Civic Life and Tiong Bahru on Tour in the UK.....

And now.... if you have missed the premier at the Renoir - here is your opportunity to see the film elsewhere in the UK - both in and outside of London.....



Check out this website for details of screenings! Pass on the word!

Civic Life in London .....

Almost one week ago, on 31 January 2011, 'Civic Life' was shown in London at the Curzon Renoir Cinema - where the latest addition to the body of work by Chris and Joe - Tiong Bahru - received its London Premier!

Needless to say, during the Q&A, many, in the almost full house - were impressed by the body of work, and also how Tiong Bahru brought together many of the duo's earlier themes and concerns in a well considered and lyrical manner.... (more reviews in separate posting coming up soon!)



Here are some pictures of the event - kindly sponsored by the Singapore International Foundation, who brought over not just the taste of home - but also, lots of items that gave the UK audience an idea of the architectural and social heritage of Singapore (thanks to White Canvas Gallery for the posters of the sketches that was done last year!!! Big shout to you all there!) ...





and also of the multi-ethnic-lingual-cultural environment that we should be proud of and should cherish and nurture!



Amongst the guests were many ex-expats who spent time in Singapore, film buffs, and also those who were interested in community engagement through art.... and during the reception, many groups of Singaporeans based in London were seen discussing what was the meaning of 'home' in a globalised world...







Your correspondant here with Chris and Joe... who we have to thank for working with us in Tiong Bahru to realise the film...





And here is Ms Tan Shzr Ee, who provided the Mandarin voice-over for part of the film, with the poster of the film!



We were also very pleased that the event was graced by our High Commissioner H.E. Michael Teo... more pictures to follow!

In the meantime, wishing one and all - a GREAT START to the New Year!

Tiong Bahru in Europe....and the British Isles

Hello everyone... while you are all undoubtedly getting busy for the up-coming holidays, just an update on the film that is now beginning to work its way around Europe...

First, It appears in the Rotterdam International Film Festival:





Then this coming Monday, in London, it has a showing in Central London at the Renoir Cinema (known for art films!) where there is a special Q&A session with the film directors, and kindly hosted by the Singapore International Foundation.




So, that's all for now - and we will keep you updated!

Tiong Bahru The Film - The Exhibition!

Hi everyone, as you may know, the film will soon be launched....

In the meantime, to see the story behind the making of the film, do check out the following exhibition at the Market, where it all happened!

2nd Oct 2010 to 10 Oct 2010.
Tiong Bahru Market Foyer,
Seng Poh Road.

' Taking place at the Tiong Bahru market from Saturday 2nd October to Sunday 10th October, this exhibition documents the three days in June 2010 when Tiong Bahru market and hawker centre was transformed into a movie set, with the help of UK-based filmmakers Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, and 150 volunteers from the community.'

Short film, nice prize! just 90 Seconds!

WIN A CANON EOS 7D in just 90 seconds!



Show us WHERE YOU HEART IS and you could win a CANON EOS 7D and a trip to the UK's leading short film festival.

Click here for details.

We are asking you to show us the places in Singapore that matter to you, and already we have had some lovely work submitted.

See: http://civiclife.sg/competition-gallery-new.php

Check out details of the CANON EOS 7D, which has full HD video recording capability, here: http://www.canon-europe.com/cpn_eos7d/ and find out more about Encounters, the UK's leading short film festival, here: http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/

Closing date is Friday, September 17th, so get filming!

WHERE THE HEART IS is a collaboration between the British Council, the National Museum of Singapore, Encounters Short Film Festival and the Singapore International Foundation.

Have you entered the competition yet?

The British Council sponsored Civic Life project is having its 'Where the Heart Is' film competition for all who live on this island of Singapore...




90 seconds is all it takes to get your chance to win a place to the world's most prestigious short film festival later this year...

read more about it on:

WHERE THE HEART IS

All the best!

Where the Heart Is - Civic Life - the Film Competition and More

Hear from the 2 directors, on the motivation behind the filming in Tiong Bahru, and also, the launch of the Film Making Competition - 'Where the Heart Is'.



You also get a quick sneak preview into how some of the scenes will look!

So, get your digicams/cameras/mobilephone ready to make your film of Where your Heart Is, in Singapore... share with your friends and family....

And thank you once more, to all who took part in the film project, and to British Council and National Museum for bringing this project - Civic Life - to our hometown!

Civic Life - Tiong Bahru The Movie - Read all about The STARS

Hello!

Some of you were seen at the filming over last weekend... I am sure all of you had fun! For the rest of you... find out more about how it looked - lots of lovely pictures shot by Samantha Tio....and on the Flickr Album here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48246027@N05/sets/72157624257551435/

The event was also covered substantially by many journalists, including The Online Citizen. Read all about TOC's review of it and their interview with the STARS from our community here, where the 'stars' from the community are featured!



