VCD Cassette Store in Brunei Darussalam

After being in Kuala Lumpur for two days, I continued my journey to Brunei Darussalam. Just two hours and thirty minutes, I arrived at Brunei Darussalam International Airport.

In Brunei, I stay at a homestay in Jalan Gadong. Last night, I had to go out to Gadong Mall to exchange rupiah currency to Brunei dollars. The distance between my homestay and Gadong Mall is about fifteen minutes by public bus.

Arriving there, I headed straight for a shop. This store sells VCD cassettes of the latest Hollywood movies. The front of the store, there is counter currency exchange, but it has been closed since at 5 pm.

Today, I went back to Gadong Mall. Being very curious about the store, I took some photos to share with you.

My mind again reminded of the movie A Copy of My Mind. A film by Joko Anwar who took one of the venue settings at a pirated VCD tape store in Jakarta. VCD cassettes used to be a tool to watch movies before the presence of Internet and Internet-based platforms.

In Banda Aceh there is still a VCD cassette store. Precisely on the road WR. Supratman, Peunayong. When I was studying in Primary School, VCD rental shops were numerous. They provide services for people to watch movies. During the armed conflict, the cinema began not operating in Aceh.

An interesting thing to look at. Brunei Darussalam is one of the prosperous countries. The existence of this VCD cassette store really surprised me. Especially with the cinema (I do not know there must be a cinema in Brunei, but there is a cinema advertisement in Gadong Mall).

VCD cassettes in Aceh are even watched many times by different people. It became the most anticipated object of hope-even if only for one lease. But now, the VCD record store in Aceh is beginning to lose its existence. The last time, a network of the most popular VCD tape store tenants was the Ultra Disc. Ultra Disc provides original VCD cassettes. They have branches all over Aceh.

The presence of VCD cassette recorders in Brunei Darussalam shows the taste of watching the Brunei people have been around for a long time. I need to learn again how the production and distribution system of films in this Sultan Hasanah Bolkiah country.

This could be a major film research project in Southeast Asia. Bearing in mind, there is no film submission from Brunei on the Vidsee.com platform. We will know the depth of their culture from the films they make. Hopefully I can research more deeply.

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Bahasa Indonesia

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Setelah berada di Kuala Lumpur selama dua hari, saya melanjutkan perjalanan ke Brunei Darussalam. Hanya menempuh waktu selama dua jam tiga puluh menit, saya tiba di Bandara Internasional Brunei Darussalam.

Di Brunei, saya menginap di homestay di Jalan Gadong. Kemarin malam, saya harus keluar ke Gadong Mall untuk menukar mata uang rupiah ke dollar Brunei. Jarak antara homestay saya dengan Gadong Mall kira-kira lima belas menit dengan menumpang bus umum.

Tiba di sana, saya langsung menuju ke sebuah toko. Toko ini menjual kaset VCD film-film Hollywood terbaru. Bagian depan toko, ada loket penukaran mata uang, tetapi sudah tutup sejak pukul 5 sore tadi.

Hari ini, saya balik lagi ke tempat Gadong Mall. Karena sangat penasaran dengan toko tersebut, saya mengambil beberapa foto untuk dibagikan kepada kawan-kawan.

Pikiran saya kembali teringat dengan film A Copy of My Mind. Sebuah film karya Joko Anwar yang mengambil salah satu setting tempat di toko kaset VCD bajakan di Jakarta. Kaset VCD dulunya memang menjadi alat untuk menonton film sebelum hadirnya internet dan platform-platform berbasis internet.

Di Banda Aceh masih ada toko kaset VCD. Tepatnya di jalan WR Supratman, Peunayong. Ketika saya masih belajar di Sekolah Dasar, toko-toko rental VCD sangat banyak. Mereka menyediakan layanan bagi masyarakat untuk menonton film. Saat konflik bersenjata, bioskop mulai tidak beroperasi di Aceh.

Sebuah hal yang menarik untuk dicermati. Brunei Darussalam termasuk salah satu negara yang makmur. Eksistensi toko kaset VCD ini sangat membuat saya terkejut. Apalagi dengan adanya bioskop (saya belum tahu pasti ada bioskop di Brunei, tetapi ada iklan bioskop di Gadong Mall).

Kaset VCD yang ada di Aceh bahkan dinonton berkali-kali oleh orang-orang yang berbeda. Ia menjadi barang incaran yang paling dinanti-nanti walaupun hanya untuk sekali sewa. Tapi sekarang, toko kaset VCD di Aceh mulai kehilangan eksistensi. Terakhir kali, sebuah jaringan toko penyewa kaset VCD yang paling populer adalah Ultra Disc. Ultra Disc menyediakan kaset VCD orisinil. Mereka mempunyai cabang hingga ke seluruh Aceh.

Adanya toko kaset VCD di Brunei Darussalam menunjukkan selera menonton masyarakat Brunei memang telah ada sejak dulu. Perlu saya pelajari lagi bagaimana sistem produksi dan distribusi film di negeri Sultah Hasanah Bolkiah ini.

Ini bisa jadi proyek besar penelitian film di Asia Tenggara. Mengingat, tidak ada submisi film dari Brunei di platform Vidsee.com. Kita akan mengetahui kedalaman budaya mereka dari film yang mereka buat. Semoga saya bisa meneliti lebih dalam.

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