Doc News: “Life in a Day” Special Release Date; SnagFilms on Roku; RIP Adolfas Mekas

– This July 24, one year following the date all footage was (or should have been) shot for Kevin Macdonald’s user-generated doc “Life in a Day,” the film will be released to select U.S. cinemas. Now, that is a sunday, but due to the anniversary occasion, this sort-of soft opening will happen for a one-night event, in which participating filmmakers (aka contributing camera-persons) will take part in a live, interactive Q&A, courtesy of Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. Then, the documentary, which was produced by Ridley Scott, will officially open in theaters that Friday, July 29.

Having been skeptical going in, I have to admit I was very pleasantly surprised by this film, which I jokingly coined “YouTubisquatsi.” In my review from Sundance I also called it a “spellbinding montage” with a “gradient spectrum of moods and tones, tropes and answers” that will be experienced differently by each of its viewers. I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.

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“Life in a Day” Trailer

See the new trailer, from distributor National Geographic, of the film that surprised me most at Sundance: “Life in a Day.” Who knew that a crowdsourced documentary produced by Ridley Scott and brought to you by YouTube could be so meaningful and spellbinding? I guess I should stop doubting director (curator) Kevin Macdonald.

From my review at Cinematical:

Initially it’s easy to compare the film to Godfrey Reggio’s ‘Qatsi’ trilogy (especially the first, ‘Koyaanisqatsi’), and I’ve already dubbed this ‘YouTubisqatsi,’ given the partnership with the video-uploading site. Technically it’s the latest documentary classifiable as crowd-source or user-generated cinema (like last year’s election day documentary ’11-4-08′), yet this ultimately feels more like a single person’s vision than a collaborative effort. The many “filmmakers” involved are really just multiple second-unit camerapersons who’ve captured shots and sequences for Macdonald to fit into his own subjective view of humanity, as consistent or diverse as it may seem through the eyes and actions of different individuals.

Watch after the jump.