Global Campfire - film fest beamed live across four continents

Mumbai, May 11 (IANS) In a unique initiative, a short film festival was beamed live across four continents. The city's National Centre for Performing Arts was one of the hosts of this unprecedented event.

Held Saturday, the fest showed movies live simultaneously in London, Cairo, Kigali, Los Angeles, Rio De Janerio and Mumbai via satellite.

Advertised as 'Global Campfire', the event was sponsored by Finnish mobile phone brand Nokia.

The objective of the satellite festival was to bring the world together through movies made on the subject of universal brotherhood and reach global audiences simultaneously.

Among the 24 movies selected of 2,500 submitted from 100 countries, was an Indian film by Sumit Roy, an independent filmmaker based in New Delhi. Titled 'Dance', Roy's film is about an invalid girl and her passion for dance.

The event was a part of the celebration of Pangea Day initiated in 2006 by Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Naujaim after she won the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Prize in California for her short film, 'Control Room'.

Naujaim's 2003 movie on the Iraq War highlights the divergent ways the world sees the tumultuous US-Iraq conflict, which ultimately saw the crumbling of the dictator Saddam Hussein's reign.

Her initiative was supported by some of the world-renowned independent filmmakers and peaceniks including renowned film personalities like Hollywood actresses Cameron Diaz and Goldie Hawn and US-based Indian director Mira Nair.

Apart from movies, the programme also included live music and video speeches by world celebrities. While musicians Bob Geldof, Dave Stewart, Gilberto Gil, Hypernova and Rokia Traore performed live, broadcaster Christiane Amanpour, Eboo Patel and Queen Noor of Jordan delivered speeches.

In India, some social organisations and NGOs in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Goa, Bangalore and Madurai, forming 'Friends of Pangea Day' groups, screened the programme live to local audiences through video conferencing.

In Mumbai, some pubs and restaurants made special arrangements to telecast the festival live to their patrons.