Cinema paradiso

At first glance it seems that Singaporedwellers are now spoilt for choice with films and cinemas. Multiplexes are multiplying, and in the last five years, the homogenised supply of Hollywood blockbusters, teen flicks and Asian horror films has begun to be enriched with less mainstream fare from a new generation of indie distributors smuggling alternative, often difficult world films onto screens here. There’s also been a gradual realisation that an audience exists and is hungry for this kind of art-house cinema . ‘The audience pool is evolving,’ says film producer Juan Foo (‘Perth’). ‘We’re seeing professional people between 25 and 40 who are more cosmopolitan and sophisticated, and they are looking to see something new in the cinema.’ The disappointment then is that there still isn’t a real art-house venue in Singapore – no stand-alone full-time cinema dedicated to showing the good stuff, to building an audience for it, and experimenting with what a cinema can truly be.

Generally speaking, art cinema (or whatever you want to call it) tends to be for grown-ups, and the multiplexes are noisy, shiny houses of fun apparently designed around the whims of adolescents. You can feel this most sharply at the refreshments counter where all that’s available is overpriced junk food that only a child could possibly want, and absolutely no alcohol. To their credit, Cathay and now Golden Village, sensed this fundamental disconnect and came up with similar solutions.

Early last year, Cathay revived its 1990s Picturehouse concept in an 82-seat venue housed within the large Cathay Cineplex. When the original Picturehouse opened at the old Cathay in 1990, the management enforced a strict food-and-drink ban, tickets were a dollar more than usual, and according to current Picturehouse film buyer and programmer Lui Oi Leng, there was even a dress code – all signs that indicated that this was not your regular popcorn-and- Coke place. At that time, as Lui points out, apart from the Picturehouse, the annual Singapore International Film Festival was the only ‘testing ground for many films that wouldn’t have been distributed’. The Picturehouse closed in 2000, along with the whole building, and between then and its re-opening within the Cathay Cineplex in March last year, the situation for art-house exhibition has changed radically. ‘There are a hell of a lot more art-house films in Singapore now,’ says Lui. ‘All the studios are releasing films made by their speciality arms. All the exhibitors have a distribution arm. In 1990, it was just Shaw and Cathay, but now Golden Village buys a lot of good films, and there are all the independent distributors, such as Festive Films and Lighthouse Pictures.’

The new Picturehouse continues the old venue’s sophistication with its continued no-food-or-drink policy , famously expensive Italian seats and the Lounge Bar, where patrons are encouraged to grab a drink before or after a show. For Lui, this is the core of what an art house is all about. ‘It’s not just mindless entertainment where you go in and leave immediately afterward,’ she says. ‘You go to the bar, have a drink, mull it over and discuss it with a friend.’ Certainly, the Picturehouse has proven over the last year that it can be versatile – there have been talks in the bar, collaborations with other organisations, and festivals, including one celebrating its own one-year anniversary this month (see Festivals, page 68). But unlike art houses in London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, it isn’t a stand-alone building, it’s in a multiplex. Nevertheless, Lui is adamant that being part of the Cathay system is to their advantage. ‘Getting the traffic that goes to a multiplex is really useful if you’re trying to develop an audience,’ she says.

Kenneth Tan, general manager of Golden Village’s Cinema Europa (the four-month-old boutique theatre inside GV VivoCity ), agrees.

‘If I did this as a stand-alone, there would be [additional costs for] stand-alone managers, projectionists and overheads,’ he says. ‘With Europa we sit back and 14 other halls full of people come, and there is a spillover.’ But there’s also a flipside, cautions producer Foo: ‘It can be tokenistic having one hall like that. It says: ‘We are supporting you because we have this screen for independent films.’ Any layman faced with the choice between a local film like “Perth” and “Spider-Man”, will go for the latter.’

One crucial component of art-house cinemas in other countries is their ability to step off the relentless new-release treadmill and show old movies, curate seasons, or host live talks, discussions or even music-film mash-ups. To really find adventurous programming in Singapore you have to go beyond the multiplex and venture into subsidised or state-initiated venues.

The Substation, an independent multipurpose contemporary space, has run its ‘Moving Image’ screenings in the auditorium since 1997. Even with the most basic resources (and a distinct lack of expensive leather upholstery) it has paved the way for a great deal of local talent to show films and reach audiences. It also organises mini film festivals and this month is mounting the second of its biennial Singapore Independent Documentary festivals. ‘We like to think that we fit very nicely into the film community on the grassroots level, that we’re a centre for the emerging filmmaking community in Singapore,’ says programmer Kristin Saw. ‘We put a high priority on supporting up-and-coming local filmmakers through relationship-building and resource sharing.’

This distinctive reputation stands in contrast to the Arts House Screening Room, a dedicated film ‘theatrette’ in the Old Parliament House arts centre, which after three short years is still struggling to develop an identity, despite having hosted some interesting films, including sell-out runs of Tan Pin Pin’s landmark documentary ‘Singapore GaGa’, in 2005.

What both Substation and the Screening Room lack (space, high technology and budget), the National Museum has in spades, and its plan to screen current and archival regional films, as well as possible art fare like the work of Matthew Barney, suggests a serious statement of intent. ‘We are looking to fill a void for art-house programming that cannot be undertaken by commercial players,’ says programmer Zhang Wenjie. ‘We are especially interested in building a more sophisticated and larger audience for film.’

Ah, the audience. This is undoubtedly the biggest challenge for all these venues. ‘It’s what’s always lacking,’ Foo says. He believes that it’s out there, but needs to be attracted with proper outreach and marketing. There is also the danger that so many alternative spaces might end up competing for the same small group of viewers. ‘We have seen a change in audience figures,’ Saw notes of the Substation, ‘and with more programmes coming up, a further diluting of the audience may result.’ Lui concurs: ‘The pie has probably grown, but there are many smaller wedges.’ Nevertheless, the idea of a single, central Centre for Film, which could combine new alternative releases, festivals, events and other programmes, is still a tantalising prospect for somewhere down the line. ‘If there was a space where this could be done,’ says Tan, ‘I’d be the first to put my hand up and say that GV would supply films.’ See Other screenings for cinema locations and films. See also Festivals. Best seats in the art house The Picturehouse has fine films and fancy chairs, but it’s just one screen in a multiplex.