H.P. - Horsepower, 1971 (16mm negative, 2K/Sound scan)

Location: Rome, Italy Creator: Luigi Perelli The car is one of the symbols of the 20th century. It has become an everyday object that is part of the urban landscape in an inseparable way; it has created the problem of traffic in large cities; it has conditioned urban development; it has made the city air unbreathable. Is it really that necessary and irreplaceable? In the first part, the film proposes this controversial interrogative through a series of images that the editing articulates into provocative and paradoxical combinations; thus alternate views of traffic jams, rear-end collisions, quarrels, fines, reckless driving, assembly lines and car cemeteries. In the second, the film deals with the problem in its political and economic substance; the choices of large industry, building speculation, conditional urban development, the destination of investments for highways. Finally, the indication of new development perspectives for different cities, on a human scale, through the construction of efficient metropolitan networks, the strengthening of public transport, a design urban planning that provides free spaces for citizens. 01. Car parked on a lawn. Suddenly a woman appears in a cape and starts to caress the car 02. Traffic on city streets. A policeman directs traffic. A man and a woman try to push the car that has remained stationary in the middle of the road 03. People inside cars stopped due to traffic 04. A policeman fines a motorist, cars are taken away by the tow truck 05. Two motorists crash and then get out of the cars to ascertain the damage 06. Cars stuck in a long queue 07. A car launched at great speed turns upside down destroying itself 08. A man walks on foot between cars wearing a gas mask 09. Overview of babies in cribs in a nursery 10. Interior of a car factory 11. Exterior of a car market where dozens of cars are on display 12. Interior of a car showroom 13. Detail of the windshield where the wipers are inserted under, exchange them for its purchase 14. Hundreds of cars parked, carcasses of old cars piled up (Magliana junkyard, in the distance you can appreciate the Palazzo della Cività Italiana and the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (EUR)) 15. Interior of a car. A man at his helm. Stock images of Jim Clark during a Formula One race and the tragic accident 16. Two boys kiss inside a car, others drink, listen to music, talk, read the newspaper 17. Some people, mostly workers, who use public services complain about the disruption 18. Advertising photos of cars 19. Interior of a car showroom 20. Motorists pay the toll at a toll booth. Colonnation on an urban road 21. Images by Giovanni Agnelli and Leopoldo Pirelli 22. Cars are moving slowly, in the queue 23. Inq from the bottom of buildings; children run through the streets 24. Inq from the bottom of the Rome ring road 25. Excavation work for the construction of the subway 26. Capitol. Official ceremony. The mayor of Rome Clelio Darida and other municipal authorities are present 27. Images from the city: people cross the street, cars, mopeds 28. Piazza Navona 29. Demonstration against traffic. Banner with the words: “Stop the traffic chaos”