With his big budget medieval pic “The Eagle” set to debut next month, it’s easy to forget that director Kevin Macdonald got his start in documentary film, with the excellent “Kindertransport,” “One Day In September” and “Touching the Void” under his belt. Earlier this summer it was revealed he was teaming with Ridley Scott‘s Scott Free production company on a rather ambitious project, “Life In A Day.” The idea was simple if somewhat of a logistical challenge: On July 24th YouTube users uploaded footage from around with the idea of telling future generations of what life was like on the planet on that single day. Against All Odds Productions joined the production to make sure that cameras were provided in even the remotest areas of the Earth and the result was 4500 hours of footage from 192 countries. We weep for the editors.
Well, the film is now cut, ready to go and gearing up for a premiere at Sundance. But in keeping with the communal, connective vibe of the project, on Thursday, January 27th — the same day it premieres in Park City — the film will live stream on YouTube on the production’s official channel. In case you miss the broadcast, the film will re-up the same day at 7 PM local time so you can have another shot to watch it again before it heads to theaters and on-demand services. Following the film’s premiere, there will be a moderated Q&A with Macdonald and twenty-six of the contributors from around the world who were invited to Sundance to attend the movie debut.
As you might expect, the film will capture a broad scope of human experience with clips including “a Korean man who has been cycling the world for nine years, a young mother battling cancer, and a Russian free-runner making Moscow his playground.” This project has its heart in the right place but it also sounds like a Coca-Cola ad we once saw. We also wonder if the film will tackle the not-so-glorious aspects of human life like waking up late, suffering through a tedious day at the office and going home only to discover you only have mustard in the fridge for dinner. Probably not. But we’ll put our aside our cynicism and give this one a shot. It does sound like it could contain some very beautiful moments and if cut together right and with the sentiment kept to a minimum it could be an affecting doc. [Deadline]