Filmhouse: A New Era for Indie Cinema at Golden Mile Tower
Meet your latest home for arthouse films in Singapore, from a team you already know and love.
If you’re a diehard fan of The Projector, formerly the default home in Singapore for arthouse films, you’ll probably have read that most of the team powering the indie cinema is back. Real soon, to be honest; it’s slated to open its doors tomorrow, February 3.
But don’t think of it as The Projector 2.0, but as Filmhouse, an entirely new company birthed by the belief of a private cinephile and ardent fan of the The Projector who saw the value in their vision, and put his money where his heart is.
Filmhouse continues within the same space on the fifth floor of Golden Mile Tower that The Projector occupied, though once you step out of the elevator, you’ll be hit with a completely refreshed identity. The cinema’s branding and overall design, done in collaboration with design studio Feral and designer Nathan Yong, swaps out the old monochromatic look for warmer hues and sleek brushed silver accents.
The refreshed lobby at the new Filmhouse cinema.
Beyond the lobby, the facilities have been improved; the former Green Room, for instance, sports an upgraded 4K projector, and there are better sound systems in all three halls. (And yes, the old chairs from the space’s previous incarnation have been retained. If you were one of those who found them uncomfortable, deal with it, because the money can only be stretched so far!)
But as Walter Navarro, who was resident film programmer at The Projector and now does the same role at Filmhouse, tells me, the heart of the new cinema is essentially a return to the craft of the screen rather than the grind of the growth.
Filmhouse’s resident film programmer Walter Navarro.
“Programming-wise, it won’t be radically different at the Filmhouse (as compared to The Projector),” says Navarro. “The main difference is that we’re more deliberate and slower, partly because we now only have three screens. When you’re programming a smaller space, there’s more freedom, and less pressure to constantly fill slots with content. Hopefully, that allows us to be more intentional.”
Before Filmhouse throws open its doors tomorrow, Navarro shares more on what to expect from Singapore’s newest indie cinema:
How might Filmhouse - which people see as the second coming of The Projector - affect how you programme films?
“I think The Projector and Filmhouse are quite different, or at least different in scale. The Projector, back then, had become a pretty large company (in its later years). We went from only operating at Golden Mile Tower to running three pop-ups, then another permanent venue (Cineleisure)... When that happens, the company becomes a different monster — everything gets bigger. You need more staff and more resources. And of course, there are financial constraints that come with that as well, especially in terms of profitability and very high rents when you’re operating in a mall, for example.
Back then, there was always a constant pressure around sustainability. That took a lot of energy, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of pivoting. We were always on the move. And while we’re very proud of everything that The Projector accomplished, I’m hoping that Filmhouse, at least for now, feels more like going back to where we started. A place where we can do things more slowly, and hopefully not stress quite as much.
Park Chan-wook’s black comedy No Other Choice, a dark, high-stakes thriller that follows a desperate, middle-aged man who decides to systematically eliminate his competition after losing his job, is on Filmhouse’s upcoming line-up.
Of course, it still has to be profitable and sustainable, but ideally the focus now at Filmhouse doesn’t have to be so much on doing all kinds of things just to generate revenue. Instead, it can be more about the films and the cinema itself. We’re hoping we can go back to that beginning — focusing on choosing really good films and thoughtful programming, things audiences genuinely want to watch and enjoy. And hopefully, as a by-product of that, sustainability will follow.”
As programmer, how do you actually go about deciding what makes the cut for Filmhouse?
“It’s really a combination of factors. I try to think about what the audience wants to see. Obviously, there are a lot of films circulating right now that are premiering at festivals and are genuinely interesting, so I lean on that quite a bit: looking at what’s playing at international festivals, how audiences are responding to those films, and what critics are saying.
Must-watch: Chloe Zhao’s buzzy Oscar frontrunner Hamnet, which explores the life of William Shakespeare, and the devastating effects of his young son’s death on the family.
That’s one aspect. I think classics are always a relatively easy choice as well. We see a lot of interest in classic films; sometimes they even perform better than new releases. I think that’s because there’s either a nostalgia factor, where people have seen the film before and love it, or they haven’t seen it but have heard so much about it that they feel like they have to see it.
Taiwanese auteur Edward Yang’s beloved final film Yi Yi, a slow-moving drama that explores the entire cycle of human experience through the quiet, interconnected lives of a single Taipei family, is another major highlight.
Another part of our programming is simply films that we like. We don’t always know if audiences will respond to them, but we feel they have value and are worth screening, so we’re willing to take that risk. We also make a conscious effort to support local films. The Projector always received a lot of support from local directors and the local film community, so we’ve always tried to give back when we can and provide space for them. This year, Anthony Chen also has a new film, We Are All Strangers, coming out, and we’re hoping to screen that as well.”
Talk to us about the films you’re showing for the opening month.
“We’re quite excited about the opening line-up. It’s awards season, and we’re lucky to be working with Anticipate Pictures, a distributor in Singapore that has acquired many strong titles that are currently in the awards conversation.
