad Al-Harthi, a Saudi in his late 20s, said that he has his own projector and cinema screen at home.

“Even though I own my small private cinema, I still lack the feeling of thrill that can only be felt in large cinema theaters,” he said. Al-Harthi, gathers with friends on weekends at his place to watch a couple of movies.

“We like to go at least once or twice a month to cinema cafes, just for a change,” he said. “Cinema cafes are certainly not enough, but something is better than nothing,” he said.