From Left: Joe Lawlor, Christine Malloy, Leo Mak, Mdm Lim, and Veronica Patricia Rio
Picture by Samantha Tio

2 More days to the FILM!

Joe and Christine were interviewed this morning on Prime Time Morning , while an episode of Singapore Discovered, to air on Channel News Asia in August, will be shot this weekend in around the estate and will feature the film prominently the host of the programme will actually take part in one of the scenes, which will be featured in the TV programme)

The project also appeared in the Straits Times..



So glad to have local residents wanting to take part - and thanks to Mrs Chia for supporting her husband!











Reporters from Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Shin Min Daily News and TODAY will be attending the shoots, as will writers from the website ONLINE CITIZEN and YOUTH.SG.

How exciting!

Hope some of you have signed up....

One more week to go to the film!

Just to share a message from the Tiong Bahru Civic Life project....

______________

With just one week to go before the shooting of Civic Life: Tiong Bahru, filmmakers Joe and Christine reflect on the consultations with the community of the estate over the past three months, and look ahead to the week to come, in a new post on the Civic Life blog.

Read their thoughts and a preview of the storylines that are emerging at

http://www.civiclife.sg/blog/



We hope you can be part of it!

Best wishes

British Council

Tiong Bahru Market and the Movie - come join in!

The Straits Times
Life!
Apr 29, 2010
By Magdalen Ng

London-based film-makers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy were shocked during their first visit to Tiong Bahru Market when their order of carrot cake arrived.

Lawlor and Molloy decided on Tiong Bahru for their film project as it was one of the oldest Housing Board (sic) estates. They are now familiar with the popular food stalls at the market. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

'It looked nothing like the carrot cake that we were used to. But it's quite good, actually,' says Lawlor in a recent interview with Life! at the Tiong Bahru Market.

Now he and his wife are no longer strangers to the market and even know which hawker stalls are the most popular.

They have been speaking to store owners and visitors to the area as part of their research for the next short film that they are making.

Set in and around the Tiong Bahru estate, the movie is part of Civic Life: Tiong Bahru, a community arts project exploring identity, memory, architecture, a sense of place and civic space that will take place in the second half of this year.

The project is a collaboration between the British Council and the National Museum of Singapore with support from the Singapore International Foundation. There will also be an online film competition for Singaporeans.

'The British Council is a cultural relations agency whose aim is to create meaningful discussions around the ideas of creativity, culture and education. This project involves close collaboration with our Singaporean partners and a rich engagement between Singaporean and British artists,' says Mr Dan Prichard, director of programmes of the British Council in Singapore.

He adds: 'Joe and Christine's films are beautiful, but it is their commitment to the community and their engagement with the community at all levels in the project that make the Civic Life films so special.'

Lawlor and Molloy's movie, as yet untitled, is the third in a series of short films involving communities that they are making.

The first two Civic Life films were set in Dublin, Ireland, the duo's hometown. Moore Street was filmed along the iconic street where many migrant communities settle, while Leisure Centre focused on the leisure centre situated on Main Street Ballymun, which has long been associated with crime and poverty in the media. Both films were praised at various international film festivals.

For their Singapore film, they surveyed other places including Bedok before deciding on Tiong Bahru, because it is one of the oldest estates in Singapore, and is a place rich with history and culture. Also, almost every Singaporean they encountered seemed to have an opinion about Tiong Bahru Market.

'Some of the people we spoke to used to live here and have since moved away. But they still come back week after week to eat their favourite food,' says Lawlor.

Molloy adds: 'But there are others who refuse to come back after the refurbishment of the market, because they feel it's no longer the same place they remember.'

While filming is slated to take place in June, they are still working on the plot and script after three visits to Singapore. They plan to develop the script gleaned from conversations with residents and visitors in the area.

They are also inviting people to contribute their memories of the place to the project at the website, http://www.civiclife.sg./

'There are certain things that we will definitely include, but we don't know exactly what we want to do yet,' says Lawlor.

songyuan@sph.com.sg

Submit your memories of Tiong Bahru for this project at www.civiclife.sg

Tiong Bahru The MOVIE!

Have you ever wanted to be in a movie?

A real film shot on real film stock?

Here is your chance to do so... to share about the neighbourhood that we all love and care for... what are your stories?

LONDON-BASED film-makers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy were shocked during their first visit to Tiong Bahru Market when their order of carrot cake arrived. 'It looked nothing like the carrot cake that we were used to. But it's quite good, actually,' says Lawlor in a recent interview with Life! at the Tiong Bahru Market.

picture courtesy of NEA

Now he and his wife are no longer strangers to the market and even know which hawker stalls are the most popular. They have been speaking to store owners and visitors to the area as part of their research for the next short film that they are making.

Set in and around the Tiong Bahru estate, the movie is part of Civic Life: Tiong Bahru, a community arts project exploring identity, memory, architecture, a sense of place and civic space that will take place in the second half of this year. The project is a collaboration between the British Council and the National Museum of Singapore with support from the Singapore International Foundation. There will also be an online film competition for Singaporeans.

'The British Council is a cultural relations agency whose aim is to create meaningful discussions around the ideas of creativity, culture and education. This project involves close collaboration with our Singaporean partners, rich engagement between Singaporean and British artists,' says Mr Dan Prichard, director of programmes of the British Council in Singapore.

