A Confined Urban Vision

A Confined Urban Vision is the first short film competition of A-Place, organised by City Space Architecture, as part of A Confined Place and of the international film festival “Visioni Urbane/Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City”, that will take place on 12-15 November 2020 in Bologna, Italy.

A Confined Urban Vision is interested to investigate human life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While global lockdown destabilized economy and challenged country leaders, at the human level the pandemic generated isolation and loneliness, with a significant raise of helplessness and fear. As a reaction, many creative expressions started to redefine a sense of community across different countries and locations, strengthening solidarity and cooperation, also through social media initiatives. We, as human beings, needed to feel connected with one another, even while the virus outbreaks demanded that we remained apart, looking at the outside world from behind a window. The quarantine has raised the awareness about the essential role of urban publicness for the functioning of cities and societies.

The purpose of this competition is to explore and widen the meaning of places in the unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, rethinking human existence in the time of the pandemic and documenting ways we can live together again in the ‘new normal’ by presenting, documenting, deconstructing, expanding, speculating, challenging concepts related to:
- the lockdown period, applying a human perspective and describing how the perception in relation to public and private places has changed, while rearranging daily routines and work activities in indoor domestic spaces;
- the recovery period, following the lockdown, in regard of physical distancing measures, with descriptions ranging from restriction of movements in public areas to new and slow restart of everyday lives, with references to the use of mobility (cars, bicycle, buses) and limitations for public life and new rules for gathering.

Jury and Awards 

A multidisciplinary jury composed of A-Place project partners, will be appointed to select the shortlisted films and the winner, according to the following criteria:
- compliance to the competition
- originality of the topic addressed
- quality of narrative contents and effectiveness of visual communication
- ability to promote critical reflection or stimulate the urban imagination
External critics will be also engaged in the evaluation.

Shortlisted films will be announced on 16 October 2020 on City Space Architecture's website and social media.
They will be published on the website of City Space Architecture and will be publicly available for two weeks, from 19 October 2020 to 30 October 2020.

The jury will assign the Best Film Award to the winner and two honorable mentions.

The most voted film will receive the Audience Award.

The awarded short films will be announced during a live streaming event on 9 November 2020.

Awarded films (Best Film, two Honourable Mentions and Audience Award) will be screened in Bologna during the Film Festival “Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City”, taking place on 12-15 November 2020, during a special session dedicated to A Confined Urban Vision, that will include also a public dialogue and an exhibition.

The winner of A Confined Urban Vision will receive an award of 500 euros in cash. For the Honorable mentions and for the Audience Award City Space Architecture will issue a Certificate of Excellence.

Rules & Terms

The competition is open to film professionals and film enthusiasts, and to all genres (fiction, experimental, documentary). There is no restriction about the language, but subtitles in English must be included.
We accept short films of maximum 15 minutes, shot during the COVID-19 lockdown or during the recovery period, following the lockdown.

Submitting a short film implies that all applicants accept the terms and conditions set out in this competition.

Each applicant can submit one proposal only.

Applicants sending proposals must legally assume the rights of authorship. All questions and claims that may arise in this respect fall solely on the applicant. The video products are the property of the artists. This understanding also includes the right of City Space Architecture to reproduce the work during the international film festival “Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City” and during other cinema events related of the A-Place project.

Submit your short film on FilmFreeway! Deadline 17 August 2020 -> extended 30 September 2020.

For info: a-place@cityspacearchitecture.org