CBC Preps Short-Form Digital Docs

OTTAWA: CBC Docs has made its foray into the area of short-form digital documentaries with CBC Docs: Short Docs, an online platform dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers.

The site features docs that showcase unique perspectives through innovative storytelling and, at less than 30 minutes in length, are meant to be shareable in the online space. The site launched with six short docs including: Billsville; Thunder Blanket (episodes one to three of five); Underdog; Wally’s World (episodes one through three); WhyFi?; and World Famous Gopher Hole Museum. It will eventually feature a total of 18 films over the course of the 2016-17 season. Two of the films to be featured soon on cbc.ca/shortdocs made their world premieres at the 2016 Hot Docs Festival in Toronto: Frame 394 by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson and Between You & Me by Chase Joynt.

“We’re incredibly proud to offer up-and-coming Canadian doc filmmakers a new platform through which to share their work with a national audience,” said Jennifer Dettman, executive director of unscripted content at CBC. “Creating original content for the digital space allows us to showcase shorter, shareable doc content on a whole range of subjects and to take some creative risks.”