American Passages

“Yes we can! And we did - you can't stop us now!” American Passages begins with a moment of unbridled euphoria on Obama's election night in the fall of 2008: people dancing in the street and celebrating the election of the first black president of the USA. They rejoice in this historic moment, as if they have only now been freed from the trauma of slavery. However, it is the same moment when the economy breaks down and the very feasibility that defines the country is suddenly called into question. The question of the state of America drives Ruth Beckermann from New York across the continent, through a total of eleven states - to apartment blocks where people have many children and little money, to parties, prisons and memorials, to private homes threatened with repossession, to courtrooms, universities and a casino. And to the many non-places in between: Highway cafés, gas stations, highways.