• 05.10.08 | 21:55 GMT 305 comments
    Post a comment
    Pangea Day: share your thoughts!overlay

    Pangea Day: share your thoughts!

    As Pangea Day -- a global celebration of film and culture, the first of its kind -- comes to an end, we ask that you share your thoughts and feelings in our comments thread. If you could send a message to the world, what would you say?


    Organizers in Shanghai, China write    , So it's 5:45am in Shanghai now. There are 15 minutes left in the Pangea Day programme, and only a handful of us still here, some with cups-o'-coffee counts in the double digits.

    One interesting observation: we are holding our (illegal) event in a warehouse in industrial Shanghai. We got a great turnout but almost all the folk had cleared out by 5am. But there was a small group of Chinese workers from the factory compound that came and watched the programme with us (mostly expats -- the locals among us were either curious young students or educated white-collar workers; basically, all English speakers). I first noticed these guys in the last screening we held in the lead-up to the global programme (we showcased six local filmmakers in total, over eight hours), which was a film about the Mass Games, and life overall, in North Korea -- it was in Korean with English subtitles. And they these workers stayed on through most of the Pangea Day programme. They don't speak English. At all.

    Film breaking boundaries? Affirmative, from here in Shanghai.

    Pangea Day fan, Michelle writes, The film that was just shown, Combatants for Peace, was so moving. My husband recently met someone who told him "People don't hate people, people hate groups. Groups hate groups." The first time he told me that I disagreed and felt that, in some instances, individuals feel so passionately that they do hate people because of their association with groups. that people can get so wrapped up in their pain and grief and anger that they cannot see another person as a person, but only as an enemy. The film you just aired finally allowed me to understand how moved he was the first time her heard that saying. I finally saw that it was, in fact, true. It is actually incredibly difficult for people to hate people. That grief, anger and pain cannot actually override a person's humanity.

    Thank you for finally helping me understand.

    From Paul, an organizer in Vancouver: So many intriguing Pangea Day films have raised many interesting challenges to us watching the films here in Vancouver. Each person will no doubt be leaving with a new sense of how we are all part of the same family, no matter where in the world we are. People have made donations to the World Food Programme here in downtown and in east Vancouver at our sister venue today to immediately take action. The feeling that after Pangea Day we can never go back to our "automatic pilot" previous way of living our lives is strong. Film really does have the power to challenge, inspire, unite, and most importantly illustrate the globalness of our existence. Thanks from your 'brothers' and 'sisters' in Vancouver for enabling us to be part of today. And a new Pangea Day, every day we think back to this experience.

    From Brooklyn: It's almost the end of the broadcast and we just wanted to check in again and say that everything is so great. We've been checking in now and again with other sites like Milano, Italy; Toykyo; Popayan in Colombia; and hearing from people all of the world on friendsofpangeaday.org. The broadcast itself is amazing - we all just participated in the global laugh-in which was soooooo fantastic. I'm going to give over the keyboard to my friend Niaz, who is one of the teen filmmakers I work with in Brooklyn, and who's been at the event. Niaz truly understands the power of storytelling and filmmaking and made a powerful film two years ago when he was just sixteen about what teenagers know and don't know in the United States.

    This has been an experience of a lifetime! My goal like many young filmmakers has always been to think of not only new ways to quench our thirst to better the world, but also to put a polish on the old ways of bringing people together. Pangea Day made that goal become a reality today by using modern ways to bring the world together by the means of good old story telling. To see visionaries from around the world come together to speak one message, to bring people together and strive for a better tomorrow has given a light of hope that we have been waiting for. Hopefully, this is the first of many more to come.