We’ll be screening films like Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. We’ll have Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident. We’ll be showing Sirat, the Spanish submission that’s nominated for Best Foreign Film at the upcoming Oscars, as well as Brazil’s The Secret Agent.
Films to look out for include the award-winning Sentimental Value, a Norwegian comedy-drama about a pair of estranged sisters reuniting with their famous, narcissistic filmmaker father.
We may also bring back films that have already finished their runs in other cinemas but are still in awards contention — Bugonia, for example, and One Battle After Another. I’d also really like to bring back Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, which I personally think should have been nominated, even though it wasn’t.”
That’s all in February?
“Yes, February and March. That’s the awards-season strand. We’re also launching a programme called Found Families, which focuses on kinship and chosen families; this ties into what we’re trying to do with Filmhouse: fostering our own community and creating a home for cinephiles in Singapore.
The Singapore documentary 10s Across The Borders, which explores the region’s ballroom scenes, will be part of Filmhouse’s new Found Families programme.
Under this programme, you can expected a wide variety of films. For example, we’ll be screening 10s Across the Borders, a documentary by Singapore director Chan Sze-Wei that screened at last year’s Singapore International Film Festival about the ballroom scenes in the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia — a really lovely film distributed by Momo Films, and also a Singaporean co-production.
We’re also showing Marona’s Fantastic Tale, a French animated film. We’ll be bringing back Nomadland because it fits the theme, and also because Chloe Zhao is having a big moment again with Hamnet. We’ll be screening Little Miss Sunshine as well, and Linda Linda Linda, the Japanese girl-band comedy.”
That’s a lovely initiative.
“I think so too. We’ll also have a Valentine’s Day programme called Love Is a Monster. It’s a cheeky take on relationship; we didn’t want to just show rom-coms. Instead, we’re programming films about toxic relationships, messy romances, and doomed love stories.
We’ll be screening Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet; Thirst by Park Chan-wook, about a priest who becomes a vampire; and Death Becomes Her, which stars Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, and is a really fun exploration of narcissism, obsession with youth, and excessive self-love. I think it’ll be perfect for Valentine’s.
The ‘90s camp classic Death Becomes Her for Valentine’s, anyone?
We’ll also be doing a small Lunar New Year programme. We’ll screen Yi Yi, the Taiwanese classic by Edward Yang, as well as Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman. We’re also showing So Close, a very Y2K action-comedy from the 2000s — lots of stylised action and slow-motion. It should be a fun watch during the festive period.”
Y2K heads will want to catch Corey Yuen’s 2002 action piece So Close, which stars Shu Qi, and follows two assassin sisters who become the target of the criminal organisation that originally hired them.
What other films can we expect this year?
“Quite a lot, I hope. One film I was really looking forward to was the the queer romantic dark comedy Pillion starring Alexander Skarsgard, but it’s looking unlikely for us. It’s been picked up for Singapore, and given its explicit nature, it might not make it through the classification process in its original form. We’re big believers in showing films as they were meant to be seen, so if we can’t have the full experience, we’d rather not show it at all.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, a quirky sci-fi thriller following two conspiracy theorists who kidnap a powerful CEO (Emma Stone) under the belief that she’s an alien planning to destroy Earth, is on the Filmhouse menu.
The ping pong drama Marty Supreme is also in the works — I can’t confirm anything yet, but I think it will happen. There are also new films coming from Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Pedro Almodovar. There’s a lot happening, and I haven’t even had time to fully catch up with Sundance and Berlinale because we’ve been so busy. But I’m optimistic — I think it’ll be a strong year.”
The Projector was also known for its events and parties. Can we expect the same from Filmhouse?
“Yes, but with a slightly different approach. Because we’re such a small team, we don’t have the bandwidth to run large-scale parties and DJ events ourselves. So we’ve partnered with the folks from the now-defunct Enclave Bar, who will handle events programming. (For the uninitiated, Enclave Bar was the ultimate “heart over profit” dive bar that became a legendary home for Singapore’s indie scene by giving everyone from rave organizers to Butoh dancers a platform to perform.)
The Enclave Bar folks will be running a space here called Trailer Bar and will take charge of booking artists, gigs and concerts. We’re really excited to have them on board — they know what they’re doing and already have an audience. It also takes some pressure off us, so we can focus on films. We’ll still run Filmhouse–led events, but they’ll mostly be film-related. Music, theatre and comedy events will largely be handled by Enclave Bar.”
What are you personally most excited about?
“Honestly, just continuing the work. When The Projector closed, we were all devastated; not just because we lost our jobs, but also because we lost a space for the community. These kinds of spaces don’t usually come back once they’re gone, like The Substation and many others before us. So it feels like a blessing to have a second chance. I’m excited to screen more films, watch more films, and create a welcoming space for the community again.”
Filmhouse will be open from Tuesdays to Sundays, at 6001 Beach Road, #05-00 Golden Mile Tower. Follow them here for more updates.