Passages 21 - Mobility at a Standstill

History breaks down into images not stories, as Walter Benjamin noted. PASSAGES 21 puts that thought at work by confronting images of the present and past to gain insight into the foundations of contemporary society. At the center of the first part, MOBILITY AT A STANDSTILL are notions of mobility emerging through the 20th century, and two cultural techniques informing them: The Cinema and the Automobile. Automobilism establishes a collective utopia of individual freedom that will dominate the paradigms of city planning for more than a century. New Places emerge, some only serving transit, others taking over what the city center once was. PASSAGES 21 – MOBILITY AT A STANDSTILL is an invitation to stroll through those images in which unredeemed utopias can be found along permanent catastrophes. The film consists of self made and found footage material as well as contributions of other filmmakers.