What’s Pangea Day? It’s a celebration of Mother Earth (and her six billion children) through film.

If you haven’t heard of it, that because Saturday is the first one. It’s the brainchild of Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, who made the 2004 documentary “The Control Room” about the Al-Jazeera news network. When Noujaim won a TED Prize (it stands for the “Technical , Entertainment and Design Prize”), she asked to use the grant money for an event that would unite the world via film.

She enlisted some idealistic celebs and business people, such as Bob Geldof, Cameron Diaz and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, to help organize the amorphous event and spread the word. Aspiring filmmakers from around the globe were invited to make short films that conveyed our common humanity.

A gazillion people (or at least several hundred) are expected to gather Saturday in London, Mumbai, Cairo, Kirgali, Los Angeles and Rio to watch the 24 winning films on a Jumbotron, dance to live music and listen to inspirational speakers; but there will be more than 1,000 local spin-off events as well. In St. Louis, the Panagea Day films will screen at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar, from 1 to 5 p.m. Discussions will follow. Admission is free.

The event will also be broadcast on Al Gore’s Current TV cable network. (http://www.current.com.)

For more info about this ambitious event, visit http://www.pangeaday.org. Or perhaps this video intro can cut through your hard-won cynicism:

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