HIGHRISE: THE COLLECTION

2008-2015 |Director

web documentaries | live performances | installations | | participatory sites | radio shows | public art | policy change | community newsletters | media training | academic research | books | newspaper and magazine series

HIGHRISE was a seven-year experiment in documentary, emergent media technologies, and urbanism at the National Film Board of Canada, led by director Katerina Cizek and senior producer Gerry Flahive. It explored vertical living in the global suburbs.

HIGHRISE was fueled by partnerships with groups as diverse as local tenants’ associations, global networks of scholars, the Mozilla Foundation, and The New York Times. The project included five feature-length web documentaries, multi-year academic research studies, special issues of print journalism and live radio, live presentations, art installations, two books, policy recommendations, and material improvements in the physical and social conditions of specific highrise neighbourhoods. The project was covered by international press with over 350 mentions and won many awards, including 2 Emmys, a Peabody, Canadian Screen Awards, and Webbys, among others.

HIGHRISE broke new ground with every iteration: 360 degree video technology in 2010, HTML5 and WebGL open source 3D in browser technology in 2011, a special interactive partnership with New York Times that won an Emmy and Peabody, and finally the first documentary to use Depthkit technology, a first in volumentric capturing.

The next pages provide a more detailed account of the project’s many iterations and impacts.

EARLY TRAILER

An early trailer for the HIGHRISE project, made to develop partnerships and to illuminate the unique process behind the project. (1m 44s)