My contribution to the National Film Board of Canada’s new experimental Internet documentary, HIGHRISE, is now online in “Out My Window.”

The NFB describes HIGHRISE as “a multi-year, multi-media, collaborative documentary project about the human experience in global vertical suburbs.” As part of HIGHRISE, the “Out My Window” documentaries use photo montages and audio slideshows (and, in some cases, 360 degree videos) to focus on the lives of residents in highrise buildings in 13 suburbs and cities around the world. The project was recently summarized in a Toronto Star feature that also uses one of my images.

The Chicago contribution is based on my Plan for Transformation series and interviews I conducted with a mother and daughter who lived in a Cabrini Green “white” building. The family has since been relocated to another Chicago Housing Authority property to make way for the demolition of their former building. A more-or-less direct link to the section on the “Out My Window” site is here, but all of the contributions are definitely worth viewing.

The project will make an offline premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in November. More details about the premiere and its subsequent installation at the Brakke Grond Theatre and Gallery in Amsterdam is available through the DocLab website.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Brian Ashby deserves credit for the high quality audio and plenty of other assistance. Heather Frise edited the piece, and the overall director is Katerina Cizek.

UPDATE: “Out My Window” subsequently won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Documentary Storytelling and an International Digital Emmy for Non-Fiction.