He adds: 'Joe and Christine's films are beautiful, but it is their commitment to the community and their engagement with the community at all levels in the project that make the Civic Life films so special.'

Lawlor and Molloy's movie, as yet untitled, is the third in a series of short films involving communities that they are making.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times' LIFE!.

The origins of the name of Singapore - an alternative take

Something on the lighter side... see how Raffles and Farquhar came to decide on the name of our lovely island....



From 'Talking Cock - the movie'...

The names of our estate's streets ... what are their stories? Coming up soon....

Film location needed! do you want to take part?

Happy Lunar New Year to one and all....

lets open the year's postings with this call for filming location in Tiong Bahru, from a local production company - local in that, they are actually based in our neighbourhood!

If you are interested in helping out - do contact Nadia directly! it would be good to have TB featured more in the media, especially for children!

___________________

Hi there,

I'm Nadia Shah, an assistant producer at local production company Eyecon Production (S). We're looking for three households in the Tiong Bahru area as venues for the production of a children's programme for Mediacorp's Okto channel.

The production will be shot during the March holidays, two weekends in April, and the June school holidays. However, since not all scenes will take place at the same venue, we may only need each household for at most 10 days.

Of course, remuneration will be provided for the home owners: $75 for a half day shoot and $150 for a full day shoot.

Kindly let me know if you know anyone who might be interested in this. You can drop me an email at nadia@eyecon.com.sg.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!

Best Wishes,
Nadia Shah

Singapore in the 1970s... in colour!

Thought to help advertise one of my favourite films of Singapore's recent past - Peter Bogdanovich's interpretation of Paul Theroux's 'SAINT JACK'.

What will you see? Here's some hints:
Singapore River (before it was cleaned up)
Bugis Street (before it was cleaned up)
Ann Siang Road (before it was cleaned up)
Amoy Street (before it was cleaned up)
Orchard Road
Raffles Hotel, and some really interesting aspects of Singapore's history from the 70s that we have forgotten/not told ourselves.

This film was banned in Singapore until only a few years ago. Read more on this part of its history on Ben Slater's Blog.



Its showing on:

THU 26 NOV 2009 7:30pm &

FRI 27 NOV 2009 1:00pm

Gallery Theatre, Basement

National Museum, Stamford Road.

Here is the blurb from our National Museum's event site:

The only American film to be shot entirely on location in Singapore, Saint Jack was completed in secrecy in 1978 and then swiftly banned for nearly three decades. It’s an adaptation of an early novel by Paul Theroux about a middle-aged Italian-American drifter called Jack Flowers (played by Ben Gazzara), hustling a living in the seedier corners of Singapore. Director Peter Bogdanovich and his team set out to tell his story as authentically as possible, and spared no effort in scouting locations and casting locals. What they created was a vivid, colourful document of the swinging Lion City of the ‘70s, capturing the high and low-life, the gangsters, the towkays, the Brits, the Yanks, the good-time girls and boys, the glitzy hotels and the crumbling mansions with immense wit and style. Watching Saint Jack is a chance to return to a forgotten time and a vanished city.

Members of the cast and crew will be present at the screening on Thursday 26 November, 7.30pm, which will be hosted by Ben Slater, author of Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore.

Don't forget to join in the mystery tour!

Films in our estate

Last Friday, while on the way to work, we saw these strange sets on Tiong Poh Road. After wondering about why the local coffeeshop had become a cafe and diner, realised that there was a movie or an MTV being shot on the road!

If you look carefully, there is a long haired girl/boy jumping on top of the car....

This comes one week after another film was observed being shot at Eng Watt Street....

One of the most famous (and earliest) new Singapore films, Mee Pok Man, by Eric Khoo, was filmed at our famous local coffee shop- - can you guess which one it is?

What other films do you know have been set in Tiong Bahru? Maybe we should make a list!

City and Memory on Film

Some of us might have read the recent letter in the ST Forum - titled 'Where did you go, my Singapore of old?' by Mr Vincent Paul Carthigasu, and kindly highlighted on Alvin's Blog.

One beautiful example of capturing a 'lost' city will be shown this weekend at the National Museum during a retrospective of noted director - Terence Davies, from the UK.



In particular, Davies’s most recent film, Of Time and The City (2008) is both a love song and a eulogy to Liverpool which revisits the territory of his earlier narrative films. It is also a response to memory, reflection and the experience of losing a sense of place as the skyline changes and time takes it toll. Davies believes passionately that British stories like Of Time and The City must be told by British film makers. There can only be truth in a story which is truly specific to a time and place. And it is in that truth that universal appeal will be found.

Do try to catch this, and his other films, this weekend. It is rare for his films to travel to Singapore. And some films just don't look good on the small screen.

Perhaps one day, we will have a film about Singapore, just like this. But I also hope that we will not have lost all of our treasured spots... in the meantime, here is one view of Singapore in 1938, caught on film, from an outsider,s eyes...