18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations 1970
Captured in a fleeting seventeen minutes in 1970, Roberto Polidori's debut moving-image piece 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations is a hypnotic experiment in time, light, and urban rhythm.
Director: Roberto Polidori
Frequently Asked Questions
What is 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations (1970) about?
The film isolates eighteen traffic-light cycles at a single Manhattan intersection, stretching each moment to expose the hidden poetry in everyday urban repetition.
Who directed 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations?
Roberto Polidori, an experimental filmmaker whose early work absorbed the formal rigor of structuralist cinema.
Who stars in 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations?
Director information is not available.
Is 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations (1970) worth watching?
For lovers of experimental film, the seventeen-minute piece offers a rewarding dive into rhythm and perception, even if it demands patience over spectacle.
How long is 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations?
The film runs exactly 17 minutes.
About 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations (1970) — A 17-minute time-study from Roberto Polidori
Captured in a fleeting seventeen minutes in 1970, Roberto Polidori's debut moving-image piece 18 Traffic Light Changes/Durations is a hypnotic experiment in time, light, and urban rhythm. The grainy film fixes on a single Manhattan intersection where traffic signals flicker through eighteen cycles, isolating every flicker and fade to reveal the architecture of patience itself. Inspired by the rigorous, process-driven cinema of Michael Snow and the structuralist circle around Ernie Gehr, Polidori turns a mundane commute into a meditative study of duration and perception.
Layered with flickering amber, crimson, and electric green, the palette pulses like a heartbeat, inviting viewers to feel the city's pulse rather than simply observe it. Structured around precise intervals and subtle shifts in color temperature, the piece transcends documentation, morphing into a quiet manifesto on how the built environment shapes consciousness and memory.