Watch the Full Documentary Now

Le Pangea day, Jour de la Pangée (“Toutes les terres”, ou agglomération originelle de tous les continents) se produira demain, samedi 10 mai 2008 à 20h (heure française métropolitaine) et simultanément sur toute la planète.

Génial. Mais c’est quoi ?

C’est 4 heures ininterrompues de projections de courts-métrages de tous les pays du monde. Dans un esprit très paix sur le monde et découverte de l’autre. Un truc “de gauche”, comme dirait un célèbre chroniqueur de CUT.

En France ça passera sur la chaîne câblée Planète, mais la retransmission sera accessible aussi sur internet, au cinéma et sur téléphone mobile. Une pan-retransmission quoi.

C’est la réalisatrice de documentaires américano-égyptienne Jehane Noujaim qui est à l’origine de ce projet qu’elle a pu réaliser grâce à l’appui des conférences de TED.

(-_-)

À 20 h le 10 Mai 2008

http://www.pangeaday.org/

Overview

The Pangea Day Mission & Purpose

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.

Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.

The Pangea Day Event

Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.

The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person’s eyes. Details on the Pangea Day films can be viewed here.

The program will also include a number of exceptional speakers and musical performers. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among those taking part.

What Will Happen After Pangea Day

People inspired by Pangea Day will have the opportunity to participate in community-building activities around the world. Through the live program, the Pangea Day web site, and self-organized local events, everyday people will be connected with extraordinary activists and organizations.

Many of the films and performances seen on Pangea Day will be made available on the Web and via mobile phone, alongside open forums for discussion and ideas for how to take social action.

A Pangea Day documentary will be created to catalyze future activities, and dozens of talented filmmakers will make strides in their careers.

History

In 2006, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim won the TED Prize, an annual award granted at the TED Conference. She was granted $100,000, and more important, a wish to change the world. Her wish was to create a day in which the world came together through film. Pangea Day grew out of that wish. Watch Jehane Noujaim’s 2006 acceptance speech now.

I’m not sure if I enjoyed this documentary so much because it was great or just because I’m very  familiar with the internet bubble, startup themes, and the complications of getting up and going with a large internet project.

I found Startup.com fascinating, touching, and tragic.    The true life documentary, condensed brilliantly from some 400 hours of footage, follows childhood pals Tom and Khalial as they conceptualize and build a site for government business interactions called GovWorks.com, raise 60 million dollars in Venture Capital, and then preside over the collapse of the company, friendly relationships, and more.    

A little more research reveals why this is so good.  It’s by Jhane Noujaim, one of the world’s most brilliant documentary filmmakers.  She made “Control Room” about spin before and as the Iraq War began, and she’s the winner of the prestigious TED Prize in 2006.    

What is ‘Pangea’?

According to Wikipedia, Pangea (“entire- Earth”, in Greek) was the supercontinent mass that existed some quarter million years ago and preceded the state of separate continents as we know it.

It makes sense then that Pangea Day seeks to bring together all the world in a series of broadcasted films, guest speakers and live music in the pursuit of awareness, inspiration and activities. The site focuses on the 24 short films to be shown, selected from a world-wide competition, to “allow us see the world through another person’s eyes”. Apparently, events for this day will be held in major international locations and local showings will be held as well. There is a specific page for determining the closest location to you if you’re interested in watching. For those of us in California, the broadcast will begin at 11:00 am.

I’ve heard about this here and there but never looked into it till now. If I’m not incredibly busy this Saturday I think I’ll try to check it out locally. Seems pretty interesting and it’s evidently another way that people are approaching the topic of world peace, more or less. While a whole gamut of emotions and thoughts exist about the plausibility of world peace, and everyone is certainly entitled to his or her opinion, I honestly feel that it doesn’t hurt to have events where people promote intercultural and international understanding. I haven’t experienced Pangea Day yet but I’m remaining open-minded. If I do go, I’ll share my experiences here.

Here’s Pangea Day founder Jehane Noujaim’s talk at TED about it all:

Airing Locally this Weekend on the Danielle Lin Show - May 10-11, 2008
Click Here to Listen to past shows.

“The Art and Science of Living…”

The Danielle Lin Show is the quintessential gateway for personal transformation and healthy living. As the pioneer of health talk radio for the Natural Product Industry, Lin has become one of the most recognized personalities on the air today! With her extraordinary interview history and extensive background in the field of health and natural sciences, Lin takes you inside the minds of the most powerful healers, product and service providers and luminaires of our times.

