Motorcity

For MOTORCITY, the choice of a documentary process is, of course, apparent from its subject, drag racing. How else would it be possible to capture both the fascination and also what needs to be explained about this sport, which since the 1950s has a place in the popular imagination in the U.S.. The film poses a field of questions that is accordingly vast, ranging from the fundamental (what is the challenge of moving a quarter of a mile in a few seconds, unleashing forces that can hardly be controlled?) to the historically determined (what does drag racing mean in a city like Detroit, which is likewise the cradle of the American automobile industry and Fordism?) to the mythological. (Vrääth Öhner)