Pump

About

Filmmaker Joseph David is joined by Andrew Kötting on a seven day voyage across an 11 mile stretch of disused monorail in Northern France. Standing eight meters above the ground this concrete viaduct is a relic of the Aérotrain test track: an ambitious project developed in the late 1960s for a nationwide high-speed hovertrain service, which was eventually abandoned due to lack of funds. They travel in a homemade pump trolley, affectionately nicknamed Albertine, and move at an average speed of 2 mph. Folly or quest? Either way, there is no discernable reason for this undertaking, but the challenge of this Dadaist road movie speaks for itself. Although it may lack the spectacular nature of an ascent of Everest, it in no less way expresses the overall absurdity of the human condition.