Buzz
Cast your mind back to the late 1990s when Titanic made its cinematic debut. With a runtime surpassing three hours, audiences were left amazed by the film's immersive experience, diving deep into numerous minor and secondary story arcs. Leonardo DiCaprio made headlines once again in 2023 with another lengthy feature, when Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon premiered. Running for over three hours, the film sparked both admiration and division among moviegoers with its sprawling narrative.
However, despite the monumental lengths of these films and countless other blockbusters, dramas, and superhero epics that last three hours or more, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Around the globe, filmmakers have created films that clock in at even more extravagant runtimes—far longer than three hours.
For a multitude of reasons, films from both the recent past and older eras have pushed boundaries, extending not just across hours but spanning days. In this list, we delve into the unbelievable tales of ten such films. These extraordinary works are notorious for their epic runtimes and the intense dedication required to watch them from start to finish. So grab a ginormous bowl of popcorn and continue reading...
10. Logistics (51,420 Minutes)
Directed by Erika Magnusson and Daniel Andersson, the groundbreaking 2012 film Logistics was conceived to trace the entire production journey of a single pedometer. The filmmakers purchased the pedometer from a store and then explored its creation and shipping process in reverse order. From the retail store where it was bought all the way back to the factory where it was made, Logistics meticulously details every step involved in producing a simple, mass-produced product available to consumers.
The film follows the pedometer's journey as it is shipped halfway across the globe, from its origin in Asia to its eventual sale to Magnusson and Andersson. This explains the film's extensive length; it is filmed in real-time and shows the actual time and resources required to transport a product of this nature across the seas.
Spanning over 51,420 minutes (roughly 35 days and 17 hours), you can witness the intricacies of global business, and see firsthand how retail products are made, delivered, and sold in today's world.
9. Modern Times Forever (14,400 Minutes)
Released in 2011, Modern Times Forever was created by Finnish filmmakers Bjornstjerne Reuter Christiansen, Jakob Fenger, and Rasmus Nielsen. The film’s concept is to portray the slow, unstoppable decay of a prominent building in downtown Helsinki, Finland. Referred to as the “Sugar Cube,” this iconic structure is the historic Stora Enso headquarters, constructed in 1962, and has long been a symbol of Helsinki's cultural and business identity.
The film was crafted to illustrate the slow decay of a building over an extended period. The Finnish filmmakers chose to give it a runtime of 14,400 minutes (equivalent to exactly ten days) to effectively convey their message about the deterioration of construction, as well as to highlight their belief in the transient nature of time and public spaces.
If that wasn't striking enough, the film’s premiere was shown on a massive screen projected directly onto the side of the Stora Enso building when it first debuted. This allowed the audience to experience the movie in real time on the very structure it focused on. How incredibly meta!
8. Cinématon (12,420 Minutes)
In the late 1970s, French filmmaker Gérard Courant started compiling three-minute vignettes of friends, celebrities, and random strangers across France. Over the span of thirty years, he edited these intimate glimpses of people’s everyday lives into a massive film, eventually titled Cinématon.
The rule for the footage was straightforward: people were free to do whatever they wished during their 3 minutes and 25 seconds of screen time. The project aimed to serve as a snapshot of their lives and personalities. Together, these vignettes form a video collage representing the lives of thousands of individuals from the late 1970s to the mid-2000s.
And because it included footage from several thousand participants, the movie turned out to be exceptionally lengthy. Upon its release in 2009, Cinématon had a runtime of 12,420 minutes, or roughly 8 days and 15 hours in total.
Naturally, it's an incredibly impactful film considering its duration. The subject matter is intensely personal, and even though each storyline is distinct and focuses on a new life every three-and-a-half minutes, Courant’s ambitious concept has deeply moved many viewers over the years.
7. Beijing (9,000 Minutes)
In 2003, over the course of several weeks, Chinese filmmaker Ai Weiwei attached a camera to a car and drove through the vast city of Beijing. But this wasn’t just aimless driving—he traversed every single street in the city, from main boulevards and highways to side streets and narrow alleys.
If there was a street that a car could drive down, Weiwei filmed it. The result was a 9,000-minute film (equivalent to 150 hours), offering a complete snapshot of Beijing at the time, seen through the eyes of a driver.
Of course, Google Maps has more or less done something similar for almost every major urban center on Earth by now. While Google doesn’t provide video, but instead a series of navigable screenshots, the effect isn’t quite the same. However, when Beijing was filmed in 2003 and released in early 2004, it was a groundbreaking—and incredibly lengthy—film.
As for Ai Weiwei, he is far from being a one-hit wonder. Throughout his illustrious career, he has produced numerous other films. While they’re all significantly shorter than Beijing, they aren’t as innocuous. Much of his work is highly critical of the Chinese government, making the process of creating, producing, and releasing his films in his home country quite risky.
6. Untitled #125 (7,200 Minutes)
In 2011, filmmaker Josh Azzarella released a feature titled Untitled #125, which ran for 7,200 minutes in total—equivalent to five full days. Unlike many other films on this list, it’s less experimental and more plot-driven, even within its excessively long runtime. The film focuses on a single scene from The Wizard of Oz.
This is the iconic moment early in the film when a tornado sweeps Dorothy’s house off the ground, and she meets Glinda the Good Witch. For Azzarella, this encounter presented an opportunity to expand on the scene and explore what could have happened if Dorothy had gone deeper into her journey with Glinda.
The film, also known as Hickory, was produced between 2009 and 2011 and takes viewers to the exact moment when Dorothy sets out for Oz. What was initially just a six-and-a-half-minute segment in the classic The Wizard of Oz is expanded into a five-day journey, with Azzarella exploring what viewers didn’t see happen to Dorothy during that moment.
