As thousands of music lovers flock to the Roskilde Festival this week, they will be met with the installation, a warm-up to the Danish documentary project "Cities on Speed".
With an eye cast on the prediction that in 2030 some 80% of the world's population will have migrated to cities, each film has a focus on an urban challenge in a megacity: traffic in Mumbai, waste in Cairo, space in Shanghai, and behaviour in Bogotá.
The project embraces the looming problems and radical solutions encountered in these cities, where growth has long overtaken urban planning — from the emerging idea of underground gardens in Shanghai, over the miming clowns of Bogotá, the garbage collector-recyclers of Cairo, to the anticipated Nano car in Mumbai.
The film also contemplates on future proposals that demand a change of thought and new societal conditions — from transport infrastructure to what lies beneath our understanding of democracy.
"Cities on Speed" will receive a domestic release on 24 October. Supported by the national broadcaster DR and the Danish Film Institute, the working titles of the four films are:
- "Bogotá": director Andreas Dalsgaard, producer Henrik Veileborg / Upfront Films
- "Mumbai": directors Camilla Nielsson, Frederik Jacobi, producer Henrik Veileborg / Upfront Films
- "Shanghai": director Nanna Frank Møller, producer Helle Faber / Bastard Film
- "Cairo": director Mikala Krogh / producer Sigrid Dyekjær / Nimbus Film