About
Richard Neill, Lee Schneider
Shelter is a 90-minute documentary about architects, designers and engineers who are using good design to address the shelter needs of survivors of natural disasters and the homeless. It is a chronicle of the worldwide movement in public interest architecture and design. We have started production in Haiti, and in 2012 plan to return there, and also to film in the American Southwest, Indonesia and Thailand. Shelter is a co-production of DocuCinema and Adventure Pictures.
Who is on the production team?
Lee Schneider is the director and editor of Shelter. Richard Neill is the producer and director of photography. Caroline Markowitz is the outreach coordinator. Michelle Marrion is the second unit cinematographer and coordinating producer in Haiti. Megan Nemeh is the associate producer.
Who is the intended audience?
The intended audience for Shelter begins with undergraduate and graduate students. We hope to inspire students (and post-doc fellows) to become involved with public interest architecture and design. Our audience also includes professors in architecture, design and engineering departments. By including the film in their curriculum we hope to influence the conversation about ‘design for good.’ It’s our intention for the general public, who will experience the film in television and theatrical film releases, to see the value of public interest design and donate or become involved with organizations like Public Architecture, Architecture for Humanity, and Build Change.
How can I see Shelter?
We are working with film.sprout, a consulting and booking agency that broadens the social impact of documentaries. Our outreach coordinator is developing a program with film.sprout that we are calling Shelter vXp. Shelter vXp was piloted recently at the University of Minnesota College of Design. It is a virtual exchange program that will share information about design for good projects worldwide, using the Shelter project as a vehicle. We are planning workshops on campuses nationally to help propagate the message of Shelter. Sequences from Shelter as a work in progress will be showcased in these workshops. When we’ve filmed enough to build longer sequences we will begin showing Shelter at film festivals, beginning in the fall of 2012. Shelter will receive television distribution in 2013-2014. Our theatrical release centers around fundraising events in theaters that will promote DVD sales through a distributor and online streaming through a service such as Netflix.
What kinds of articles do you have on your blog?
The shelter blog is a news feed of design for good activities worldwide. Topics include disaster relief, sustainable architecture and design, and design-oriented solutions to homelessness. We also post production news about Shelter.
Do you accept blogs from anyone?
We will consider blogs from outside contributors if they are reporting on public interest design. If you’ve written something you’d like to be considered, please contact us.
