2016 ShortDocs: Radio Cinema

Series produced by Third Coast International Audio Festival

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The 2016 ShortDocs Challenge, in partnership with Manual Cinema (a cinematic shadow puppet performance collective), invited two to three-minute long stories inspired by the cinema and one of four genres: Rom-Com, Sci-Fi, Film Noir and Nature Doc.

For the 2016 ShortDocs Challenge, Third Coast partnered with Manual Cinema - a cinematic shadow puppet performance collective(!) that uses vintage projectors, multiple screens, live-feed cameras, actors and musicians to create film-inspired performances. To inspire submissions, Manual Cinema created four original just-for-Third Coast mini-movies, each based on a different film genre: Rom-Com, Sci-Fi, Film Noir and Nature Doc.

We encouraged ShortDoc-makers to think of their microphone as a camera - use it for close-ups and wide-angle shots, zoom in and out, consider perspective and point-of-view and shadow and light. We also encouraged them to keep cinematic conventions in mind while editing - jump cuts and long fades, flashbacks and chase scenes and meet-cutes, montages and double exposures...

Each ShortDoc had to: 1) be inspired by one of four original Manual Cinema mini-movies 2) be "shot" on two or more locations; 3) incorporate one Manual Cinema original musical composition; 4) be two to three minutes in length

For the 2016 Challenge, Third Coast received over a hundred ShortDocs submissions from twelve different countries. After marathon listening and much deliberation at Third Coast HQ, we crowned four winners. These included the People’s ShortDoc, voted for by hundreds of listeners in six continents. Hide full description

For the 2016 ShortDocs Challenge, Third Coast partnered with Manual Cinema - a cinematic shadow puppet performance collective(!) that uses vintage projectors, multiple screens, live-feed cameras, actors and musicians to create film-inspired performances. To inspire submissions, Manual Cinema created four original just-for-Third Coast mini-movies, each based on a different film genre: Rom-Com, Sci-Fi, Film Noir and Nature Doc. We encouraged ShortDoc-makers to think of their microphone as a camera - use it for close-ups and wide-angle shots, zoom in and out, consider perspective and point-of-view and shadow and light. We also encouraged them to keep cinematic conventions in mind while editing - jump cuts and long fades, flashbacks and chase scenes and meet-cutes, montages and double... Show full description


12 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Standing where she always wanted to be, a woman on the moon looks at life from a distance.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 03:00
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This hard-boiled poet cracks another case wide open.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 03:00
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A chance encounter brings together an American and Italian boy, not knowing when they'll ever meet again.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 03:00
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A look at invisibility, silhouettes, and humanity through a kaleidoscope.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 03:00
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Two obnoxious city boys take the Giant Squid Safari in the Sea of Japan and end up in deep trouble.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 03:00
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A woman pieces together sonic memories and her sense of belonging through swimming.

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 02:31
  • Purchases: 1
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A man & his TV crime drama-induced phobia.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 02:40
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Whether she likes it or not, things are about to change.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 02:55
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A man, in orbit, going round and round...

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 02:28
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A contemplation of the return of rattlesnakes to Massachusetts.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 02:59
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A story about deer, a wonderful lake, internet privacy and who is the deer.

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 02:55
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What if Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” were re-imagined as a film?

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 02:32