Koji Yamamura

Koji Yamamura

출생 : 1964-06-04, Nagoya, Japan

약력

Kōji Yamamura is a Japanese independent animator who, after leaving a career as a background artist at an animation studio, directs, writes, edits, animates, creates the model sheets and background art for and sometimes produces his own short films and has worked on many commissions such as music videos, television advertisements, title sequences and station idents, both on his own and under or with other directors. He is also a regular illustrator of children's literature and textbooks.

프로필 사진

Koji Yamamura
Koji Yamamura

참여 작품

In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-Weeny Pocket
Producer
When it shrinks, it expands. It floats and it sinks. It separates but connects. When I think I’m watching them, they're actually watching me. A charming animation rhyme that weaves together the many days of observing, recording, and experimenting.
919
Producer
A man is walking along the beach. Then a demon, the man’s pain, appears and chases him. The pain is unbearable, coursing through his entire body. He somehow manages to get away, but eventually, he returns to the ocean even though he knows that the demon will appear again if he goes there.
Poo Down Hill Up
Producer
Bird poo fell in love with the hill but the hill is taken away high above the clouds. Poo is devastated. But then, a triangular telescope falls from the sky and it's showing what the hill is seeing.
Winter Star
Producer
It's winter but my heart and the classroom are hot. Unexpectedly I got my hands on a star fruit, but I never told anyone about the taste.
Before Dawn
Producer
One cold and damp morning, two weasels were wandering the quiet streets. They get separated at one point but are reunited. Just then, bells and alarms began to ring through the city, and dawn came.
Stained Smell
Producer
The film expresses the sense of being left behind. It stems from the realities of my childhood and how they did not match up with what I was feeling back then.
북쪽 나라에서
Original Music Composer
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
북쪽 나라에서
Editor
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
북쪽 나라에서
Screenplay
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
북쪽 나라에서
Producer
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
북쪽 나라에서
Visual Effects
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
북쪽 나라에서
Animation
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
북쪽 나라에서
Creator
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
북쪽 나라에서
Director
이것은 북쪽에 대한 이야기로, 내가 북쪽에서 만난 사람들에 대한 기록이다. 그렇지만 나의 기억은 단편적이고 의미를 파악하기 어렵다.
A Bite of Bone
Producer
A little girl reflects on her last summer with her father at his funeral.
Round Trip
Producer
Kaibun are palidromes in which words sound the same when read backwards and forwards. Sometimes the meaning changes, and sometimes not. I brought this playful and poetic world to life.
Are you here, Ser Brunetto?
Production Supervisor
Inspired by the Fifteenth canto of the Divine Comedy, in which Dante meets his teacher, Brunetto Latini.
Our 2
Producer
Commemorating the 700th anniversary of Dante's death, the film is a reinterpretation of Dante and Beatrice's reunion story, from "Vita Nova" to the three parts of the "Divine Comedy" (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven). Where are we, young people, now? Where should we go? Since 2020, it has become clear that young people are free to choose anything. We can even choose to live or die. The new world is coming. Let's jump into it with love for ourselves and for others.
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
Writer
A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea. It continues an ancient tradition of "Caricatures of Frolicking animals" in scroll painting-style; this time, "Frolicking Sea Animals," in animation form, with a play on Japanese and English language word-plays: "Hokyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima. / Polar bear bears boredom", "Kawauso Kawaisou./Other otter, poor otter," etc.
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
Digital Producer
A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea. It continues an ancient tradition of "Caricatures of Frolicking animals" in scroll painting-style; this time, "Frolicking Sea Animals," in animation form, with a play on Japanese and English language word-plays: "Hokyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima. / Polar bear bears boredom", "Kawauso Kawaisou./Other otter, poor otter," etc.
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
Painter
