Civic Life

CIVIC LIFE is a major project in Singapore that explores identity, architecture, memory, community, a sense of place and civic space that has been unfolding since early 2010. A collaboration between the National Museum and the British Council, with support from the Singapore International Foundation and the Arts Council of England, the project comprises of four strands: TIONG BAHRU: A short film shot in and around the Tiong Bahru estate in June 2010 by acclaimed UK-based filmmakers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy and a cast of hundreds of volunteers from the Tiong Bahru estate, A PERSONAL VIEW: A regular blog on the Civic Life themes featuring articles written by leading writers, artists, architects and thinkers, WHERE THE HEART IS: A micro-short film competition organized in collaboration with DepicT! and WRITING THE CITY: A creative writing programme exploring the ideas of place and identity, featuring Singapore Literatre Prize winnere Suchen Christine Lim and launching in October.

Watch this interview with the directors of TIONG BAHRU in which they talk bout the process of putting the project together and their experience of filming in the heritage estate and its hawker centre and wet market. TIONG BAHRU: The film will premiere at the National Museum in October 2010.

Following up from the film which is in post-production at the point in writing, CIVIC LIFE has recently launched a short film competition called WHERE THE HEART IS, looking for 90 second films that take as their subject a place that is important to you, the filmmaker. These places could be public or private spaces (or ever places that do not exist anymore) and can be in any genre – animation, abstract, photo-essay, drama.

In an attempt to garner as many entries as possible and get people involved in filming the stories within the built environment that they live in, the organisers have determined that the judging criteria will be more about the emotional connection to the place the filmmakers can put across, rather than technical considerations. In fact, submitted films can be shot on any digital format and equipment, including handphones.

The films will be featured on the CIVIC LIFE website and the best 40 films will be screened alongside TIONG BAHRU at the National Museum of Singapore in a series of special screenings across October and the filmmaker with the best overall film will find themselves on a flight to Encounters, the UK’s leading short film festival, which takes place In Bristol over 5 days in November. For more information, check out http://www.civiclife.sg/competition.

For further information regarding the project, visit www.civiclife.sg

Disclosure: FIVEFOOTWAY co-founder, Adib Jalal, is a consultant to the Civic Life project.