Caspar Sonnen 
www.idfa.nl/doclab
Caspar Sonnen is a festival organiser and curator specialised in independent cinema and digital media art. As New Media Coordinator of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, he has succesfully developed digital festival strategies and online initiatives. In 2008, Sonnen launched IDFA DocLab, a pioneering platform for digital documentary storytelling and media art. IDFA DocLab is also one of the organising partners of PhotoStories. Besides his work at IDFA, Sonnen is co-founder and programmer of the Open Air Film Festival Amsterdam.
His choice:
- Thanatorama
Early project by the prolific producer Alexandre Brachet, undeniably one of the most important pioneers of the webdocumentary genre. Although lesser known than his later landmark projects http://www.gazasderot.tv and http://www.prisonvalley.tv, http://www.thanatorma.com still feels fresh and still is one of the best examples of a project that succeeds in marrying interactive with narrative in an attractive and meaningful way. www.thanatorama.com
- We feel fine
In 2004, web artist Jonathan Harris wrote a simple but very clever piece of software that scrapes the internet and public blogs for personal messages. The result is an incredible, beautiful and – to this very day – real-time updated database of human emotions in words and images. www.wefeelfine.org
- Welcome to Pine Point
Like Arte France, the National Film Board of Canada turns out high quality webdoc projects at an incredible pace. One of my favorites is Welcome to Pine Point, created by two very lo-fi and non-digital natives who previously ran the AdBusters magazine. Together with the NFB, they succeeded perfectly to translate their 2D cut and paste print aesthetic into a highly enjoyable multimedia narrative of a place that doesn’t exist anymore.
www.pinepoint.nfb.ca
photo-stories.org 