What is Pangea Day?

In this age, images are powerful. Powerful enough to divide, to spread fear, to remove hope… Powerful enough to unite, to build trust, to inspire action. Until now, images of the many have been held in the hands of the few. Finally, that is changing. Millions of people around the world are telling their own stories. For the first in history we have a chance to see the world differently. To see it through the eyes of the other. Imagine if we could get inside each other’s heads for a day. What would we see? We are about to find out. A worldwide search has begun to find films of unique power. Films that provoke, entertain, inspire. Films made by the world, for the world. On May 10th 2008 millions of people across the globe will gather to witness these films in a spectauler event broadcast live to the entire world. Visionaries and musicians will join the celebration. and it will continue afterward in cyberspace as a newly connected global community.

On May 10, 2008, at 18:00 GMT, millions of people all over the world will come together to watch a 4-hour program of short films, coupled with talks from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and Queen Noor of Jordan, among numerous others to be announced. Pangea Day will be broadcast around the globe in eight languages and through multiple forms of media. Here’s how to participate:

• Attend one of thousands of locally organized events, or host your own event as a Friend of Pangea Day (http://www.pangeaday.org/events.php )
  
• One local event happening in Western Mass are at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield
  
• Watch the live webcast on Pangeaday.org
  
• Watch the live TV broadcast
• Watch the films on your mobile phone

“Pangea Day will be a global campfire of shared stories,” says Pangea Day Executive Director Delia Cohen. “It’s our goal that on this day, people around the world will host their own Pangea Day gatherings — in homes, schools, community centers, offices, town halls, back yards — simply anywhere people can gather.”

Live broadcasts will take place simultaneously in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro. Great minds and talent have signed on as Pangea Day advisors, including Goldie Hawn, JJ Abrams, Dave Stewart, Bob Geldof, Paul Simon, Meg Ryan, Forest Whitaker, Mira Nair, Cameron Diaz, Jeff Skoll, Lawrence Bender, and many others.

The program will feature 24 short films selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from 102 countries. Films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform and allow us to
see the world through another person’s eyes. Five additional films will be submitted for consideration through Pangea Day partner Nokia and the 2008 Nokia Mobile Filmmaking Awards, details for which may be found by visiting
www.ovi.com/pangeaday.

About Pangea Day

Inspired by the 2006 TED Prize wish of documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, Pangea Day endeavors to bring the world together and promote understanding and tolerance through film. Pangea Day is a celebration of what
unites us, rather than what divides us. Movies can’t change the world. But the people who watch them can. After
May 10, Pangea Day organizers will facilitate community-building activities around the world by connecting inspired viewers with organizations doing groundbreaking work. For more information, please visit www.pangeaday.org