About

A collection of short films. Within these films street photographers capture cheeky kids playing in New York's East Harlem in the 1940s, meanwhile in the film Bridges Go Round the camera dances with a city skyline, and two films showcase their city with the aim to tempt tourists to their shores - pre-war Tokyo and a picturesque Stockholm on the edge of the Baltic Sea.

Delve deeper on the QAGOMA Blog

Program curator Rosie Hays interviews musicians Greta Kelly and Siyavash Doostkhah from ‘Zemzemeh’ about their approach to making film scores and the incredible array of instruments they play. Read all the interviews from the previous 'City Symphony' Live Music and Film screenings.

Live music accompaniment by Zemzemeh: Scroll down for more info about the band.

Bridges Go Round 1958

‘Manhattan Island becomes a maypole around which its bridges, detached from moorings and land, execute a bewitching dance. Shirley Clarke has freed these formidable structures from their everyday functions and magically set them to dancing to two different musical tracks, one jazz and one electronic, so that each track affects the viewer’s response to the imagery.’ Film Society of Lincoln Center

4 minutes | All Ages

In the Street 1948

A City Symphony that is less interested in the built environment, In the Street instead delights in people, faces and the theatre of daily life. Neighbours discuss matters with worried expressions, an ice seller peddles his wares and kids have playful battles thwacking each other with flour-filled socks. A renowned street photographer, director Helen Levitt captures a tender and warm portrait of East Harlem. A favourite film of Charlie Chaplin, who reportedly imitated the children’s movements, In the Street was a highly influential film most notably cited as influencing the films of Stan Brakhage and Andy Warhol.

16 minutes | All Ages

Tokyo Symphonical Sketch 1937

A curious blend of newsreel documentary and tourist promotional film that borrows from the ‘City Symphony’ style of filmmaking, Tokyo Symphonical Sketch crafts a portrait of Tokyo in 1937 just before life in Japan would change significantly. Originally produced for The Board of Tourist Industry Japan, Tokyo, it is a fascinating portrait of life in pre-war Japan. The film presents the city as mix of tradition and modernity filming spectacular architectural spaces with people bowing in traditional dress through to a stadium full of people watching sport and the mechanised hustle of machines and workers on the factory floor.

24 minutes | All Ages

Människor i stad (Symphony of a City) 1947

Swedish director Arne Sucksdorff, often cited as one of the world’s foremost documentary filmmakers, typically focused on the natural world. When turning his camera on the streets of Stockholm, he created a city symphony that captures the pace of city life with distinct narrative elements following a number of characters who inhabit the capital. Sucksdorff regularly wove staged narrative and non-fiction documentary together in pursuit of an authentic picture of his subject. His stated aim was to find the balance between the documentary and the poetic. Symphony of a City won the Academy Award for Best Short Film (One Reel) in 1949, the first Swedish film to win an Oscar.

18 minutes | All Ages