Preserving Cultural Identity Through Film and Urban Conservation
Executive Summary
This case study examines filmmaker Eric Khoo’s relationship with Tiong Bahru as a microcosm of Singapore’s broader challenge: balancing rapid urban development with cultural preservation. Through Khoo’s work and advocacy, we explore how creative industries and heritage conservation can work together to maintain collective memory and national identity.
His Tiong Bahru connections:
- Shot his breakthrough film Mee Pok Man (1995) at Hua Bee Restaurant in Moh Guan Terrace
- Has featured the neighborhood in many of his films
- Cherishes childhood memories of visiting with his mother in the late 1960s after watching movies at Globe Theatre
- Loves the area’s Art Deco architecture and “old-world ambience”
His film legacy:
- Jump-started Singapore’s film industry revival with Mee Pok Man
- Made 12 Storeys (1997), the first Singapore film invited to Cannes
- Helped establish the Singapore Film Commission in 1998 through advocacy work
- Recently produced Kopitiam Days (2025) to commemorate SG60, now streaming on Netflix
His philosophy: There’s a poignant reflection here about the importance of preserving places and memories. Khoo notes that many beloved landmarks like the National Theatre and old National Library have vanished, making locally produced films “the vital tool, the enduring phantom, that preserves the look and feel of these places.”
His view that rest, good food, and nostalgia are essential for creativity—not indulgences but “the essential wellspring from which all my work flows”—offers insight into his creative process.
Background
Eric Khoo, Cultural Medallion recipient and pioneer of Singapore’s film renaissance, has maintained a 30-year relationship with Tiong Bahru. The neighborhood, with its distinctive 1930s Art Deco architecture, served as the filming location for his breakthrough work Mee Pok Man (1995) and continues to inspire his creative output. His journey mirrors Singapore’s own transformation from 1965 to 2025, as both filmmaker and nation turned 60 in 2025.
The Challenge
Singapore faces a fundamental tension between urbanization and heritage preservation:
Loss of Cultural Landmarks: Key sites like the National Theatre (demolished 1986), the original National Library at Stamford Road (demolished 2004), and countless neighborhood landmarks have disappeared to make way for development. Each demolition represents not just physical loss but the erosion of collective memory and cultural continuity.
Rapid Urban Transformation: Singapore’s success as a modern city-state has come at the cost of its historical fabric. The pace of change has been so rapid that entire generations have no physical connection to the Singapore of previous decades.
Documentation Gap: Without deliberate preservation efforts, the “look and feel” of historical Singapore exists only in fading memories, with limited mechanisms to capture and transmit these sensory experiences to future generations.
Economic Pressures: Small businesses like Khoo’s beloved Old Tiong Bahru Bah Kut Teh and Beo Crescent’s No Name Hainanese Curry Rice have closed, unable to compete with rising rents and changing consumer patterns.
Khoo’s Approach: Film as Cultural Archive
Eric Khoo has pioneered a multi-faceted solution to cultural preservation:
1. Cinematic Documentation
His films serve as time capsules, capturing neighborhoods, streetscapes, and daily life before they vanish. Works like Mee Pok Man, 12 Storeys, and Be With Me preserve the visual and atmospheric qualities of old Singapore that photographs alone cannot convey.
2. Institutional Advocacy
Khoo co-authored the 1997 White Paper that led to the establishment of the Singapore Film Commission in 1998, creating governmental infrastructure to support local filmmaking. This ensured that cultural documentation would receive sustained funding and institutional support.
3. Mentorship and Platform Building
Through Zhao Wei Films and Gorylah Pictures, Khoo has nurtured emerging filmmakers including Royston Tan, Boo Junfeng, and Jack Neo, ensuring that multiple voices contribute to Singapore’s visual archive. His production of Kopitiam Days (2025) continues this tradition, showcasing six different directorial perspectives.
4. Food Culture as Memory Trigger
By dedicating screen time to food establishments and producing content like Food Affair With Mark Wiens, Khoo recognizes that culinary culture is inseparable from place-based memory. Food becomes a sensory gateway to nostalgia and cultural identity.
Solutions Framework
Based on Khoo’s model, a comprehensive approach to cultural preservation emerges:
Immediate Actions
Expand Financial Support for Cultural Documentation: Increase funding for filmmakers, photographers, oral historians, and digital archivists to systematically document disappearing neighborhoods before redevelopment occurs.
Heritage Impact Assessments: Require developers to fund comprehensive audiovisual documentation of sites slated for demolition, similar to archaeological surveys.
Small Business Sustainability Programs: Create rent stabilization schemes or heritage business grants for establishments with cultural significance, preventing the loss of neighborhood anchors like traditional coffee shops and eateries.
Medium-Term Strategies
Conservation District Expansion: Follow through on plans to conserve areas like Tiong Bahru, but expand the model to include working-class neighborhoods, not just elite enclaves. Conservation must be democratic.
Creative Industry Hubs: Designate certain heritage areas as creative industry zones with favorable terms for production companies, ensuring ongoing engagement between artists and historical spaces.
National Memory Project: Establish a well-funded, permanent initiative that combines film, oral history, virtual reality, and traditional archives to create a comprehensive record of Singapore’s evolving landscape.
