On August 26th at 11:59 PM EST, Samuel Felinton and Declan Mungovan embarked on an unusual venture: a 100-day long film titled The Freedom of Uselessness. It is a minimalist experiment that will not end until the full 100 days have passed.
The “film” features only three objects: two moss balls resting in a jar (with a clock positioned behind as timekeeping evidence), and a rock adorned with googly eyes. That is all. No narration, almost no movement, no action beyond the subtle passage of time. Yet, it raises a provocative question: by the usual standards of cinema—plot, character, conflict—can this be called a film?
The Benchmark: Logistics
To understand what The Freedom of Uselessness is aiming for—and when it might surpass existing records—it helps to look at Logistics.
- Logistics, by Swedish artists Erika Magnusson and Daniel Andersson (2012), is widely considered the longest film ever made.
- Its runtime is 51,420 minutes, which equals 857 hours, or 35 days and 17 hours of continuous footage.
- The film shows, in real time, the reverse journey of a pedometer from its point of sale in Stockholm to its place of manufacture in Shenzhen, China.
Because The Freedom of Uselessness is set for 100 days (which is 2,400 hours), it will far surpass Logistics in duration—if it continues uninterrupted and is considered a comparable work.
When It Will Break the Record
Here’s the math:
- Logistics runs 857 hours (≈ 35.71 days)
- The Freedom of Uselessness runs 100 days, which equals 2,400 hours.
- Therefore, it will overtake Logistics as the longest film when it reaches 857 hours and one minute (i.e. the moment it exceeds Logistics' runtime).
So:
- If The Freedom of Uselessness started at August 26 at 11:59 PM, then 857 hours later would be around October 11 at about 12:59 AM EST (give or take depending on rounding and exact seconds).
- Once that mark is passed, it will officially be longer than Logistics, assuming it remains ongoing and is accepted in the same category (experimental, non-narrative/minimalist cinema).
Watching the Project
You can watch The Freedom of Uselessness in parts or live via the Project FINC YouTube Channel. All the segments are collected in this playlist:
Project FINC YouTube Playlist
Reflections
This project challenges what cinema means. Is “film” defined by story or character, or can sheer duration combined with simplicity constitute film? By staging two inert moss balls, a rock, and a clock, Felinton and Mungovan invite viewers not to follow a plot but to dwell in time, in waiting, in presence. It’s less about watching something happen, and more about what it means to watch—and for how long.