2012 ShortDocs Challenge: BlockDocs


THE CREATIVE PARTNER

For the 2012 ShortDocs Challenge we teamed up with EveryBlock, a Chicago-based website and online forum for neighborhood and community solidarity, and SoundCloud, the excellent social sound platform.

THE THEME

With EveryBlock's mission in mind and with their help, we built a Challenge that was all about getting to know your neighbors.

THE RULES

Each ShortDoc had to:

  • be up to three minutes in length
  • feature at least two neighbors
  • involve three seconds of narrative silence
  • include a color in the title.

THE RESULTS

One hundred and eighty ShortDocs were submitted (a record!) from twenty-one countries (another record!). Four were chosen as the 2012 ShortDocs winners, and were presented, with producers and Team EveryBlock on-hand, during the opening session of the 2012 Third Coast Conference.

Listen to the winners below, and hear all the submissions in our audio library.


Crown the King: Red Takes Black

2012 ShortDocs Winner! One block from Adam Kampe's apartment sits the Capitol Pool Checkers Club where, each week, men with nicknames like the Hammer, the Pressure Man, and the Razor gather to trash talk over heated games of checkers.

Glass, Not Glitter

2012 ShortDocs Winner! Neighbors of the Murrah Federal building recall the 1995 bombing that altered the life and culture of Oklahoma City.