Sapporo Winter Olympics

Masahiro Shinoda’s interest in sports and experience as an athlete (he was a long-distance runner) made him an ideal choice to direct the official film of the XI Olympic Winter Games Sapporo 1972. His work is marked by its gravitas, and this can be felt in the opening Torch Relay sequence. Few Olympic films can boast such aesthetically pleasing images as this one. Shinoda takes full advan- tage of the ’Scope format, and of the superb equipment at his disposal. Allied to this is a subtle use of sound and silence, filtering out all extraneous noise when required.