Access the largest broadcast library in the world on healthy living. Join us 24/7 online and weekly on the nationally syndicated AM radio network. Experience up-close and personal interviews with powerful changemakers and the incredible voices of our times; Deepak Chopra, M.D., Stephen R. Covey, Chris Howard, Dan Poynter, Dr. Masuru Emoto, Dan Millman, T. Harv Ecker, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Fred Alan Wolf Ph.D, Mark Victor Hansen, Andrew Weil, M.D., Marianne Williams, Gregg Braden, Daryl Hannah, Michael Losier.– Information with purpose…

1st Hour

“Harnessing the Power of Film To Change the World”…

Tune in to Pangea Day.org – May 10th

Documentary Film Director, Jehane Noujaim -You have the opportunity to participate in history. In an unprecented global event, film director Noujaim will dissolve the boundaries of the human heart when Pangea Day launches around the world. Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for this spectacular experience with powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. Hear the exclusive interview with Jehane and Curator – Chris Anderson from the TED Conference. Catch the wave before it happens. www.pangeaday.org

2nd Hour

“Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life” -

Author Dr. Wayne Dyer

Dr. Dyer does it again! Just when you thought it had all been said, he finds a way to break through to another level of awareness for personal discovery. Join us for this powerful discussion as he opens the door with shocking revelations that can turn your life around! A not to missed hour…tell everyone you know…

Live In Person – Salt Lake City, Utah !

Excuses Begone! – “How to Change Lifelong Self-Defeating Thinking Habits”

May 15, 2008, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Location: Salt Palace Convention Ctr. ~ Rm 255 A-F Salt Lake City, UT

Posted by Derrick Walker Alternative Medicine – Live!

 

Nokia’s Finalists for Mobile Short Videos
Nokia has announced the five finalists for the 2008 Nokia Mobile Filmmaking Awards, which will be screened during the Pangea Day broadcast on May 10. The winners will be flown to Los Angeles to attend one of Pangea Day’s six live broadcast locations on Saturday, May 10.

Pangea Day was created by documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim after winning the 2006 TED Prize.  Together, Noujaim and TED Conferences, with support from Nokia, have created Pangea Day to bring mobile-based film creativity to public.

The finalists are: Pier Bardoni for Cloud Running; Eduardo Cachucho for Game; Rupert Howe for Amazing Rainbows; Bob Calabritto for Smile; and Kayoom Mistry for Rounds All Around.

Contestants uploaded their two-minute long entries for the competition to the Pangea Day channel at Share on Ovi, a free media sharing service. Consumers who registered on the site voted to select the five finalists.

Nokia says that all five finalists, chosen by online voting, will be flown to Los Angeles for the event. A panel of professional judges – including Jehane Noujaim, Dave Stewart, and others – will review the videos prior to the broadcast and pick a winner, which will then be announced during the Pangea Day broadcast. In addition to the trip to the Los Angeles event, the winner will receive a mobile filmmaking trip of a lifetime to the Rwandan Gorilla Reserve and a production budget to record their trip.

What is Pangea Day?

“Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future.

In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that — to help people see themselves in others — through the power of film.

On May 10, 2008 — Pangea Day — sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music.

The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones.

Of course, movies alone can’t change the world. But the people who watch them can. So following May 10, 2008, Pangea Day organizers will facilitate community-building activities around the world by connecting inspired viewers with numerous organizations that are already doing groundbreaking work.”

I’m hosting a private event at my house in London for a few of my friends. You should host an event as well. Visit the Pangea Day website here for details.

Below is a TED Talk by Jehane Noujaim that explains how it all began:

3

“The first step to world peace is for people to meet each other.” -Jehane Noujaim at the TED conference in 2006.

Jehane Noujaim wanted to create an opportunity for individuals from the four corners of the world to bridge the gaps through photography and film. May 10, 2008 will be the first Pangea Day event and cities like Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be connecting and produce a 4 hour program consisting of film, music and speakers.

Check out the trailer…

“Movies alone can’t change the world. But the people who watch them can”

I’m going to go to Pangea day – are you going to be there?

The idea of Pangea day came from filmmaker Jehane Noujaim who won the TED prize in 2006. The prize was $100,000, and the chance to make a public wish to change the world. Her wish was to create a day in which the world came together through film.

As a result, 24 short films are going to be shown on May 10 2008 across the world - including screenings in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio.

The films were chosen with the hope that they will inspire, transform, and to help those viewing to see the world through another person’s eyes. More details on the content of the films (which were chosen through an open competition) can be found here. 

