As summer draws to a close, Louis sets off on a month-long solo journey to a deserted and ghostly Pas-de-Calais, in northern France, where he spends his days filling page after page with writing. Five years later, his travel notes are published, and he’s invited to the radio for a session with Mathilde, a strange host. Under this sudden spotlight, Louis feels lost, even frantic, as timelines merge, pulling him from a quirky radio interview into the surreal recollections of a disorienting, yet oddly humorous, trip.

The journey itself took place in September 2020, as part of the ‘Croquis de voyage’ (Travel Sketches) programme at the École du Nord in Lille, where Louis Albertosi was a drama student. Although he originally planned to take on the angel’s role in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, as portrayed by Bruno Ganz, and following his example, keep vigil over the residents of towns along his path, his journey, like all journeys, took an unexpected turn. As Covid hit, the angel found himself watching over slumbering and deserted cities, and Louis, who had wanted to help others, now found himself utterly alone: a lost angel in desperate need of help.

As this urban, humorous and musical journey unfolds, a hard-hitting manifesto gradually takes shape — a declaration of love for the enduring power and necessity of art that connects us to something greater than ourselves, and the profound sense of wonder that can emerge from the most commonplace aspects of life — the city, its walls and its silences.