Documentary multimedia

Heart-warming video focuses on simplicity of life

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Where the Hell is Matt? made me both laugh and cry at the same time. The video, simply titled, “Dancing,” is exactly what the world needs in this time of economic crisis and war. As a New York Time’s article puts it best, “In many ways ‘Dancing’ is an almost perfect piece of Internet art: it’s short, pleasingly weird and so minimal in its content that it’s open to a multitude of interpretations.”

Dancer and producer Matt Harding, 31, traveled to 42 countries to dance with more than a thousand people … each of different background, race and age. The finished product, 13 months later, molds these shots with a Bengali song into a simple 4 1/2 minute video. There is no agenda … no hidden message. Just dancing. And it is beautiful.

Quoting more from the New York Times:

“However you interpret it, you can’t watch “Dancing” for very long without feeling a little happier. The music … is both catchy and haunting.

The backgrounds are often quite beautiful. And there is something sweetly touching and uplifting about the spectacle of all these different nationalities, people of almost every age and color, dancing along with an uninhibited doofus.”

“Doofus” is a particularly harsh word in my opinion for a person who truly understand the beauty in life and is helping to spread that message across the digital world. Kudos to Matt for living life to it’s fullest and making my day.

Check out Matt’s blog for more information on the project and the immense media attention that he is attracting from the video. No mystery there, as his YouTube video has passed the 6,600,000 (yes, that is six million+) mark after a mere three weeks!

Other posts that might interest you:

• “Innocence” and “Mankind is no Island” two powerful examples of advocacy journalism
• Mesa Redonda de Multimedia | “Streetlight” de Bombay Flying Club

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