The message will be spread through web and via mobile phone, using self organised local events alongside discussion forums. Ideas and information on how to take social action will also be

After/during the screening the idea is that ”everyday people will be connected with extraordinary activists and organizations.”

It’s a great concept, and I hope it’ll be a big success – that’s why I’m going along – to support the idea and to find out how well it worksin practice.

What a beautiful concept….

On the 10th May, 100,000s of people all over the world will be brought together..

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.

Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.

The Pangea Day Event – view the inspirational trailer here
Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.

The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person’s eyes. The winning films will be announced in late April.

The program will also include a number of exceptional speakers and musical performers. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among those taking part.

Such a beautiful idea, born in 2006, by filmmaker Jehane Noujaim (TED Prize winner). She was granted $100,000, and more important, a wish to change the world. Her wish was to create a day in which the world came together through film. Pangea Day grew out of that wish. Watch Jehane Noujaim’s 2006 acceptance speech here.

I’ll be there on May 10th at Somerset House in London, will you?

A couple days ago I posted “Japan Sings Turkey”, the first in Pangea Day’s new “Anthems” campaign. Each spot is an exploration of one culture’s national anthem interpreted into a short film by another country. My favourite, not so much for content but more just for the whole politically-polarized idea behind it, is “France sings USA”. I imagine the thought of a French choir singing the good ol’ “Stars and Stripes” would probably make a few Americans choke on their “freedom fries”, but the sincerity here is undeniable:

(Agency: Johannes Leonardo. Director: Laurent Briet)

Next up is “Kenya Sings India”:

(Director: Bob Nyanja)

Finally we’ve got “Australia Sings Lebanon”. This mostly makes me think Australians aren’t particularly good at humming:

(Director: Kris Moyes)

A little while ago I posted “Tank Driver”, a brilliant spot for the upcoming global film event Pangea Day. Their multicultural vibe is getting on a serious roll. For their new round of spots, agency Johannes Leonardo worked with filmmakers in certain countries to film their own citizen learning another country’s national anthem, but in their own cultural style.

In the first spot, “Japan Sings Turkey”, director Kosai Sekine brings the Turkish national anthem to life through the eyes and voice of traditional Japanese design. The the inspiration might be traditional, the distinctly modern video is simple and beautiful:

A few months ago I posted about Pangea Day, the realization of a dream from visionary documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim and winner of a TED Idea Prize. The goal, simply but globally, is to unite people in the world through the power of the moving image.

As Pangea Day, May 10 2008, draws closer, they’ve embarked on a new campaign with the tag “See the World Through Someone Else’s Eyes”. The ultimate power of Pangea Day is precisely that. Despite langauge, race, and culture we have a medium in film where we can tell the story of any human being on earth, and any other human being on earth (if viewed with open mind and willing heart) can understand the other person’s life.

This latest promo film for Pangea Day, “Tank Driver”, is such a succinct and perfectly realized incarnation of this message that I’m going to shut up now and beg you to watch it:

(Agency: Johannes Leonardo, Director: The Glue Society, Production: @radical.media)

I am enthused by the idea of building bridges between distinct entities, be they people, places or disciplines. Film maker and creative visionary Jehane Noujaim (of Control Room fame) presented her wish at a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference back in 2006 – her vivid and captivating vision of a day the world would unite through the power of film. Jehane Noujaim took the audience into her mind as she unveiled her perfectly pitched concept of people telling their stories at an allocated, synchronised time, to an audience that would span the globe. And won the TED Prize. It was not a far-fetched idea but captivating, inspirational and pragmatic – expanding people’s minds by allowing them to experience the world of “the other” from their own locality; travelling in mind as opposed to in body, uniting the world in a unique event where people will share the experience of watching and undergoing a transformation elicited by powerful stories through powerful imagery. The event to be held on 10th May 2008 is befittingly called Pangea Day, the name inspired by Wegener’s convincing theory of planet earths existence as a supercontinent prior to detachment into the continents we know today.

When I allow myself to dive into and indulge in the concept of global unity, I am aware that there is clearly an aspect of me that is running away with fantasy. More so as we are living in an age where we talk in polarised terms and convene around coffee tables, speculating on the imminent and inevitable crumbling of the global power, as a dragon (simultaneously?) rises, spanning her wings across the globe to be the next world dominator. However, if I may stay in fantasyland for a moment yet, as I do quite like it here, thinking of planet earth’s continents as a single, conglomerated land mass as it arguably was about 250 million years ago, illuminated for me how this physicality can radically alter how we as individuals perceive and relate to the world. How our inhabitance of a giant land mass could cognitively breed unity amongst us, the inhabitants – the human race – one people on earth, regardless of our physical appearance, culture or heritage purely based on our perceived closer proximity to each other. Regretably, I am falling back from the clouds as I start to recount in my mind the number of inter-continental conflicts that are still fresh in my mind, having occurred during my own life-time….