A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea. It continues an ancient tradition of "Caricatures of Frolicking animals" in scroll painting-style; this time, "Frolicking Sea Animals," in animation form, with a play on Japanese and English language word-plays: "Hokyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima. / Polar bear bears boredom", "Kawauso Kawaisou./Other otter, poor otter," etc.
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
Animation
A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea. It continues an ancient tradition of "Caricatures of Frolicking animals" in scroll painting-style; this time, "Frolicking Sea Animals," in animation form, with a play on Japanese and English language word-plays: "Hokyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima. / Polar bear bears boredom", "Kawauso Kawaisou./Other otter, poor otter," etc.
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
Producer
A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea. It continues an ancient tradition of "Caricatures of Frolicking animals" in scroll painting-style; this time, "Frolicking Sea Animals," in animation form, with a play on Japanese and English language word-plays: "Hokyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima. / Polar bear bears boredom", "Kawauso Kawaisou./Other otter, poor otter," etc.
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
Director
A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea. It continues an ancient tradition of "Caricatures of Frolicking animals" in scroll painting-style; this time, "Frolicking Sea Animals," in animation form, with a play on Japanese and English language word-plays: "Hokyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima. / Polar bear bears boredom", "Kawauso Kawaisou./Other otter, poor otter," etc.
Our Little Pond
Producer
I'm the only one who can't live without an oxygen tank in the underwater world. No matter how suffocated I feel, I preserve peace and harmony by pretending the selfish girl and my friends with complicated family backgrounds don’t bother me.
Dear Viruses
Producer
This work is a missive to the life form we call viruses in the hope that we can coexist. The relationship between humans and viruses is poetically expressed from a different perspective.
AMANE DIARY
Producer
This work is based on 15 years of entries in the diary that I’ve kept since age eight. Through creating this work I was searching for freedom from my preconceptions about animation and myself.
Brother
Producer
When I was a kid, my big brother became obsessed with the 90s Japanese subculture of teenage guys who were known as "Gyaru-o." His odd appearance totally mystified me so I started to sneak into his room to look for his secrets.
POP JUNKIE
Producer
TV shows, manga, music, movies, plays, pop stars and cartoon characters. I watch videos on my phone with the TV blaring and music in the background. I’m swimming in media... Is this the other side of the screen?! Awesome!
MUNCH MUNCH
Producer
How to make this mysterious cake? The ingredients include blue eggs, cookie flowers, pillow stuffing and much more.
Red
Producer
I conveyed my love and gratitude to a certain deceased physician amidst the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, while a personal shopper expressed the same emotions from yet a different place.
Conflicted
Producer
Everyone has a sense of justice. The protagonist thinks her ideas are right and voices her opinions through protests for social justice. One day the demonstration turns violent. Maybe we could live in peace if self-righteousness were to disappear.
blink
Producer
That moment of refreshing sensation when drinking a soda in the hot summer.
Coping Mechanism
Producer
No doubt negative enery is going to accumulate in my body today, tomorrow and the day after. When that happens, I'll have my own way of release.
So I Picked Up the Worm
Producer
Far away from her hometown, the little fox studies in a foreign country. The monotonous days and bare relationships make her increasingly homesick. But one day, she finds the curiosity that she had once lost and takes a new step.
Squishy Fish Eggs
Producer
When I touched the sack of cod roe for the first time, it felt exactly like my thighs. It was light pink and so soft. Maybe my whole world is made of squishy fish eggs.
The Mouse and a Prism
Producer
The mouse finds a prism and it reveals to him a magnificent rainbow like he's never seen before. He tries to show his friends but for some reason it won't reappear. It seems beauty has a mind of its own.
Strawberry Candy
Producer
She keeps a secret that can't be told, and gradually forgets it. The girl is no longer sure whether what she remembers happened in reality or in a dream.
Empty Hands
Producer
