New technology is increasingly opening up filmmaking options to people all around the world, and that’s no more evident than in the upcoming The Owner. The movie is first project of CollabFeature, which is described on its website as “a group of independent filmmakers from all over the world who have come together to create multi-director feature films. Each filmmaker writes and directs a segment of the bigger story in his or her own country. By pooling our talents and resources, we are creating something bigger than the sum of its parts — a kind of film that has never been made before.”

Made by 25 directors in 14 countries across five continents, The Owner is a global group film which follows a backpack as it changes hands from one owner to another on its journey around the world. It will have simultaneous premieres in multiple international locations on May 25 (in the U.S., it will screen in Chicago, Detroit and New York, with Orlando and New Orleans showings in the works), and is just the first of a planned series of globally produced movies to be made through CollabFeature.

It will be interesting to see if this idea takes off, and whether CollabFeature’s films can transcend their high-concept hook to become genuinely satisfying narrative experiences.