Shanghai Transforming

“I Spy A City | Shanghai” by Joe Nafis (via Shanghaiist)

“Our film is a meditation on a city,  viewed from far above. We imagined a vast urban space,  with its huge tower blocks,  its monumental infrastructure,  and its human population. We watched traffic pound the roads,  and vast crowds move across public squares. And we wondered what would happen if we sped things up,  watching minutes or hours of time pass in seconds,  or stretched seconds into minutes. Seeing a city from far away,  or at unusual speeds,  gives it an alien quality. Movements that from close up seem individual and distinct suddenly seem mysteriously controlled - as if there is a more powerful mind at work imposing its will. The effect is to take something that we feel we understand,  and view it through a new and utterly different lens. In the poem that overlays the film,  we imagine this lens is shared by a couple in love,  seeing the world this way for the first time,  so that their sharing of the city is a part of their love,  in all its mystery. And we wonder,  is love too outside of their control?”