A mix of life tales in modern Japan where fate is predicted by your name and a fingerplay song. Are the members of this society playing into the hands of some higher being or are they living the life of impermanence?
My Hand, Her Hand
Producer
The little girl has a complex because she doesn’t look like her mom, and the mom wants her daughter to look more ladylike. Their faces don’t look alike, but their hands do. The girl treasures this resemblance, which also enables the mom to treat her daughter with tenderness.
Notre maison
Producer
Alice goes alone. She opens the doors like she let her legs do the leading and she finds various houses by various people. This work expresses the landscape or the figure of love that we're keen from the bottoms of our hearts, with(using) various images and motifs.
The Big Tree in Front of the House
Producer
It should have been an ordinary day, but it was very different from usual. There was a large crowd in front of my grandma’s house. Where did people come from and where are they going? I was peeping at them behind the window, but the big tree obstructed my view.
I Am a Motif
Producer
There are three "Motifs". The complete differences between them make themselves self-doubt. The melody begins, and the music motif could not resist the impulse to dance, but the others also catching up ... Am "I" also a "Motif"? This film uses a Fugue from Bach, tries to unify similar concepts that exist in different forms, including music, visual arts, and narrative.
Strangers in the Alley
Producer
Deep down the alley the black cat has entered is a town where nonhuman beings live in peace. The cat returns to his home to rest when suddenly he hears a strange sound coming from next door.
Long Live the Cat
Producer
Yasu is a cat over 20 years old. He's still alive and kicking in the house he was left behind.
Iron Pulse
Producer
A small family-owned iron factory was closed down. What will remain of it?
WOKE
Producer
Right there in that little gap between fantasy and reality, me and you, movies and videos, concrete and abstract, is that nice cozy space.
Representation of Light
Producer
My deceased great-grandmother had been a part of my life as a portrait on the wall. I searched for ways to substantiate her life inside me and decided to photograph and develop pictures of her at two different ages.
A DOG
Producer
Once upon a time, a man killed the king's pet dog. He was executed and reincarnated as a canis but with the memory of his past life as a man.
WildAid 'Hankograph'
Director
Ivory consumption in Japan is a bit of a problem. It needs to be stamped out.
Dreams into Drawing
Director
The painter Kuwagata Keisai lived over 200 years ago. He created 'Ways to Sketch', a series of picture books illustrating humans and animals, all richly expressed. One day he was sketching out a carp, just at that moment he slept and he became a carp in dream. A carp was enjoy to swimming, but a fisherman caught that carp...
Keep Forgetting
Producer
Why do you want acceptance? If it's not going to happen, then forget about what it was you wanted acknowledged and just have some soup, like always.
Where is my home?
Producer
Here, everyone is an outlander. But something's not right. Everyone else has a place to sit at the table, a home to return to at will. Not him. Lonely as it may be, he will look ahead and find his place here.
See My World
Producer
Two brothers are drawing pictures in art class, but they see completely different things. The younger one is confused by the behavior of his brother, who is lost in his own world. But then, his big brother shares his beautiful world of gentle sea creatures.
Psyche
Producer
One day, while the main character is dozing off, he is abandoned by the owner of the shadow that he lives in. This creature who has lost his home wanders through the night city in search of his shadow.
Indoor Days
Producer
On days I don't want to leave the house, I enjoy watching TV and videos on my smartphone. I'm supposed to be at home but the screen keeps taking me elsewhere and I lose my grip on my whereabouts and reality.
House Rattler
Producer
This house rattling spirit has lived in this old house for generations. But the old woman who lives there as the final resident can no longer hear the noises it makes, which leaves the house rattler filled with a sense of longing.
Behind Us
Producer
One day a girl notices a distortion in her surrounding environment, which prompts her to start searching for her own connection with the world. But, the distortions become even more extreme. She wonders if the deviation is happening within her, or in the outside world.
Summer Sky Reverie
Producer
It's summer vacation and all the kids in the neighborhood have left to visit relatives. But there in the relentless glare of the sun, is a boy looking up at the sky.
