KINSHASA COLLECTION is a web-based, interactive documentary (or i-doc for short) wrapped around a hybrid web series, starting in Berlin and collaborating with filmmakers from Congo, China and Europe. The software we produce alongside the project - called Docmint - speeds up the development and maintenance of documentary and film projects conceived for the web.
We believe the web secures access to audiences and technologies that - in turn - influence the way filmmakers tell their stories. In times where especially for documentary filmmakers release options for TV and cinema are difficult to secure – or simply impossible for technical or political reasons – the internet has become a new channel. With Docmint we provide a tool that is specifically made for the web and for an audience that likes getting involved in shaping the filmmakers’ stories.
Our web series travels to Kinshasa, known as a fashion capital, a city bursting with fancy designs, extravaganza in the streets, dressed-up-girl-power and elegant men.
Episode by episode, the story about a German film team unfolds in the digital space – from the team being forced to become a player in Kinshasa’s fashion business to being propelling to China and back to Berlin. KINSHASA COLLECTION will finally leap back into the physical world with live events in Kinshasa, Berlin, and possibly other cities around the world.
The underlying web doc management software Docmint offers multiple functions for web-audiences, which can be adapted to individual projects. The premise of the interactive experience intends to heal the split personality of most web-centric film projects: How is it possible to control your storytelling while handing it over to your audience?
Docmint is tailored to filmmakers and producers who want to focus on storytelling on the web but don’t want to get held back by developing web technology. The toolbox of pre-configured designs enables scrollable longform storytelling as well as cinematographic slideshows controlled by mouse or keyboard.
Positioned at the intersection of digital interactive technology and documentary practice, the underlying narrative can be enhanced or disrupted with web technology. Overlays containing videos, slideshows, texts and links enable authors to explore new ways of storytelling with contemporary drama structures, drawing from the viewer’s experience with second screens, streaming portals, pop-ups and the like.
Docmint is being developed by Micz Flor, Michael Scharnagl and Laura Oldenbourg and will be released under an open license free to use, share and modify. By doing so, we also hope to start a collaborative effort to improve the tool with other teams.
If you want to find out more, follow our facebook page. We will update you with more info on details of the Docmint software/toolbox we develop for KINSHASA COLLECTION.