Back to reality now, it also got me thinking about my Africanness, my Kenyanness and whatever-else-I-may-identify-with-ness. Despite Africa’s vastness and incredibly exhilirating and mind-blowing diversity, what is it that makes me feel connected to my fellow Africans at large? Turning a misconception that I see represented in the media on its head, I am now pondering on if there is a possibility that at a subconscious level, I have absorbed the oh-so-infuriating message that Africa is not a giant? What about the convenient reference to sub-Saharan Africa that excludes the Sahel (for example in terms of statistics) that we have now internalised that has only widened an already palpable divide. This subject matter in itself deserves a separate post.

I suspect that there is an ounce of truth in the notion that Africa’s existence as a land mass breeds unity to those who inhabit her undulating, diverse terrain. No argument wins by presenting a mono-variable and therefore there are sure to be other factors at play here, such as the marginalisation of a people that is inexorably embedded in our history and continues to be propagated in the current global climate with issues such as unjust global trading policies. However, thinking of the land mass that is the continent of Africa, there is a level of intimacy that we share by virtue of our proximity to each other that is embodied in the ease of access that we have to one another, albeit presuming ease of ability to traverse the artificial borders that were carved out in Europe without our knowledge. What I am saying is that our proximity to each other by default makes us feel we belong to each other. A macro community, in other words. This bears great similarity to the concept in economics that a single currency makes people feel united as it simplifies travelling and inter-country relations, therefore uniting neighbouring nations. Basically, it is all in the mind. Although I am not the expert, I daresay that this is already the case in Europe and Central Africa. Looking around me, in the UK, a small island in Northwestern Europe, it is fascinating to see how the UK plays a delicate dance with her identity; with one foot in continental Europe and the other firmly rooted in her autonomy and Britishness. After all, unlike Ireland, the rest of the UK clings onto the sterling, nose turned upwards snubbing the Euro.

Back to Africa – ironically, it is easier and cheaper to fly across the Mediterranean to Europe as opposed to travelling within Africa. Explicably due to the economic theory of demand and supply (although there are promising signs that this is changing, big up KQ). Despite this, our connection to each other remains steadfast. Thinking back to the possibilities of interwoven variables that connect us, all playing a part to nurture our sense of unity, it becomes apparent to me that perhaps another leaf to the argument is that, it may be partly because our identity is physically worn and therefore openly viewed by others (which can be postulated for other regions of the world of course). A person with whom I have no affiliation can look at me from a distance and have full knowledge of my ancestral home, without any verbal exchange. The eyes speak to the onlooker. This reminds me of the brief but appreciated act of exchanging eye contact or a subtle knod, that goes unnoticed to those momentarily sharing the same space when my path has fleetingly crossed with another person of African origin either by birth or ancestry, in a town that had a white majority. Indeed, the solidarity of minorities.

I like the word solidarity. Perhaps yet another unifying factor is our yearning to stand together, in our own defence after witnessing the seemingly tireless mis-representation of our continent as a dark, disease-ridden and war-torn hell hole. In which case, the very misrepresentation that attempts to deny us of our expansive identity also plays a part in uniting us? African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), an organisation that I have a lot of time for, formulated a policy document on what the Diaspora can do to challenge media misrepresentation of Africa.

The question of a united world remains, sitting heavily on my shoulders. Perhaps it is a long way ahead yet, however, we can only but start with baby steps by opening our hearts and listening to each other. Join me on Pangea Day around the world. Surely I can still dream, can’t I?

Update: If you can’t be bothered to read the entire schpill, just read this –

My brain has been ticking along since I put up this post resulting in a eureka moment, a connection of neuronal networks, in the realisation that what I spent a number of paragraphs mulling over as inspired by the concept of the earth as pangea may be summarised thus: there are a myriad of interwoven agents at play to form a complex multidimensional picture that will inarguably influence our definition of the term “community”. These include geographical boundaries (aha! the connection to pangea), shared interests (for example activism), age groups, gender, socio-economic and political factors. This list could potentially carry on to infinity as we identify the plethora of micro and macro communities that exist based on our differences or associations. I guess you now either (a) get the drift of my ramblings or (b) have spotted I never read a social science. Or both. Don’t you just love it when things suddenly arrange themselves into nice, little, tidy packages to calm an overwhelmed mind?