“Inertia City” is a short feature film that shows what would happen on the day that the city of São Paulo stopped completely. Inspired by shockingly real data, the story follows a family man in this catastrophic traffic, being forced to rethink his values. The objective was to raise awareness to one of the 17 Global Goals set by the UN: 11 – Sustainable Cities & Communities, illustrating how each individual can affect an entire city.

São Paulo. 4th most populous city in the world. 12 million inhabitants. 9 million vehicles. 5th worst traffic in the world. The city that never stops almost stops every day. The traffic impacts more than just commuters. It’s responsible for deaths, pollution and stress.

Residents demand answers from the government and they’re not wrong. But the individuality in such a competitive city is also real. Urban mobility solutions such as public bicycles are slowly growing, but face opposition when they demand space occupied by cars. In a city so unequal, cars are luxury symbols, while public transport is what is left for those who can’t afford one. To change that, the selfish mindset needs to transform into a collective conscience.

Locally, we say: “One day São Paulo will stop”. The inspiration for Inertia City came from that phrase. We stopped the city and transformed São Paulo into a dystopian chaos.

“Inertia City” is a short feature film that shows what would happen on the day that the city of São Paulo stopped completely. Inspired by shockingly real data, the story follows a family man in this catastrophic traffic, being forced to rethink his values. The objective was to raise awareness to one of the 17 Global Goals set by the UN: 11 – Sustainable Cities & Communities, illustrating how each individual can affect an entire city.

São Paulo. 4th most populous city in the world. 12 million inhabitants. 9 million vehicles. 5th worst traffic in the world. The city that never stops almost stops every day. The traffic impacts more than just commuters. It’s responsible for deaths, pollution and stress.

Residents demand answers from the government and they’re not wrong. But the individuality in such a competitive city is also real. Urban mobility solutions such as public bicycles are slowly growing, but face opposition when they demand space occupied by cars. In a city so unequal, cars are luxury symbols, while public transport is what is left for those who can’t afford one. To change that, the selfish mindset needs to transform into a collective conscience.

Locally, we say: “One day São Paulo will stop”. The inspiration for Inertia City came from that phrase. We stopped the city and transformed São Paulo into a dystopian chaos.

From the very start, our main goal was to create a raw and powerful piece. It should look real while also exploring the exquisite locations from Sao Paulo, Brazil. The claustrophobic and tense atmosphere demanded longer sequences, some of them are over 2 minutes without any cut.

We had 4 intense shooting days, in Sao Paulo downtown area and inside the busiest tunnel in town. Most of the scenes had a few minutes to be shot and dealing with 200 extras + experienced actors was a blast.