SANDCASTLES parallels two Singapores: one in Southeast Asia, and one buried on the western coast of Michigan. On top of sharing the same name, these two places also share a fraught relationship with sand.
Singapore, Michigan was a thriving lumber town in the late 1800s, until erosion from mass deforestation caused the sand dunes around it to shift and swallow the town whole. Just as quickly as Singapore, Michigan disappeared under sand, its namesake in the East emerged from it; where there was once only water and marsh, there is now land. Around the world, Singapore is renowned for its use of land reclamation — importing sand to increase landmass and spur urban development.
From the perspective of multiple characters including sand importers, descendants of the buried town of Singapore, developers, environmental activists, and the indigenous communities of both Singapores, the film puts the two Singapores in dialogue to depict the temporal nature of human edifices built on and destroyed by nothing more than sand.