Broomsday

u-Broomsday can be regarded as a visual musical composition. In dark, mysteriously-lit surroundings, twelve uniformed street sweepers are at work. They sweep broken glass in a specific rhythm. The film tries to register the musical element in this scene and also to subject the image to the musical structure. Ligthart also adopted the polyrhythm of the sweeping music as the starting point for his cutting; both picture and sound gradually increase in intensity. In the film, humour and solemnity are linked in an original way; while the sound of glass can be regarded as serious modern music, the anonymous cleaners sweeping side by side are comic musicians; they wear orange uniforms, have yellow brooms and sweep green pieces of glass.