Southern Bypass: 5.49-6am

First part of a trilogy of short films about figures in motion, Southern Bypass: 5.49-6am, in its inaugural value, positions us close to its motorcyclist and simultaneously in the eye of the camera that follows and films him. We are in Kenya on a road leading to Nairobi, at some distance behind a body that has its back to us, yet we are glued, riveted to the mechanical action that propels it. This rider and I (and you) can testify to the sensation of the road, the effects of slight flashes as we pass under streetlights against the backdrop of night, and gradually, the transformations of the sky pierced by daylight through thick clouds. Although we will never know anything about each other, this rider and I (and you) share the light, the time, and the space—that is, a stretch of road—in a form of silent intimacy subjected to the action of musical loops created by Joseph Kamaru. We are both stationary and in motion, passive and active, traversed by the recursion of bends in the road and sound. The soundtrack that has risen like the coming day enhances our friendship by a notch. The image itself seems slightly slowed, though perhaps it always was.

Together, we have no point of departure or arrival. Something akin to floating characterizes our progress. We share eleven minutes of dawn and, through the curious symbiosis achieved, perhaps we even become this dawn, perhaps we even become this undulating movement, heading towards the sun.

Maude Trottier
Editor-in-Chief, Hors champ magazine