Around the World in a Single Day

By Kimberly Simmons

On July 24, 2010, National Geographic asked people around the world to turn their video cameras on themselves and record a magnificent or ordinary moment of their lives. People in over 190 countries participated, submitting 80,000 videos to YouTube. Producer Ridley Scott and Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald took 4,500 hours of video and edited it into a 95-minute movie about life in a single day on this planet. This global, user-generated documentary, “Life in a Day,” celebrates the wonders of life and being alive; it’s a beautiful montage of the human experience.

While this movie is not specifically about travel, it certainly shows how travel can be used as a means of connecting with people. And while we at Intelligent Travel blog always want to inspire you to actually go places and not just read about them, we can’t help but encourage you to see how this film can take you around the world in a unique way. “Life in a Day” cuts through cultures and connects you to other civilizations through the things we share as human beings– and, isn’t that one of the reasons why we travel in the first place? To connect to a part of the world that seems so different from us?

The film opens in select theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. this Friday, July 29, 2011, but will be rolling out into other cities in the next few weeks. Watch the trailer above, find your local theater, and purchase tickets.

Proceeds from the sale of film tickets help further National Geographic’s nonprofit mission to increase global understanding through education, research, and conservation. Your support counts!

[Life in a Day]