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Film event uses digital-age technology to unite cultures
2008-04-02
A filmmaker's wish to unite people worldwide by letting them see life through each others' eyes is coming true. People in countries rich and poor have captured their communities or beliefs in short videos, which will be available to view free around the globe during a four-hour presentation on May 10. The event is dubbed Pangea Day, stemming from a Greek word that refers to the land mass that existed on Earth before it divided into separate continents. It is the result of a wish documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim was granted as part of a Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference prize in 2006, and counts movie stars Meg Ryan and Cameron Diaz among its supporters. When accepting the prize, Noujaim said she believes a key to peace is for people to meet each other. Since she can't force people to travel, she wants to "bring the world together" for a day through the power of film. "Movies alone can't change the world, but the people who watch them can," she said. "If you had the world's attention for five minutes, what story would you tell?" Noujaim's works include "Control Room," a 2004 film contrasting how Arab news organization Al-Jazeera and Western media covered the invasion of Iraq a year earlier. Amateur filmmakers worldwide were invited to make digital films showing their viewpoints and upload them via YouTube. Finnish telecom titan Nokia provided mobile telephones with video camera capabilities so people in remote or disadvantaged areas could create films and upload them wirelessly. "By integrating the power of wireless technology into Pangea Day, we can help it meet its goal of bringing together people from around the world," said Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. A Pangea Day advisory board includes Hollywood filmmaker J.J. Abrams and movie stars Meg Ryan, Cameron Diaz and Goldie Hawn. "We are trying to break through cultural boundaries or polarization. Instead of looking at a person who is maybe a Muslim, you are looking at their story and begin to realize we are just human beings," Hawn told AFP. Pangea Day video "Tank Driver" showing what appears to be an office worker blocking a column of military tanks has been viewed more than 83,000 times since it was posted on YouTube on February 28 as a prelude to the global event. "All the toughest global issues -- war, poverty, public health, global warming -- have at their core a failure of moral imagination," said TED 'curator' Chris Anderson, who donated a million dollars to the project. "If enough of us could abandon us/them thinking and really see people from all cultures as part of one connected whole, the world would find the political will to solve these problems." A www.pangeaday.org website created free by Internet firm Avenue A/Razorfish links to an interactive map that pinpoints where free viewings are planned. "Any one, anywhere with a TV, access to the Internet or a mobile phone can host a viewing of the Pangea Day program," organizers promise. Viewing locales include a Sierra Leone beach, Federation Square in Melbourne, downtown Prague, and a medical school in Dalian City, China. Mike Walsh said he is hosting a film showing at the San Francisco offices of his technology firm Leverage Software because learning about other cultures fosters tolerance and frees people to celebrate their differences. "I hope to fill the house," Walsh said. "I believe that a minimum of one person will enter (here) and leave one prejudice behind. If that happens, I will be thrilled." The hope is to make Pangea Day an annual event. "The power of film is huge," Hawn said. "People all around the world can make movies that deal with their sorrows, their joys, their dreams, and their fears. We can feel connected with each other as human beings with compassion and empathy that is missing in the world today."
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