If The Sun Was Gone is a 25 minutes short film about the Jazz scene in Berlin. We follow a week in the life of a young woman who lives with her ill grandfather. She wanders in the city at night with her saxophone and discovers the underground jazz scene that fascinates her.
The film is about emancipation, the shape of one's identity when arriving in a big city. It focuses on the fascination the young woman has for Berlin, all the different cultures living together and its vibrating summer life while colder days are coming.
Co-directed with Pierre-Marie Buffé, with an original music composed and played by J.B. Dano and starring musicians like Enrico Perez, Maria Morkrid and Daigo Nakai, the project is a wide collaboration that represent the spirit of jazz music. It is also the first appearance in a film and acting experience for main actress Teryce Magbagbeolu.
Pierre-Marie Buffé and myself want to dedicate this film to the Edelweiss Jam Sessions in Görlitzer Park, whose energy and passion deeply inspired us.
The scene in the film that stood out the most was the concert scene where Maria Morkrid sings Body and Soul at a concert. The shooting itself was an achievement for us as the project had no production company to back it and it was all self financed and organized, so we had to compose a band, have some rehearsals and get them to do a concert together. We had decided to shoot all the scene in one immersive take to follow the feelings of the young woman watching from behind the door, so the shooting looked like a real concert where the band and the crowd fed from each other's energy.