Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus

Neo Sora

In March, 2023, legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away after his struggle against cancer. In the years leading up to his death, he could no longer perform live. Despite this, in late 2022, Sakamoto mustered all of his energy to leave the world with one final performance: a concert film, featuring just him and his piano. Curated by Sakamoto himself, the twenty pieces performed in the film wordlessly narrate his life through his music. Intimately filmed in a space he knew well, surrounded by his most trusted collaborators, Sakamoto bares his soul through his music, knowing this may be the last time that he can present his art. A celebration of an artist's life in the purest sense, Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus is the definitive swan song of the beloved maestro.

Japan 2023, '103

DIRECTOR: Neo Sora

CAMERA: Bill Kirstein

MONTAGE: Takuya Kawakami

MUSIC: Ryuichi Sakamoto

PRODUCERS: Norika Sora, Albert Tholen, Aiko Masubuchi, Eric Nyari

PRODUCTION: KAB inc.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS:

Venice IFF (2023)

Neo Sora

Raised in New York and Tokyo, Neo Sora is a filmmaker, artist, and translator living between the two cities. He directed feature-length concert film Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus (Venice International Film Festival 2023), as well as writing and directing The Chicken (Locarno Film Festival 2020, New York Film Festival 2020), a short film adaptation of a short story by Naoya Shiga. The short was critically praised in publications such as Variety and Cahiers Du Cinéma, and Neo was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2021. Neo’s latest short film, Sugar Glass Bottle, premiered in 2022, winning Indie Memphis' top short film prize, Best Narrative Short. In 2015, Neo shot and co-directed an ethnographic documentary and art project entitled Ainu Neno An Ainu as part of artist collective Lunch Bee House. An alumnus of the 2017 Berlinale Talents Tokyo and the 2022 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab programs, Neo is in post-production on his debut feature as a writer-director, Earthquake.

Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus

Neo Sora

Neo Sora

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