Beyond the blockbuster: Filmhouse hopes to bring back the soul of cinema

SINGAPORE – The soul of cinema is still alive in Singapore, and the team at indie cinema Filmhouse hopes to be its home.

Six months after the folding of The Projector – the indie cinema that opened in 2014 before its debts caused it to close in August 2025 – Filmhouse will focus on the factor that makes it unique: films.

Its head of programming Walter Navarro says the possibility of an en-bloc sale of Golden Mile Tower had forced his previous employer, The Projector, to open branches at The Cathay in Handy Road and Cineleisure in Grange Road. The strategy carried a rent burden.

“Back then, it was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, because the situation with Golden Mile Tower was uncertain. The Projector needed to do a lot to be sustainable – we had huge spaces, so we had to do food and beverage, parties and pop-ups. The focus on films was still there, but it all became a lot to handle,” adds the 45-year-old Spaniard.

Some commenters on forums blamed film fans for not buying enough tickets to keep The Projector afloat.

General manager Sharon Tan, 41, says support goes two ways. Filmhouse should play its part by making sure its focus stays on films and not other pursuits.

“With Filmhouse, we need to demonstrate that it is worth people’s time coming here. As much as we say, ‘it’s the patrons’ duty to support us with ticket sales’, we have to recognise what our core business really is. It’s about movies and being the space to appreciate those movies,” she adds.

Investing in a new 4K projector for the Green Room is a way of proving their seriousness. Another is new speakers across the three halls to improve sound quality.

Filmhouse will be a second-run sanctuary, a place where films can find a home after mainstream cinemas have stopped screening them, says Ms Tan. Weekday non-consession tickets start at $13.

“Theatrical windows for smaller films at the big cinemas tend to be quite short, but people need time to catch the films after they hear about them. We’ll give patrons another chance.”

The pair will also work directly with production houses to screen award-winning titles that – for reasons including niche subject matter – lack a local distributor.

Filmhouse is in discussion with Singapore-based label Momo Film Co to release the Thai-language supernatural comedy A Useful Ghost, winner of the Grand Prix at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week.

Another made-with-Singapore production is the documentary 10s Across The Borders, directed by Singapore-based film-maker and arts journalist Chan Sze-Wei. It puts a spotlight on queer, dance-centred communities across South-east Asia.

The cinema’s Snackbar sells house pours, wines and beers during screening hours, in addition to soft drinks and snacks.

In the evenings, Snackbar becomes Trailer Bar, serving a more comprehensive range of drinks. Rather than run it itself, Filmhouse will work with food and beverage veterans Ritz and Rush Ang, the team behind Enclave Bar, founded at the neighbouring Golden Mile Complex in 2020.

The bar will operate daily except Mondays from 8.30pm, after the start of the day’s last screening, and will serve cocktails, house pours, craft beers and wines.

Ms Tan and Mr Navarro hope the bar will be a space where moviegoers can linger after screenings to talk about what they have just seen.

Singaporean furniture designer Nathan Yong has designed the foyer to recall the building’s 1970s aesthetic. The interior design draws the eye to the chrome poster board and hall signs, retained from the time when the space used to be the Golden Theatre.

Central to Filmhouse’s philosophy is independence. After the closure of The Projector, supporters launched a Change.org petition calling for the Government to offer grants and other assistance to the cinema, saying it was a “vital cultural space” and a “cultural infrastructure asset”. The petition gained more than 5,600 signatures within 14 hours.

Ms Tan and Mr Navarro note that film institutions with government support already exist, like the Asian Film Archive’s Oldham Theatre in Canning Rise. To stand apart, Filmhouse must operate with the freedom to choose films it wants to screen.

It is not just a matter of freedom for its own sake – being independent allows the cinema to listen to patrons, rather than the voices of financial backers, she says.

“If we want to stay true to the term ‘independent cinema’, we have to prove what that term means. Independence is the freedom to decide the films we want to screen and be held accountable for that decision. We can take on board patrons’ feedback without feeling that we have to manage other strings attached to us,” she says.

The person funding it all – a Singapore-based Chinese national and avid supporter of The Projector who prefers to remain anonymous – uses a hands-off approach, giving the Filmhouse team autonomy over operations.

“He gives us moral support. He gets excited hearing about the films,” she says.