PANDEMIC, & PROTESTS PET SPIDERS
▶ ‘ Life in a Day 2020’ hits Sundance
When Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald created documentary Life in a Day a decade ago, their goal was to construct a video portrait of a typical 24 hours on Earth, as filmed by tens of thousands of amateurs around the world.
Repeating the trick in Life in a Day 2020, stitching together footage shot in summer 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic and massive anti- racism protests turned the world on its head, their sequel is anything but typical.
Assembled by a vast team of editors from 324,000 submitted clips, the film – which premieres Monday at the Sundance Film Festival before hitting YouTube – captures the eerily empty streets, collective cabin- fever and civil unrest of a year like no other.
“Obviously because of everything that was going on at that moment in July – George Floyd, BLM, Trump, COVID[- 19] – this is a more thematically rich film, and probably a year, than hopefully we’ll get for a while,” director Macdonald told AFP.
The footage is more personal than political. Macdonald’s favorite clip is a Robinson Crusoe- esque man who recorded himself chatting to pet spiders Sammy, Jacob and Crystal during lockdown, and “feels like he’s the last man on Earth.”
“We meet a man left homeless by the pandemic who finds relief in flying drones, and a mother whose young son appeared in the first film but who now keeps his ashes in an urn after his tragic death from COVID- 19.”
Macdonald – Oscar- winning director of The Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void – agreed to return for a sequel in March 2020, when the looming pandemic was “this COVID[- 19] thing” which seemed sure to “be over by May.” Scott returns as executive producer.
“Little did we know the whole year would be utterly transformed,” Macdonald said.
“Even when I look back on the first film, I feel like it is a time- capsule for all sorts of things... this one will feel even more different,” he added.
‘ Never seen on camera’
While the first film received “endless stuff of people skateboarding and surfing,” this time “the material was by a factor of 10 more sad, more about loss and mortality, and spirituality,” he said.
Macdonald was astonished by the brutal honesty of many of the submissions, which include a man whose proposal to his girlfriend goes woefully wrong, and a couple breaking up live on camera.
“It’s amazing, things you’ve pretty much never seen on camera before for real,” he said.
“There’s a lot of those in romantic comedies but, actually, this is what that really looks like.”
Over two months, clips from 192 countries were watched in their original language and cataloged by around 40 filmmakers, who gave each submission a rating out of five.
Macdonald and his editors then watched the top- ranked clips, and began the arduous task of assembling candidates by theme, while identifying their favorite characters.
The team received four times the original project’s submissions, w with many remarkable for the far- flun flung locations that astounding mobile camera technology – and desire for gl global fame, however fleeting – has reach reached.
One memo memorable clip sees a man in remote Siberia sift through frozen cow heads in his basement before plunging into an icy lake and declaring to the camera: “What I fear the most is that my life will pass unnoticed.”
“And then we cut to bloggers, YouTubers, everybody desperate to be noticed – and I think that obviously is a human characteristic,” said Macdonald.
“But that’s not necessarily a negative thing, it’s just human beings want to matter.”
‘ How the globe changes’
Despite the film’s experimental and ambitious premise, a few powerful clips had to be omitted on taste grounds.
The final YouTube film will offer child- friendly and over- 18 versions, while Macdonald agreed to remove an “amazing” sequence of an aborted suicide attempt because “it wasn’t a healthy thing to have.”
Still, despite the many challenges, Macdonald is pressing YouTube to commit to another edition in 2030.
He hopes to establish a “long- running series that shows how the globe changes” – even if the next film is unlikely to match the events of 2020.
“Maybe personally I’ll be quite relieved if it’s peaceful and uneventful,” he said.
Top indie film festival Sundance itself is taking place largely online in 2021, with all 72 feature films making their premieres via streaming.
The festival – co- founded by Robert Redford and typically based in the Utah mountains – ends Wednesday.
Mohamed Salah scored twice as Liverpool muscled their way back into the Premier League title race with a 3- 1 win at West Ham on Sunday after Thomas Tuchel celebrated his first victory as Chelsea boss.
Jurgen Klopp’s injury- hit champions appeared to have lost their way after a five- game winless spell but are back on track after beating Tottenham and West Ham in the space of 72 hours.
Earlier, defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso showed Chelsea’s misfiring strikers the way, producing stunning finishes in a 2- 0 win against toothless Burnley.
Leicester, looking to close to within two points of leaders Manchester City, lost 3- 1 to Leeds and Tottenham went down 1- 0 to Brighton in the evening kickoff.
Defeat for Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes meant Liverpool – with no fit senior center- backs and missing forward Sadio Mane – had the chance to climb to third in the table.
Two goals from Egypt international Salah and a late Georginio Wijnaldum effort lifted them to 40 points after 21 games, a single point behind Manchester United and four behind leaders Manchester City.
Salah, who had not scored in six Premier League matches, put the visitors ahead in the 57th minute with a fine curling lob over Lukasz Fabianski and added the second after a lightning break following a West Ham corner.
Liverpool grabbed a third when substitutes Roberto Firmino and Alex OxladeChamberlain combined to set up Wijnaldum for a tap- in before a late consolation for West Ham’s Craig Dawson.
Salah is the first player to score at least 20 goals in all competitions in four consecutive seasons for Liverpool since Ian Rush in the 1980s.
“It was a great game, a very professional game, very controlled against usually a flying side,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“We didn’t create enough in the first half. We made little adjustments at halftime and it paid off. We scored three unbelievable goals.”
“These boys are a really good group,” he added. “They’re not happy at not being successful, not winning, but they always have the right attitude.”
‘ A signal’
Chelsea manager Tuchel celebrated his first victory as manager of the Stamford Bridge club.
The former Paris Saint- Germain boss was brought in to replace Frank Lampard last week with a brief to haul the stuttering side back into the race for Champions League spots.
He oversaw a frustrating goalless draw against Wolves in midweek but two moments of magic from Azpilicueta and forgotten man Alonso mean the German has four points from six.
Tuchel said the victory would infuse his side with confidence but admitted they needed to sharpen up their finishing after both goals came from defenders.
“It should be a signal to our guys up front that we needed defensive players to score,” he told BT Sport.
“We lacked precision in the last pass and touch, but in the finishing we will work on this absolutely. We had a lot of touches, halfchances and deliveries in the box, but in the end I could not care less.”
Leicester, unbeaten in seven Premier League games heading into their match against Leeds at the King Power Stadium, had a chance to put real pressure on Manchester City.
Harvey Barnes gave the home side the lead in the 13th minute but Leeds were level just 127 seconds later when Patrick Bamford set up Stuart Dallas, who beat Kasper Schmeichel with a low finish.
Bamford struck a superb shot into the top corner to put the visitors ahead in the 70th minute and teed up Jack Harrison for a tap- in.
“We have to go away and learn from that and then look to get back to winning ways on Wednesday,” said Rodgers, who is missing leading scorer Jamie Vardy.
Jose Mourinho’s Spurs, without the injured Harry Kane, slipped to their second successive defeat, courtesy of a first- half goal for Brighton’s Leandro Trossard.
Tottenham, who topped the table last month, remain in sixth place, 11 points behind City and six behind fourth- placed Leicester, though they have a game in hand.