Life in a Day
A crowdsourced global portrait transforms one ordinary day into an intimate, exuberant reflection on shared human experience.
Overview
A global tapestry of human experience unfolds in a single day captured on film.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- intimate
- sincere
- uplifting
- reflective evening
- family viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film moving, insightful, intimate, and visually engaging, while noting that its sprawling crowdsourced structure can feel predictable or scattershot.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The filmmakers selected and edited 4,500 hours of footage submitted by people in 192 countries.
All featured footage was shot on July 24, 2010, creating a global portrait anchored to one day.
Family life, work, celebration, solitude, birth, death, and daily rituals are connected as expressions of common humanity.
The global submissions collectively document everyday life in the world of 2010 through personal cameras and online participation.
Films like Life in a Day, and why
Baraka
global observational documentary assembled from many ordinary lives, with an intimate and humanist tone
Samsara
poetic documentary portrait connecting everyday experience across cultures and locations
The Gleaners and I
collective documentary mosaic built from personal testimony and contemporary social observation
Stories We Tell
warm, reflective documentary focused on ordinary people and the emotional texture of daily life
Movie Details
- Directors
- Kevin Macdonald, Zillah Bowes, Phil Loarie, Kjell Bismeyer, Jon Haas
- Release Date
- 2011-01-27
- Runtime
- 95 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (257)
Cast
- Cindy Baer
- Moica
- Caryn Waechter
- Drake Shannon
Common questions
- What is Life in a Day about?
- A crowdsourced global portrait transforms one ordinary day into an intimate, exuberant reflection on shared human experience.
- What is Life in a Day like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Life in a Day as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Life in a Day violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Life in a Day.
- What did critics think of Life in a Day?
- Critics broadly found the film moving, insightful, intimate, and visually engaging, while noting that its sprawling crowdsourced structure can feel predictable or scattershot.
- Which films are like Life in a Day?
- Films with a similar feel include Baraka, Samsara, The Gleaners and I, and Stories We Tell.
- How long is Life in a Day?
- Life in a Day runs 95 minutes.
