The first Tokyo Olympics opened on October 10th 1964, but filmmaker Kon Ichikawa was only chosen to be the overall director of this documentary five months prior. He made it very clear to his crew that it would not be a film for sports fans only, and his cameras capture Tokyo as it undergoes a transformation as well as the faces of the athletes, regardless of whether they are winners or losers. The various events were shot using ultra-telescopic lenses, slow motion, and from numerous angles with numerous cameras, resulting in approximately 70 hours of footage. The finished film sparked a debate over whether it was a documentary or a work of art. Ichikawa's approach of refusing to make a mere record of a sporting tournament and instead focusing on the people who lived and breathed during that time, not to mention its innovative visual techniques, have instilled the film with an enduring freshness.

Special Cooperation: JOC