Last night was a memorable evening. I received an email two weeks back informing of the Pangea Day. I had no idea of this event. The venue was ThoughtWorks. Before I registered, I have to admit that I did not do my homework of searching on google 😦 The only thing I knew about this event is that there are movies going to shown around the world at the same time. I mistook these movies to be art, but they were more than that.
Anyway, landed at the venue at around 9 PM, the screening was scheduled to begin at around 11 PM. There were few guys playing music to entertain the crowd. Dinner was also sponsored and it was nice. Most of my gang from other groups were there, so never felt left out.
When the event began, that is when I realized that this is covered on STAR World, LIVE from across the world – Los Angeles, Kigali, London, Cairo, Mumbai etc.
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. You can watch Jehane Noujaim’s 2006 acceptance speech at the link. This is truly inspiring and worth watching.
What did I learn from this event? A lot. I knew about art films, but films which can change your thoughts and inspire you to live life are something worth watching. There were films made on mobile camera’s, professional camera’s and films which show emotions. In the regular cinema, you get to watch the emotions of actors as in the script, but here, you watch emotions which are quite natural and you would definitely relate them very close to yourself. If you are like me, who left home for living and coming back after long time, you can closely relate to the movie The American Project: Cuba. A wonderful cinema capturing emotions of family when they re-unite after a long time. I especially like the Elevator Music, A thousand words.
I can go on with the list, but it is worth watching each of the movies. Visit Pangea Day website to view all the movies shown during this time. If this is happening again, make it a mandatory appointment on your calender, because it might change your life.
Harisays.... 