Several years ago i saw a facinating video, filmed at night over a
large city, just showing very rapid images of trafic at nighttime.
Several hours of filming was sped up to maybe 5 minuits or so. I'm
convinced that the title of the background orchestral music (that was
also played very rapidly) sounded like the word "SARAS-SQUATCHI" ( not
Saskatchewan, but almost the same ) The short film looked like blood
flowing in a human body, since the time-lapsed pulsing movement of
cars white and red lights reminded of heartbeats. Who can help me with
the title of either the actual background music or the name of the
video ?

many thanks. Tony from Sweden

Greetings tonysweden!

I believe you viewed part of the -qatsi trilogy.

The three films are:
Koyaanisqatsi (from 1983)
Powaqqatsi (from 1988)
Naqoyqatsi (from 2002)

The imdb.com listings for these movies are:

Koyaanisqatsi:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0085809
Powaqqatsi:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0095895/
Naqoyqatsi:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0145937/

This page has the trailer for Koyaanisqatsi in quicktime and real video formats:
http://www.filmscouts.com/scripts/film.cfm?Film=koyaani

The official website for the films is at:
http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/

The site has lots of information, including a photo gallery.  For
example, here's a shot that may be the scene you described:
http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/images/gallery_koy/41.jpg

The great music for all three films was done by Philip Glass.  There
are samples of some of the music at the koyaanisqatsi.org site.  There
are CDs available for all three films so you may be also able to hear
samples via Amazon.com, etc.   For example, here is the Amazon.com
listing for the Koyaanisqatsi CD (which also has sound samples):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000AEDU

The part you described sounds like you saw Koyaanisqatsi as that film
deals mostly with man's effect on nature or the world.  Powaqqatsi
focuses more on some third-world areas of the world.  Naqoyqatsi is a
bit different - it relies less on time-lapse photography and more on
computer animation.  In my opinion Naqoyqatsi is not nearly as strong
as the first two films.

I hope this information is helpful.  If you would like for me to
clarify any part of my answer or further research your question,
please let me know before issuing a rating.  Thanks!


leep-ga

Bravo !
Not only is Google.com the defacto leader for accurate web searching,
but I am now an amazed and most satisfied new customer of your
researching project.
I am indebted to you, 'leep', for the detail and content of your very
fast answer which was 100% accurate; it was indeed Koyaanisqatsi that
I has seen and admired so much.

I am also happy to see that you used the expression:  "The great music
. . ." we are obviously of the same opinion.

Please find a small token of my thanks; I hope that in the future it
will be possible to direct questions to such dedicated researchers as
yourself leep.
 ( now I have run out of superlatives . . )
CU
Tony Kvarnstrom - Sweden

If like films like "Koyaanisqatsi", you may also enjoy these
time-lapse music-films by Ron Fricke (director of photography for
Koyaanisqatsi):

Chronos (1984; made for IMAX; music by Michael Stearns)
Baraka (1992; 70mm; music by Michael Stearns)

Both are available on home video.

My partner (Tony Kern) and I are also working on several
high-definition time-lapse projects. They may be viewed on the
Mythopolis web site:

http://www.mythopolis.com/

We are highly inspired by masters of the art, like Geoffrey Reggio
(director of qatsi films) and Ron Fricke.

-Khurram Hashmi
Los Angeles, CA