Filmmaker Asger Leth has created a lovely three-minute moment for TV 2 in Denmark that’s captured the hearts of a busy, boxed-in world. If you’re looking for a reason to feel hopeful about the work of diversity and inclusion, this will put you right.
The short video is called All That We Share, and an English language version was recently posted on YouTube. The premise is simple: When you ask people to define themselves differently, they are able to see each other as more than just stereotypes. But the execution is what gets you in the feels.
The video starts out as Danes quietly file onto a soundstage and stand in outlined areas that define them in traditional ways – high-earners versus just-getting-by; country- versus city-dwellers; lifelong Danes versus newcomers. Then come the poignant twists. Who here was the class clown? Who are step-parents? Who is lonely? Madly in love?
The idea of common ground is always an alluring one, and finding it is no guarantee that anyone will get along any better. But it’s a lovely reminder that “the other” doesn’t stay the other very long if you take the time to ask the right questions.
Until now, Leth was best known for the action caper, Man On a Ledge, but he’s clearly been busy with advertising, and smaller projects. (His documentary on Haiti, The Ghosts of Cite Soleil sounds fascinating.) Here’s his vimeo site.
Ask some interesting questions today and let me know how it goes.