THE AUTOMOTIVE HUMAN

The Automotive Human A society gone astray and ways to get it back on track Director: Reinhard Seiss, Vienna 2024/25, 100 min, english/french/german This documentary by urban planner Reinhard Seiss is a stirring appeal for a radical transport transition going far beyond the current policy goals. According to Seiss, such a transition is imperative if efforts to protect the climate as well as conserve land and resources are to have any hope of success. His documentary explores the spatial, ecological, economic and social aspects of mobility and transport and exposes the direct and indirect drivers of "the automotive system": decision-makers and profiteers from politics and industry, the legal and financial frameworks that underpin our mobility systems — and, last but not least, town planning and urban development as the simultaneous cause and effect of traffic flows. With compelling examples of best practice from across the entire German-speaking region, the film shows that both people and the economy can function perfectly well with far fewer cars. On the other side of the coin, it also shows how political opportunism and economic lobbying, paired with an unquestioning belief in technology and a fixation on growth, stand in the way of a turnaround.