On this day in 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent their second day filming the “Imagine” promotional film

After the massive success of the album and song, Lennon was inspired to create an accompanying documentary film. 

The film originally ran for 70 minutes, but was trimmed to 55 minutes to fit on a VHS tape. The full 70 minute cut was eventually released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2002. “Imagine” featured mostly promo style material for the selected songs, interspersed with clips of Lennon and Ono’s life together, as well as some fantasy and gag sequences. In one of these clips, a succession of men (ranging from assistants to celebrities including Fred Astaire and George Harrison) lead Ono through a doorway repeatedly. Other celebrities like Andy Warhol and Dick Cavett also appeared in the film.

“Imagine” was shown at multiple film festivals and even won the “Silver Lion” award for Best Clip at Cannes and the Festival Award at the Rio International Film Festival. The film performed well and was well-liked by critics for the most part, though some called it “the longest home movie ever made”. The movie was later re-released in theatres in 2018.