What is The Longest Movie In The World?

Clocking in at one hour and 12 minutes, the 'teaser trailer' has been released for Ambiancé, a movie that will run a total of 720 hours (30 days) upon its completion by Swedish artist Anders Weberg.

While that running time may seem daunting and insane (and it is), Weberg plans on releasing the full film in the year 2020 on all continents simultaneously, after which... it will be destroyed.

It will be his last film, and when it is released, it will be the longest movie ever made, and join ultra-long works like The Clock, 24 Hour Psycho, and Pharrell's recent 24-hour long music video.

Is this really a trailer for the longest movie in the world?

While many of you have likely dismissed this idea entirely, the "trailer" is worth a watch, even if you put it on in the background. You can call it artsy fartsy garbage if you'd like (and lots of people will), but there isn't necessarily some big deeper meaning behind what we're seeing, even if it means something to the artist (though it does as you can read below). A lot of the imagery is really beautiful, and the mood is somewhere between a dream and what it might feel like if you were inside a melting oil painting.

So with that out of the way, here is more on the film (from his blog), followed by the 72-minute trailer (it's also NSFW in parts):

At this moment 280 hours is finished of the full 720 hours.
Please help me spread the link and I would love to hear your thoughts as well.

6 months ago today my son André took an overdose and died 21 years old. Much of my works over the years has centered around him.
This is for him.

Here's more on the filmmaker and his plan for the full movie:

On December 31, 2020 the Swedish artist Anders Weberg end his 20 plus years relation with the moving image as a means of creative expression. After more than 300 films he puts an end with the premiere of what will be the longest film ever made. Ambiancé is 720 hours long (30 days) and will be shown in its full length on a single occasion syncronised in all the continents of the world and then destroyed.

In the piece, Ambiancé space and time is intertwined into a surreal dream-like journey beyond places and is an abstract nonlinear narrative summary of the artist’s time spent with the moving image.

A sort of memoir movie. (Film memoir ). This in the visual expression that is constantly characterized the work throughout the artists career.
As a small tease until the premiere in 2020 shorter teaser/trailers will be presented at different occasions.

2014 – Short teaser which is 72 minutes long and that has the intent to convey the mood and tempo from the full piece.
2016 – The first short trailer with duration 7 hours 20 minutes.
2018 – Longer trailer with duration 72 hours.
2020 - Release.

Ambiance

The final film will obviously be something that no one can sit through in one sitting, and it's not really meant to be.

It's meant to be the longest movie of all time.

I think the best way to watch work like this is not to be concerned with whether you "get it" or whether you're missing something. The work is what it is, and if it moves you in some way, great, but if it doesn't, that does not mean you or the filmmaker are any less worthy of calling yourselves artists. While he could be doing it only for the sake of doing it, the fact that the final piece is a tribute to his son adds another layer completely.

For more context, I think it also helps to see some of his work in shorter form (parts of these pieces ended up in the trailer above):

More on the man behind the longest movie ever (the longest movie in the world)

It's also worth noting some of Weberg's interesting ideas about creating art (from his bio):

He coined the term Peer-to-peer art or (p2p art) in 2006. Art made for – and only available on – the peer to peer networks. The original artwork is first shared by the artist until one other user has downloaded it. After that the artwork will be available for as long as other users share it. The original file and all the material used to create it are deleted by the artist. ”There’s no original”. 8ix films with a duration between 45 minutes and 12 hours was uploaded on the file sharing networks in one copy and their original was deleted. P2P Art – The aesthetics of ephemerality.

What is TRULY the longest movie of all time?

Well, there are the ones we've already mentioned plus a few other notable entries. Modern Times Forever (2011) runs 240 minutes.

But the question starts to get into things like what is the longest experimental movie, or what is the longest theatrical movie in theaters ever...

Here are a few notable titles with their run times.

Logistics, an experimental installation is, in fact, the longest film ever made. It has a runtime of 857 hours, it tops the projected run time of Ambiancé (720 hours).

It's more of an installation than a film. Let's take a look at another one of the longest films ever. Made in 1968 The Longest Movie Meaningless Movie in the World, clocked in at 48 hours in length.

There was nothing shot for this one, instead, it was cobbled together using outtakes, ads, random strips of film...

Surely it's a lot of fun to watch.

For a long time, this one was the longest movie of all time. That has since changed, and the rankings look to be shaken up once more in 2020.

Additional Links:

• Ambiancé -- The Longest Film
• Anders Weberg -- Vimeo
• Anders Weberg -- Blog

[via The Verge]