The film · 30 seconds
One life, start to finish, in 30 seconds
Transcript of the film
- [quiet piano and strings] 100 babies. One of them is you.
- Where you're born isn't a choice. It's odds.
- A real birth, drawn from UN data.
- Then you live it — year by year.
- A few choices. They move the odds — a little.
- [Fast-forward]
- [the music falls away]
- Same year. Different place. Different odds.
- Three others, born the same second.
- Every draw is a different life.
- [the music resolves] Your turn. Be born.
A real birth drawn from UN World Population Prospects 2024 — a girl born in India in 2023 — lived year by year in the game, then set against others born the same year. Every frame is the game itself. This life was chosen so the film could show a full span; the other draws are consecutive and unedited.
Be born