tapmag

In the late Palezoic and Mesozoic times, a supercontinent is said to have existed, which was comprised of all the continental crust of the earth. It’s name is a composition of the Greek words for all and earth – Pangea.

Pangea Day – tomorrow – is a joined effort to turn this supercontinent into reality again. It will bring together an audience of 500 million or more people in a worldwide filmfest, which you can follow in thousands of venues around the globe, or simply on your PC screen. The festival features two dozen outstanding short films, the crème de la crème of more than 2,500 entries worldwide.

The films cover a wide range, from Asia to the Americas, from tragedy to comedy, from animated clips to short films entirely shot on a mobile phone; they all provide cultural experiences of an intimate sort. Join the Laughter Clubs of India – a new form of yoga that promises eternal happiness through laughing out loud. See the neigborhoods of New Orleans which still suffer from the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Hear two men in Lebanon speak about life being torn apart by war

The films will be broadcasted live from six locations: Cairo, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, London and Kigali in Rwanda. Celebrity supports comes from Forest Whitaker, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, and – no way around him – Bob Geldof. But let’s leave the usual star cred aside; what is really outstanding, is that everyone can set up a public venue right in his or her living room. Thousands of people have done just that and entered the locations on the Pangea Day website.

The whole event was brought into life by the US-Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim. She won a TED award for her work and was granted a wish; if it was a good idea, the TED organization would help her to turn it into life. Noujaim, director of the highly praised Al-Jazeera documentary “Control Room,” decided to use the power of silver screen dreams to bring the world closer together. As a result, tomorrow we can participate in the very first Pangea Day. While the supercontinent Pangea later broke into Gondwana and Laurasia, which then further separated, the people living on the surface of these land masses need not to face the same fate.

By Kolja

Some film stills from the movies being shown:

[Show as slideshow]