Ramon Flicks the Switch on Phnom Penh movies

He's led expeditions up Mount Kilimanjaro, travelled around the world for two years with no money and been a commercial model in the Netherlands. He’s shared popcorn with Geri Halliwell and shaken hands with Steve ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin. In 2002, he was named Internet Personality of the Year, by the British Sunday Times and he even has a Wikipedia page about him.

He's now coming to a theatre near you.

In fact, Ramon Stoppelenburg, is bringing you the theatre near you. He's the contender who stepped up first when Martin and Jeanette Robinson put The Flicks up for sale and, with the help of people from around the world, raised enough funds to buy the place.

On March 11, the Robinsons announced that they were putting the movie theatre up for sale since they were moving on to more full-time work in Phnom Penh. Only 10 minutes later, they had a call from Ramon, who’d seen the notice posted on Facebook and wanted to throw his hat in the ring.

“When I arrived in Phnom Penh last September and first saw it, I was hooked,” he said. “I thought of doing something like that myself but realized it was already here and being done well. I didn’t have the space so it didn’t make sense for me to do. But when I heard it was for sale, I jumped at the chance!”

While he didn’t have the funds to purchase The Flicks himself, the resourceful Dutchman had an enterprising scheme to make it happen. He set up a >website and asked for help from friends and fans of the Flicks to help him raise the $10,000 needed. Through his social media connections (392 Twitter followers on his English page, 887 on his Dutch page and 746 Facebook fans) and the publicity generated by his idea, money started coming in. To date, he has received $7,084 from 150 people literally around the world.

“I had to try it,” he said. “If I only raised $130, I’d have to blush and back down and hope nobody remembered me. But if you don’t ask, you’ll never know”.

His hair-brained scheme proved successful and he’s now the owner of the place, starting this week. And all the loans come with a personal guarantee from Ramon: to pay them all back within six months (oh, and four free tickets for everyone who’s loaned him money).

How can he make such a guarantee? “My name is on it,” he said. “It’s about personal integrity and I would never walk away from something I promise to do”.

So, this Friday, April 14, Ramon will switch on The Flicks projector for the first time and screen his favourite all-time backpacker movie “A Map to Saturday” at no charge for all who choose to join him. And the entire weekend will feature non-stop Seinfeld episodes from noon to 6pm for fans of the quirky American series.

For all supporters of The Flicks, Ramon has good news: he plans to make very few changes. He’s intending to keep the quirky futon and wicker seating and the same selection of beer, popcorn and snacks. And he’s also open to ideas from his audience about new things to add (such as daytime movies which are starting next week and a bigger bar area with more comfortable seating).

There will, however, be a more concerted marketing effort to publicise the location with a new website, hundreds of flyers distributed around town and advance reservations accepted through the site.

And the vegemite sandwich will still be on the menu in memory of Martin, who featured it for his friends down under.

“I’m not sure how many people actually order it,” Ramon smiled. “But I’ve told Martin that the proceeds from every one sold will go to him. It’s only right!”

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