An image from Cpm-703, a project selected for POV Hackathon 2 (Jan. 12-13, 2013).

POV Hackathon 2 is getting underway this weekend. In a series of blog posts, we’re introducing you to the participating filmmakers, developers and designers.

In Cpm-703, a Fukushima-born artist journeys into Japan’s nuclear winter revealing the warmth and strength of survivors coping with the fallout. The POV Hackathon 2 team includes filmmaker Jake Price with designer Visakh Menon.

Jake Price (Photo: Jake Price)

Jake Price worked as a freelance producer for the BBC producing multi-media pieces for InPictures. He’s currently working on a feature length documentary in Fukushima, Cpm-703, about the survivors of the nuclear fallout. His transmedia and photography appears in The New York Times, TIME, The New Yorker & Rolling Stone.

I’m very excited about the new possibilities in online storytelling. I work with photography, video, audio and text. The ability to combine all of these elements and weave them together online is a liberation because it lets me express myself through the many mediums that inspire me.

I wanted to be a part of the Hackathon because it brings together a storytelling community that I have a lot to learn from and contribute to. In-depth online storytelling is still in a nascent form where so many possibilities exist.

I have been collaborating with Visakh Menon, a developer and designer, for the past two years. Together we created UnknownSpring, a website that tells the story of Yuriage, a village that was destroyed by the tsunami. One chapter is devoted to telling the story through dynamic maps. We will expand on that technology during the Hackathon and incorporate it into the Cpm-703 website. In using layered maps and data sets, our goal is to document the spread of radiation and the lives that the fallout has impacted.

» Cpm-703 preview on The Guardian
» Project Website

Visakh Menon (Photo: Visakh Menon)

Visakh Menon grew up in India and currently lives in NYC. He splits his time consulting as a creative director-designer and a working as an artist with video art & sculptural installation focus. He has several years of experience creating branding and interactive media designs for leading global brands and cultural institutions. Recent artworks of his has been featured in numerous gallery shows and exhibitions in the US and abroad. He was selected for the 2010 Mentoring Fellowship for Immigrant Artists at New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). He received an MFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007.

I have come to the POV Hackathon to explore ideas and meet other creators who are using new media for nonfiction storytelling. I have been working with filmmaker Jake Price for about two years now and it has been a unique experience trying to translate nonfiction storytelling to the new media with the possibility of non-linear narratives. I hope to meet other creators and see how they use new media tools and tech to address human-interest stories and what the scope for these narratives are with regard to emerging technologies.

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POV Staff
POV (a cinema term for "point of view") is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 400 films to public television audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues.