Community Voices - Shetland

Community Voices is a docufilm, curated by the Shetland-based not-for-profit arts organisation Curious Pilgrims, that unveils personal perspectives of pandemic and post-lockdown community resilience and human connection in Shetland, told through words, animation and film. 

 In November 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, creative practitioners Renzo Spiteri and Gaby Giacchino of Curious Pilgrims, became acutely aware that social restrictions were affecting people in different ways, and that there were cases in which people in Shetland were not feeling or experiencing the support within a community environment. Through an open call for participation, people in Shetland or with a close connection to the isles were invited to share life experiences and first-hand narratives of their lives, stories and perceptions of the pandemic and post-lockdown period through any creative medium that they felt comfortable with. 

The resultant contributions were curated and edited to produce a 22-minute docufilm. Through the use of words, animation and film, Community Voices unveils personal perspectives of pandemic and post-lockdown community resilience and human connection. Viewers of the docufilm discover a greater consciousness and awareness of lived experiences that will resonate with different people in different ways.

This project, which is specific to Shetland, brought into clear focus how empowering it can be for people to have the space to express their feelings and thoughts. It acted as a platform through which people could portray the social and emotional effects brought about as a result of the pandemic. 

More information about the project:  https://www.curiouspilgrims.com/communityvoices