ABSTRACT
The frequent crowds at many cinemas in Singapore provide sufficient proof of this, and are a testament to the intense cinephilia of Singaporeans (Lai 2010). According to a recent survey by the United Nations educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNeSCO) Institute of Statistics, Singapore had the fourth highest cinema attendance per capita worldwide (2009), with South Korea and Hong Kong ranking second and third respectively. Singapore was also in the global top ten in this survey. In 2009, Iceland ranked first, America second and Australia third. However, a number of cinemas no longer exist in Singapore. This is inevitable due to changing film exhibition technologies across the world and the changing environment of the city. The primary objective of this chapter is to outline the diverse history of film exhibition and spectatorship in Singapore, for this diversity is unique and unlike that of many other film cultures across the world.