The filmmaker envisions that these five days represent Dorothy’s true experience on her way to Oz. As a result, the five-day film captures all of her actions and movements. The alternate title Hickory refers to the farmhand character, Hickory, who is working tirelessly on a machine intended to prevent tornadoes. You can say a lot about Untitled #125, but you can't deny its creativity!
5. Amria Ekta Cinema Banabo (1,260 Minutes)
In 2018 and 2019, filmmaker Md Ashraful Alam (known as Ashraf Shishir) directed a film titled Amria Ekta Cinema Banabo, with a runtime just over 1,260 minutes—approximately 21 hours. Alam’s work is the first on this list to be neither experimental nor a spinoff of another movie, like Azzarella’s film. Instead, Alam’s film is a straightforward, traditional narrative movie, albeit one that’s 18 or 19 hours longer than most.
Also known by its English title The Innocence, Alam’s Amria Ekta Cinema Banabo follows the journey of a young man named Kabir. After he unintentionally kills an ant, Kabir feels compelled to seek atonement for ending the life of an innocent creature just going about its daily business.
Soon, a wandering man named Razzaq learns about Kabir’s death. He shares his belief with Kabir, proposing that everyone is simply playing roles in films directed by God. To atone for his sin of killing an ant, Kabir must take on the role of the hero in a movie that Razzaq is creating with this very concept in mind.
The story continues as Razzaq informs Kabir of a damsel in distress in a nearby town. She’s locked away and desperately needs rescuing. Although Razzaq tries to discourage Kabir from helping, insisting she is his love interest, Kabir insists on rescuing her.
A violent confrontation ensues between the two men, and Kabir eventually strikes Razzaq in the head with a rock. Razzaq begins to bleed, and the film abruptly ends. The epic tale concludes without resolution, much to the dismay of those who invested 21 hours in its development.
4. Resan (873 Minutes)
Also known as Le Voyage or The Journey in English, Resan was released in 1987. Directed by Peter Watkins, it held the record for the longest non-experimental narrative film until 2019, when Amria Ekta Cinema Banabo by Md Ashraful Alam surpassed it. Spanning 873 minutes or 14 hours and 33 minutes, this Swedish documentary addresses a critically important subject.
For Watkins, Resan served a vital purpose: to shed light on the global issue of military spending, particularly highlighting the dangers associated with nuclear weapons. The documentary addresses these critical topics while also including numerous interviews with civilians from diverse nations.
These civilians are questioned about their perspectives on these pressing issues and what implications they may hold for the future. If you’re planning to dedicate 14 hours to a single film, the serious nature of this one could be a worthwhile reason to commit to it.
3. Heremias (519 Minutes)
The next film on this list is another long one, but this time the director returns for a second round! It’s Lav Diaz, who previously placed at number eight with Evolution of a Filipino Family. His second film, Heremias, isn’t quite as lengthy as his earlier work.
Released in 2006, Heremias runs for 519 minutes, or 8 hours and 39 minutes—much shorter than the 10-hour-plus runtime of Evolution of a Filipino Family. If you decide to watch both of these films back-to-back over the weekend, you’ll have a couple more hours to spare after finishing Heremias compared to Diaz’s earlier epic.
Jokes aside, Heremias follows the journey of a man named Heremias. After his oxen cart is stolen, he is forced to travel from his small, rural village to the city to report the theft and try to recover it. Throughout the trip, both rural and city police officers take advantage of Heremias’s naivety and innocence, turning his journey into a tale of futility, disappointment, and heartbreak.
Despite its themes of tragedy, the film carries significant religious meaning, with Diaz weaving in major religious symbols and delving into the theme of faith. It also explores the disturbing rise of political and social corruption within Philippine society. (By the way, Heremias is sometimes referred to as Book One: Legend of the Lizard Princess for those interested in tracking down this near nine-hour epic!)
2. Shoah (566 Minutes)
Claude Lanzmann, a director and documentary filmmaker, dedicated several years of his life to creating the compelling film Shoah, released in 1985. The film stands as one of the longest documentaries ever produced (alongside others on this list!), and the subject matter it tackles is perhaps even more profound than any other covered here.
For Lanzmann, Shoah is an in-depth exploration of the Holocaust. The French filmmaker traveled across Europe, interviewing Holocaust survivors, witnesses to its destruction, perpetrators, guards, and other international figures who were involved or observed the tragedy decades after it had occurred.
Lanzmann traveled extensively across Germany to Holocaust sites, seeking to witness the places firsthand and speak to those whose lives had been irrevocably changed by the atrocities of World War II. He also journeyed through Poland, visiting extermination camps and other historical locations to examine the aftermath of the near-total destruction of the Jewish people. This monumental project, which took Lanzmann over 11 years to complete before its 1985 release, culminated in a film that runs for 566 minutes, or 9 hours and 26 minutes.
1. Evolution of a Filipino Family (643 Minutes)
In 2004, filmmaker Lav Diaz unveiled the powerful and heart-wrenching film Evolution of a Filipino Family. Known by its original Filipino title, Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino, the movie does precisely what the title suggests: it chronicles the life story of a poor Filipino farm family struggling through the years. Diaz spent nine years collecting footage for the film, and during this time, viewers witness the aging of the family members as the years pass before the camera.
As for runtime, Evolution of a Filipino Family spans 643 minutes, or a total of 10 hours and 43 minutes. This epic family saga captures everything from the mundane to the life-changing events, chronicling the struggle of an impoverished family trying to survive over multiple generations and nearly a decade’s worth of time.
