Downloads: Press Release

POV Hackathon 3 Set for April 13-14, 2013; Call for Participants Open Through March 12

POV (Point of View), PBS’ award-winning independent documentary series currently in its 25th year, took over the offices of Huge, Inc. in Brooklyn, N.Y. for the weekend-long POV Hackathon 2, from
Jan. 12-13, 2013. POV challenged eight teams of filmmakers, developers and designers to “hack” documentary films and create a working interactive prototype for a final screening and pitch, judged by Terry Bryant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ingrid Kopp from the Tribeca Film Institute, Paco de Onís of Skylight Pictures and Brian Storm of MediaStorm and the Hackathon participants.

And the winners are: Participants’ Choice award: Empire; Best Prototype award: Stop the Experiment; and Best Pitch award: The Whiteness Project.

The next POV Hackathon will be held Saturday-Sunday, April 13-14, 2013. POV Hackathon 3’s Call for Participants is now open at http://pov.org/hackathon. Deadline: Tuesday, March 12 at midnight ET.

All Hackathon 2 projects are now available for viewing at http://pov.org/hackathon. Learn more about POV and see project demos, and download event photos.

About the winning projects:
Empire (Participants’ Choice winner) looks at the continuing legacy of Dutch colonialism through an ‘exploded’ feature film: a series of video installations presented simultaneously in a common space. Filmmakers Eline Jongsma and Kel O’Neill teamed up with interactive designers Clint Beharry and Claire Mitchell to translate the multi-screen presentation to a diptych platform that allows the viewer to push and pull the screen’s boundaries to decide which installation and story they want to follow. Learn more.

Stop the Experiment (Best Prototype winner) is a Web app created by developers Mimi Flynn, Christopher Castiglione and Cameron Hickey and filmmakers Dana Nachman and Chelsea Matter. The app will accompany the The Human Experiment, a documentary that explores the ubiquity of untested chemicals in everyday products and encourage consumers to consider their own interactions with untested products and chemicals, and take action. Learn more.

The Whiteness Project (Best Pitch winner) is a cross-platform investigation into how white Americans experience their ethnicity. The team is comprised of filmmaker Whitney Dow, designer John Kudos, designer/developer Sumit Paul, researcher Chithra Jeyaram and mentor Dante Chinni. The project, which will live primarily on the Internet, will have film and art-installation components. Learn more.

“It’s amazing what these teams of documentary filmmakers, developers and designers, who had not met before, were able to achieve in the span of 31 hours,” said Adnaan Wasey, POV Digital Director. “The prototypes point to an exciting future for nonfiction media: not made for the Web, but made of the Web.”

“We’re taking the unique step of sharing all of the POV Hackathon prototypes, along with an explanation of the technologies used to create them, to inspire other filmmakers, developers and designers to continue experimenting.” said Wasey. “It also raises the bar for POV Hackathon 3.”

The POV Hackathon 2 projects included Cpm-703; Empire; Faith in the Five Boroughs; Feed Me a Story; The Human Experiment / Stop the Experiment; How to Lose Your Virginity; and The Whiteness Project; plus one project from POV Hackathon 1 — Data Docs — whose team members returned to develop new aspects of their storytelling. The teams, all at early stages in production, produced a wide array of Web-based prototypes, including a safe consumer product finder, a video cookbook creation system, an economics-themed web documentary that adapts itself to real-time data, and a paradigm for interacting with three-dimensional art installations on the Web.

About POV
Produced by American Documentary, Inc., the award-winning POV is the longest-running showcase on American television to feature the work of today’s best independent documentary filmmakers. POV has brought more than 365 acclaimed documentaries to millions nationwide and has a Webby Award-winning online series, POV’s Borders. Since 1988, POV has pioneered the art of presentation and outreach using independent nonfiction media to build new communities in conversation about today’s most pressing social issues. Visit www.pbs.org/pov.

Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the desJardins/Blachman Fund and public television viewers. Funding for POV’s Diverse Voices Project is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Special support provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.

POV Digital (www.pbs.org/pov)
POV’s award-winning website extends the life of our films online with interactive features, interviews, updates, video and educational content, as well as listings for television broadcasts, community screenings and films available online. The POV Blog is a gathering place for documentary fans and filmmakers to discuss films and get the latest news.

About Huge
Huge is a digital agency that provides business strategy, design, marketing and technology services to some of the world’s largest businesses and best-known brands. The company is known for successfully harmonizing user needs and business goals to create industry-changing digital experiences for its clients. Huge has offices based in the United States, Europe and Latin America, and is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. For more information, visit www.hugeinc.com. @hugeinc on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

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POV Pressroom
Produced by American Documentary, Inc., POV is public television’s premier showcase for nonfiction films. Since 1988, POV has been the home for the world’s boldest contemporary filmmakers, celebrating intriguing personal stories that spark conversation and inspire action. Always an innovator, POV discovers fresh new voices and creates interactive experiences that shine a light on social issues and elevate the art of storytelling. With our documentary broadcasts, original online programming and dynamic community engagement campaigns, we are committed to supporting films that capture the imagination and present diverse perspectives.