Pangea Day
evawhite on May 20th, 2008
In school, I learnt in geography that Pangea was the unified land masses of the unified continents about 250 million years ago, a super continent which existed before the Continental drift separated the land masses into the present day continents. Under this theory the continents were all huddled up together before the land mass divided into individual continents.
I am not about to give you a Geography lesson, the reason I mentioned this is because “Pangea day” (it was celebrated 10 May 2008) on was in the news recently as a wonderful venture to promote universal brotherhood all over the world. This was the brainchild of Jehane Noujaim a film maker who worn the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) award for the best documentary. The TED committee is made up of world famous people such as Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and C.E.O of NOKIA, sponsor for the event, and others. The idea was that short films would be screened simultaneously at different locations throughout the world; people all over the world would watch these films, which were collected from film makers who sent in their films from different parts of the world.
In this unique project short films from all over the world were invited and a short list of 12 winners was selected from them. These films were then screened simultaneously at predetermined locations in different parts of the world where people got together and in vast numbers and watched the films. The films were screened in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro. For more details on this event you can visit the “Pangea day” site.
Pangea day was meant to be a global celebration of film and culture where people got together to celebrate not only a common humanity but also the varied ethnicities and ways of life from all over the world. The event was meant to convey that people all over the world connected in a positive and meaningful way and that although geographical, economic other limitations tend to create an unequal world, these are minor compared to the universality of human spirit which can triumph against all odds in the end.
