By Nithilan Balachander (26A01C)

At about noon on 19 August 2025, long-time cinephiles, arts scene enthusiasts, and performative (fe)males alike started discovering, devastatingly, that The Projector was closing down. Actually, it wasn’t even “closing down”— it already had, they were just announcing it. The only cinema in Singapore dedicated to indie film was in so much debt that it had to enter liquidation, and had to do it so suddenly that it could not even announce it in advance. 

On 12 January 2026, the Straits Times reported that a new cinema called “Filmhouse” was to take over the space, and on 3 February 2026, Filmhouse started screenings, retaining many of the personnel and a lot of the interior furnishings from The Projector. Everyone rejoiced, some reposted the Straits Times/Mothership/CNA Instagram post, and a few even went to watch a movie or two…

But, wait. That’s really all it took? 5 months and 15 days, and indie cinema in Singapore was saved?

A review of Filmhouse

Filmhouse has said that they are not The Projector 2.0. They’re a new entity. They have new ownership. The lobby looks pretty different.

Despite that, it’s hard not to see Filmhouse as anything but The Projector 2.0. The halls are virtually the same (without beanbags now, though), and so are the toilets. Key team members of the management have stayed. Even the intro that plays before screenings contains a nod to The Projector’s own. But most importantly, the programming stays the same, with a focus on independent and alternative art film that no other cinema in Singapore can match.

However, the warm, red-and-blue vibe of the new lobby is a stylish departure from the very black-and-white Projector. The cinema is certainly picturesque, with plenty of backdrops to show off on Instagram, including but not limited to:

• An actual out-of-commission movie projector
• The general abundance of movie posters, especially in the toilet
• A spiral staircase
• Decor retained from the 1970s-era Golden Theatre
• The halls themselves, each a different colour, with old-school cinema seats

Though I did not get to try the concessions, one reviewer on Google Maps praised the quality of the caramel popcorn:

The selection of snacks were limited when I went, but will likely get bigger since the cinema opened only recently. More importantly, there’s discounts for students—$8 tickets on weekdays and $14.50 on weekends!

But overall, the fact that Filmhouse still feels (somewhat) fresh but still retains The Projector’s spirit is what gives the sense that nothing has been lost, but there is also something to look forward to. I got to watch Marona’s Fantastic Tale, a beautiful 2019 French animated film about the life of a dog, that I’d never heard of before. And surprisingly, the hall had several dozen people, much more than you would expect for a film with 1.6k ratings on IMDb.

Sure, maybe it was because the cinema had just opened and a lot of people were excited to check it out. But really, the charm of Filmhouse is that it will show films that nobody else will, and people will still turn up. And as long as it continues to do that, is there really anything to criticise?

Struggling or surviving?

Nobody knows the exact reasons that The Projector had to close down when it did, but it obviously had to do with money. So, it has to be asked, why could such a beloved cultural space not survive, and what’s preventing the same thing from happening again?

As a retail business, it likely comes down to patronage not being large enough to cover rising costs. Even if non-mainstream films do pull audiences, they rarely can do it at the scale or for the extended time periods that mainstream blockbusters can. You can see The Projector realised this because, in addition to indie movies, their showings regularly included far more mainstream fare like superhero and action films. 

But, in my opinion, The Projector’s ultimate closure ties back to the identity of the cinema as an independent space. For indie spaces to survive today in Singapore, they usually have to do one of three things:

1. Fill a niche larger businesses ignore
2. Grow so big that they can compete with the big businesses themselves
3. Have enough money that they don’t need to care

On the first point, while The Projector was clearly unique in Singapore, it has by no means a monopoly on independent film. Of course, the convenience of streaming (and other means of watching movies) has become an existential threat to cinemas in general. But, cinemas are not an extinct species yet, so The Projector’s closure may have to do with its role in Singapore’s cinema space as a whole.

While all indie films may be independent, some are less “indie” than others. That is, even within the realm of indie films, some films will always pull more audiences than others, like Marty Supreme or Past Lives, for example. And for such films, they will almost certainly also be picked up by the bigger theatre chains, namely Golden Village and Shaw Theatres.

That ties neatly into the second point: that it is really very difficult for Projector/Filmhouse to compete with larger chains. If a film is playing at the Shaw or GV at your local neighbourhood mall 15 minutes from your house, why would you travel an hour and back to the ulu Golden Mile Tower, tucked somewhere next to Nicoll Highway, just to watch the same film? 

Which, of course, naturally fits into the larger trend of picking convenience (and big business) over smaller, independent, local business. The examples are numerous, across sectors. Bookstores, including cherished ones like Times Bookstore and BooksActually, have continuously gone out of business, edged out by online retail, with often-unmatchable prices, free delivery, and the like. Small retail, like boutique clothing, and stores serving niche hobbies, like record stores, too steadily have had their roles usurped by e-commerce which again offer unbeatable selection and convenience. Even local mamak shops are not immune.

Yet, even in such a landscape, niche independent spaces do end up surviving and sometimes even thriving. Often, the key to doing that is by simultaneously making your “niche” experience “mainstream” enough such that you can get steady, sustainable, business. Can Filmhouse do that?

The future of Filmhouse

On the third point, at least, Filmhouse seems to be fine (for now)—the new cinema seems to be supported by a new investor. While Filmhouse is not going to suddenly shut up shop in the next year (hopefully), the whole chain of events does highlight the fragility of so-called “beloved” or “cherished” third spaces.

The Projector was certainly beloved by many and relatively well-known too, with plenty of news articles covering it over the years. Yet, and especially today, there is no point in loving something if one does not put their money where their mouth is. 

That being said, perhaps the closure of The Projector could have been a blessing in disguise. After all, Filmhouse did get a lot of marketing through its predecessor getting closed down, and, after all, all publicity is good publicity, as attested by the crowds that were present when I went.

Filmhouse does offer hope that the decline of “indie” is not a given. But at the same time, the vast majority of independent businesses do not get the same publicity or marketing that a space like Filmhouse/Projector does. The real losses are the spaces with no large fanbases, no media attention, and no one left to fight for them.

Of course, the obvious moral of the story is that nothing can be taken for granted. While Filmhouse may seem quite safe at present, there is no guarantee it will last. For all the hype surrounding its opening, its long-term survival is no more certain than The Projector’s once was.

Then, if you have read this far, you should understand by now: if you want something to stay, you have to support it.

Filmhouse is located at Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Rd, #05-00, Singapore 199589. You can get tickets here or at their box office.