osakacitysymphony

[osakacitysymphony]

[osakacitysymphony]

Award of excellence ... 

[osakacitysymphony]

Nominated for ... 

[osakacitysymphony]

Osaka; a city symphony, 2020 (trailer 2)

[osakacitysymphony]

Director’s note

Since I remember, I 've been fascinated by Japanese lifestyle, art, and culture. Japanese movies and animation seemed different to me in every aspect: the style, the values, and themes. This fascination grew bigger gradually and drag me to study more and more about Japan. So when I was in school and got a chance to study in Japan, I did not waste time and packed my luggage and in the blinking of an eye, I was in Osaka airport. Living in Osaka was like a dream come through. Osaka locals are very humble and friendly. Their ancestors used to work in Osaka ports and in comparison with other Japanese cities, they are more culturally mixed with their neighbors like China and Korea. I don't know when, but I had the idea of making a documentary about Osaka as soon as I arrived in. And after a while, I was sure it should be a city symphony documentary. I love city symphony documentaries. Although a very old and almost dead genre, I still find them fascinating. I like the pure formalism and telling a story just via picture and music, my two favorite art categories. City Symphony has its roots in the formalism movement in the early 20th century where artists like Walter Ruttmann helped establish the genre by movies like "Berlin, A City Symphony". For 6 months I kept shooting and shooting, wherever I was. I had loads of files and more than 100 hours of footage of Osaka. Editing this load of work was an epic challenge since I knew from the beginning it should be a short film. So editing and composing music went on together hand in hand for almost more than 2 years and it finally finished in 2020. This movie is somehow my dedication to Japanese people, especially the Osaka citizens who were so nice to me and made me feel at home during those 6 months. Best, Pezhmann Mokary

[osakacitysymphony]

Director and composer

[osakacitysymphony]

Osaka: a city symphony, 2020. (trailer)

[osakacitysymphony]

still images from the movie. (copyright, Red Whale, 2020)