Education Integration: Incorporate locally produced films into school curricula, using them as primary sources for teaching history, geography, and social studies.
Long-Term Vision
Balanced Development Policy: Enshrine in urban planning frameworks the principle that some areas must remain unchanged as “cultural anchors,” providing continuity amid change.
Tourism Through Authenticity: Develop cultural tourism based on preserved authentic neighborhoods rather than artificial recreations, providing economic justification for conservation.
Regional Film Hub: Position Singapore as Southeast Asia’s premier location for film production focused on historical and cultural themes, leveraging remaining heritage sites as competitive advantages.
Outlook: Opportunities and Threats
Positive Indicators
Growing Recognition: The selection of Khoo’s films at major international festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Busan) demonstrates global interest in Singapore’s stories, providing soft power benefits.
Digital Preservation: Modern technology enables more comprehensive documentation than ever before. 4K filming, 3D scanning, and virtual reality can capture spaces with unprecedented fidelity.
Generational Shift: Younger Singaporeans show increasing interest in heritage and local culture, creating demand for preservation efforts.
Government Commitment: The decision to conserve Tiong Bahru and establish institutions like the Singapore Film Commission indicates policy awareness of cultural preservation needs.
Challenges Ahead
Economic Pressures: Land scarcity and high property values create constant pressure to redevelop rather than conserve. The financial calculus rarely favors preservation.
Authenticity vs. Museumification: There’s a risk that conserved areas become sanitized, theme-park versions of themselves, losing the organic character that made them culturally significant.
Generational Disconnect: As Khoo notes, landmarks become “just shadows in memory.” Without physical touchstones, younger generations struggle to connect with historical narratives.
Global Homogenization: International retail chains and standardized architecture threaten to make Singapore indistinguishable from other global cities.
Impact Assessment
Demonstrated Impacts of Khoo’s Work
Cultural: His films have created a permanent visual record of Singapore across three decades. Future historians will study his work to understand daily life, urban landscapes, and social dynamics of late 20th and early 21st century Singapore.
Economic: The Singapore Film Commission, which Khoo helped establish, has supported hundreds of productions, creating jobs and establishing Singapore as a regional production center.
International: His 28 features screened at over 60 festivals have shaped global perceptions of Singapore, moving beyond stereotypes to present nuanced, human stories.
Institutional: By nurturing emerging filmmakers, Khoo created a sustainable ecosystem. His mentees now mentor others, creating a multiplier effect.
Tourism: Films showcasing neighborhoods like Tiong Bahru have driven cultural tourism, with international visitors seeking locations from Khoo’s movies.
Broader Implications
Policy Influence: The White Paper and subsequent Film Commission establishment demonstrate how artists can shape cultural policy when they organize and articulate clear visions.
Model for Other Nations: Singapore’s challenge—balancing development with heritage—is universal. Khoo’s approach offers a replicable model for other rapidly developing societies.
Nostalgia as Resource: Khoo’s insight that “nostalgia is the lens through which we keep our history alive” reframes what might be dismissed as sentimentality into a legitimate cognitive and cultural function.
Recommendations
For Policymakers
- Mandate heritage documentation as standard practice in all major redevelopment projects
- Create tax incentives for businesses that maintain heritage premises and traditional operations
- Establish a “Cultural Memory Fund” specifically for documentation projects
- Require public consultation periods before demolition of buildings over 50 years old
For Creative Industries
- Systematically film disappearing neighborhoods, creating a comprehensive visual archive
- Collaborate with academics to ensure documentation meets scholarly standards
- Make archives publicly accessible through national libraries and online platforms
- Train younger practitioners in heritage documentation techniques
For Communities
- Support local businesses that embody neighborhood character
- Document personal and family histories tied to specific places
- Advocate for conservation of locally significant sites, not just elite landmarks
- Participate in oral history projects and memory-mapping initiatives
For Educators
- Use local films as teaching tools for history, geography, and culture
- Organize field trips linking film locations to physical sites
- Encourage students to document their own neighborhoods
- Partner with filmmakers for educational content development
Conclusion
Eric Khoo’s relationship with Tiong Bahru illustrates a profound truth: cultural preservation requires more than conserving buildings—it demands capturing the lived experience of place through multiple media. His work demonstrates that films are not merely entertainment but “enduring phantoms” that keep vanished worlds accessible to future generations.
As Singapore continues its development trajectory, the tension between progress and preservation will intensify. Khoo’s model—combining artistic documentation, institutional advocacy, mentorship, and community engagement—offers a practical framework for maintaining cultural continuity without halting development.
The ultimate measure of success will be whether Singaporeans in 2065 can still connect emotionally and intellectually with the Singapore of 2025, despite inevitable physical transformation. If they can, it will be largely due to the work of cultural preservationists like Eric Khoo, who understood that “places of the heart” must be deliberately saved from becoming mere “shadows in memory.”
The investment in cultural documentation today is an investment in national identity tomorrow. As Khoo turned 60 alongside his nation in 2025, his life’s work stands as testament to the power of film to preserve what development destroys, ensuring that even as Singapore transforms, its story remains intact.