After 66 years, the historic Daehan Cinema in Seoul’s Chungmuro district is set to close at the end of September, a development that some fear could sound a death knell for South Korea’s independent theaters.

Founded in 1958, Daehan Cinema was the first windowless movie theater in South Korea, screening foreign blockbusters like Ben Hur and serving as a film mecca until the emergence of multiplex cinemas.

Now, the theater has become a symbol of not only bygone times but of the mounting challenges facing independent cinema in a country where corporate-owned multiplexes like CJ CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox