3,000 hours of footage and 19,000 filmmakers from around the world.

To say that globalization and telecommunications have made our world smaller would be an understatement. We can Skype with a friend on the other side of an ocean, we can conduct business with a company in France while meeting with a team in Vietnam, we can cross several time zones in mere hours and we can even translate a foreign website into our own language.

As much as our world is interconnected however, we still live in an era of cultural disconnect. Countries still go to war, international organizations struggle to find a common ground and the solutions to global problems like climate change remain polemic.

But no matter where we live and what nationality we claim, we are all still humans. We all have a reality. We all live in a shared world. Unfortunately, that world is threatened by natural and human-induced crises, from water shortages to unbearable amounts of waste. Four years in the making, feature-length film One Day on Earth attempts to capture exactly that.

With footage filmed in every country on the exact same day, one of the founding principles behind the One Day on Earth was to create “a time capsule for the whole world to better understand itself… to find out who we are as human beings because it is beneficial to our sustainability as a species.” Watch the trailer and it’s easy to see that the result is beautiful.

On April 22, 2012, the feature-length film will screen for free in more than 160 countries, including at locations in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and several other U.S. cities. To learn more about the film, we caught up with One Day on Earth’s creators Kyle Ruddick and Brandon Litman.

What inspired the One Day on Earth project?

Kyle Ruddick: I went to a world music festival and, after seeing artists from all over the world come together to perform, I was inspired to do the same thing for film.

Tell us about the logistics of putting together such a film? How did you get filmmakers in every single country?

Brandon Litman: We put the word out far and wide, relying on online communities, word of mouth, news media and our UNDP, NGO and nonprofit partnerships.

What do you hope will be the outcome of the film?

KR: We want people to be in awe of this amazing planet that we share and see that we’re all connected. It’s a beautiful planet, but there are also serious issues that need our attention. Hopefully people will be driven to get involved with our project and other initiatives in their communities to take care of the earth and its inhabitants.

What has been the most valuable part for you personally of working on this project?

KR: Being able to be around so many creative people from so many parts of the world and interacting with them on a daily basis.

Multimedia and our access to it has certainly made our world smaller. Do you think a film like this has the potential to bridge cultural differences?

KR: Absolutely. Our project is much more than a film; it’s a network and a global community. Our website has a geo-tagged, searchable archive that lets people find a country, click on a location and see the footage collected there. Then, they can communicate directly with the filmmaker. We’re really all the same, and I think this project shows that.

BL: Thousands of people have already used One Day on Earth as a way to connect with each other and have a dialogue about their cultures, lives and the issues facing their communities. Many filmmakers have also used their work with One Day on Earth as a springboard to launch meaningful film, advocacy and conservation projects.

In a world of famine, war and global warming how do you stay positive? What keeps you inspired?

KR: The creativity of the human spirit and our ability to adapt and grow.

What’s next?

BL: This is just the beginning. The project grows year after year – not just in the size of the community but also in the subjects we cover. We want to continue creating and supporting events and projects that give people access to the amazing diversity of this planet. We will also film on 12/12/12 just as we did on 10/10/10 and 11/11/11.

One Day on Earth – Global Screening Trailer from One Day on Earth on Vimeo.

Check out the full list of One Day on Earth screenings to see how you can participate. 

The post Our Shared Humanity: An Interview With the Filmmakers Behind ‘One Day on Earth’ appeared first on EcoSalon.