TIME IS WORKING AROUND ROTTERDAM

by Valérie JOUVE
2006 / Digital Betacam / color / sound / 1S / 25' 00




Time is working around Rotterdam is the second short film by French photographer Valérie Jouve. It is about the diverse times, rhythms and speeds of daily life. With the construction of the first high speed rail route in The Netherlands, the HSL-South linking Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Belgian border, a new time dimension is being added to our possibilities for moving around. It is intriguing how our experience of existing speeds changes as soon as a new element - in this case a faster connection - makes its appearance.
In her film Time is working around Rotterdam Valérie Jouve visualises this striking phenomenon. The film is a visual 'rail movie' in which the camera brings the viewer along to Rotterdam. There we get to take a look at the city and its residents. The camera carries the viewer along through Rotterdam's busy highways and shopping streets, now and then pauses for a moment, to then travel further again with the tram or via motorways or waterways to the countryside just outside the city. It is a film without dialogue or story line. In Jouve's words, the film is a choreography or rhythmic visual composition. The complexity of the various speeds and rhythms with which Rotterdammers move about, and the relation of the anonymous people and vehicles to the environment in which they are moving provides Jouve's scenario.

1 PRINT IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format Digital file on server (PAL)
screen 4/3 (single screen)
speed 25 fps
sound sound
rental fee 80,00 €