Watch Meaning of the Interval (1987) Official Trailer

Filmed over a year in Japan, Edín Vélez’s experimental video essay examines the tension between tradition and modernity in Japanese culture. Through a nonlinear collage of layered images—ranging from bullet trains and corporate life to Kabuki, Sumo, and Shinto ritual—the film explores the concept of ma, the “interval” or charged space between things that shapes rhythm, balance, and meaning.