The Projector founder calls on Singaporeans to support creative and cultural businesses for S’pore to thrive as cinema announces closure
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SINGAPORE: “If Singapore wants to thrive, it must find a way for creative and cultural businesses to survive — because culture is the cornerstone of identity and civil society,” The Projector founder Karen Tan wrote on Instagram as the cinema announced its sudden closure.
On Tuesday (Aug 19), independent cinema and arts venue The Projector announced in a press release and on its social media pages that it would enter “voluntary liquidation”, citing rising costs, changing audience habits, and a global decline in cinema attendance that made sustaining its independent model “especially challenging.”
“These pressures have been compounded by the broader realities of operating in the arts and culture sector in Singapore, where independent ventures navigate limited resources while contributing to the country’s evolving cultural landscape,” it wrote.
The Projector, which had been in the industry for a decade, ceased operations on the same day following the announcement.
Ms Tan said on the cinema’s Instagram page, “It breaks our hearts to make this decision. We’ve fought to keep The Projector alive through every challenge – from breathing new life into a disused cinema at Golden Mile Tower, to weathering the pandemic, to expanding to new spaces. But the combination of rising costs, changing audience habits, and the worst consumer market conditions in a decade has left us with no viable path forward.”
“The Projector may be closing, but we hope its spirit will live on in the conversations, ideas, and communities we’ve nurtured,” she added.
The sudden news sparked surprise and speculation online. One netizen said he was “honestly very surprised” by the announcement because just four weeks earlier, The Projector had announced plans to return to Golden Mile, where they started, with shows already scheduled for September.
Meanwhile, several users speculated about possible reasons beyond its sudden closure, with one commenter suggesting, “Landlord jacking up their rent maybe? … Someone funding just says I don’t wanna fund anymore, maybe. And perhaps this issue was simmering for some time; no money then today was the last day.”
The confusion was compounded by the fact that The Projector had promoted screenings beyond Tuesday. Just last week, its Instagram page announced the screening of Magnolia for Aug 17 and 30, a film they described as “intoxicating as the flower it’s named after” starring Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Julianne Moore. It had also announced a collaboration with Penguin SEA for Anthony Chen’s debut Ilo Ilo on Aug 23, and Together, a film for codependent lovers, for a Thursday (Aug 21) show.
Beyond speculation, many expressed sadness over the closure of what they described as “often the only theatre bringing in the best non-Hollywood films before they picked up Oscar buzz”. The commenter wrote, “This is really depressing. I remember catching Drive My Car there a few years back, months before it started getting hype. They genuinely cared about cinema in a way the big chains in Singapore never did.”
Others remembered its distinct quirks and atmosphere. “This is genuinely devastating and upsetting. I’ll miss the little quirks of this place, the advisory/guide they’d screen before each film, with Turkish Luke Skywalker, the music they used to play before films started, the little info booklets with a compilation of films each month,” one shared.
Another summed it up simply: “Sad day for Singaporean cinema. The Projector was the only place that would show movies that aren’t blockbusters. Also, I could trust that nobody in the theatre would use their phone or talk throughout the movie.”
In July, owner and operator mm2 Asia also announced it was evaluating “all available options”, including winding up its cinema business, Cathay Cineplexes, to address millions of dollars in financial challenges. /TISG