As part of the ongoing community arts project CIVIC LIFE looking at place, identity and a sense of belonging, the organisers have announced a microshort film competition, WHERE THE HEART IS. The competition calls for 90 second films which take as their subject a particular place that has a strong emotional connection for you. See the brief below. The maker of the best film will get a chance to attend Encounters, the UK’s leading short film festival, which takes place In Bristol, England, over 5 days in November.

WHERE THE HEART IS from WORK LIFE on Vimeo.

THE BRIEF

All of the films entered 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 2010. TIONG BAHRU was filmed in June 2010 by UK-based filmmakers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy along with a cast of over 150 volunteers from  Singapore.  There are attractive prizes to be won and the filmmaker of the best film will get a chance to attend Encounters, the UK’s leading short film festival, which takes place in Bristol, England, over 5 days in November.

Your film could be about a public or a private space (or even a place that does not exist anymore) and can be in any genre – animation, abstract, photo-essay, drama; it’s  really up to you.

The films can be shot on any format, including handphones, as the judging criteria will be more on the emotional connection to the place the filmmakers can put across, rather than technical considerations. Thus, you don’t have to be an experienced filmmaker to enter as we are hoping to get a panorama of Singapore’s physical, emotional and social landscape, from a wide variety of perspectives through this competition.

CIVIC LIFE is a collaboration between the National Museum of Singapore, the British Council and the Singapore International Foundation, while WHERE THE HEART IS also is a partnership with DepicT!, Encounters’ 90 second online film competition.

For more information, go to WHERE THE HEART IS. We hope to see your films and learn about the places that matter most to you.