Interchange is a collection of moving photographs that captures a myriad of sensations unique to metropolitan life. Under the invigorating sun of Montreal, one can feel the scorching pavement as landscapes dominated by road traffic. The camera, always fixed, captures the flow of automobiles; it’s a dance between the stillness and what moves. Among the concrete and highway tableaux, a few portraits: children and adults, whom the camera isolates with care, exposing the strange solitude that unfolds in these territories of anonymity. These fragments bear witness to a sensory materiality, as one perceives the coolness of a breeze gently tousling the hair. In this experimental and poetic documentary, time is calm, but there remains a constant muffled hum, like that emanating from a neon sign. With a rich sonic texture, the roar of cars, the hammering of jackhammers, and the screeching of tires are ever-present, reminding us that silence has no place in the city. Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky account for this vital persistence that slips through the cracks in the sidewalks, attesting to urban disconnection and numbness with insight and sensitivity, slowly eroding indolence.

Mélopée B. Montminy
Programmer
Montreal's Critics' Week