Boozy Woozy Wonderland
Producer
Heartbroken, I bought a bottle of wine and drank it walking home. A tipsy journey reconstructed using the Japanese traditional storytelling method "rakugo."
Flow of Life
Producer
The girl wished to transcend her own body and become a jellyfish. She was drawn to the figure of the jellyfish floating freely in the sea.
That summer there were two of us
Producer
Summer is coming to an end. A little girl on the beach remembers the days spent giggling and dancing with her friend. The goodbyes and memories intertwine in a mesh of sorrow and joy.
Hear the Snow Melt
Producer
A girl made of unmelted snow has fallen in love with the dragon who brings spring. A story of changing seasons and thawing hearts.
A Pawn
Producer
In a land where there are no enemies or allies is a lone soldier. He spends his days sculpting wood with his bayonet. And then one day, out of the blue, an enemy stands before him.
The On-hold Music of Terror
Producer
"You're right. There was a bug–I killed it." Late at night, only one voice wafts around the room. What lies on the other end of the telephone line is anyone's guess...
Stay With Me
Producer
Now a grown woman, I sit on the train recollecting my childhood. That morning field baking in the sun. Making one bamboo-leaf boat after the other. The smoke from the fireworks spreading like a thick fog. And to those memories I say, "Welcome back."
Pickle Plum Parade
Producer
A girl goes for a ramble in the neighborhood. The friendly dog is barking as usual. Oh, there goes a cat. Wait, no, it's just a shopping bag. The old guys are laughing about something. I know a lot about this town, and yet there's a lot that I don’t know.
Dissipate
Producer
Clouds flow by. Pictures evaporate. When the act of drawing is in tune with nature’s ways, an ancient poetry echoes through the sky and in due time brings rain.
죽음의 상인
Producer
소년은 어느 날, 병아리를 파는 상인을 만난다. 팔리고 있는 병아리가 금세 죽는다는 것을 알고 있는 소년의 눈에는, 상인이 마치 죽음을 파는 존재로 보인다.
Bath House of Whales
Executive Producer
Mizuki Kiyama's short animation utilizes a paint on glass technique to render a young girl's visit to a neighborhood sento (bath house) with her mother with dazzling sensuous wonder. Evoking childish fascination at daily rituals, this quotidian act amidst feminine intimacy becomes a space of otherworldly fantasy.
Pupa
Producer
How long has it been since she lost control of her body? She is completely tapped out and finds herself wishing that she could just shed her body.
The Body in the Mind
Producer
We have limited control over our bodies, and we can't change ourselves at will. While I yearn for complete freedom, I also want to make peace with my frustration.
In There
Producer
This story is about a place long ago, before birth and before death, that everyone knows and no one knows.
Namahage's Obon Homecoming
Producer
A visitor shows up in the middle of the night at the countryside house that Miyako shares with her father. Miyako goes to wake up her father, but the creature enters the house. Miyako stands frozen.
Lion Nanny's Journey
Producer
Lion Nanny rides the train and embarks on a life journey while interacting with those around her.
On the way home
Producer
The borderland between sleeping and waking is the moment when the daughter melds into her father.
Bero Bero
Producer
A dog we like to pet on the way home from school, an eccentric guy, and ringing doorbells as a prank. That's our life in this town.
Take Me Home
Producer
Brothers eating dinner, a girl watering the plants, a boy awakening in the night… The daily scenery from the house where they all lived at one point or another.
Gals
Producer
Reminiscing the days I spent with an old friend, facing up to the narrow but deep gap that lies between us.
Typhoon No. 14
Producer
Okinawa is ominous right before the arrival of a typhoon. At first, Anri is excited by the unusual turn of events, but gradually she becomes fearful of the threatening typhoon. Then, her big sister tells her that typhoons have an eye...
The Body Swap Center
Producer
Mimi is fed up with her pathetic self. One day she walks along looking at the ground like usual when she notices a suspicious flyer.
My Little Goat
Producer
A mother goat rescues her kids from the belly of a wolf, but where is her eldest son Toruku?
The Pearl Remains
Producer
A woman traces her memories through a pearl ring, and comes upon her mother gazing at the same ring. But her memories soon lose their outline and become enclosed within the pearl.
To day plus one
Producer
We go to sleep in hopes for a better tomorrow. The moment of truth nears as our eyes slowly open to the new day…
Jinxes
Producer
A girl heading home from school is met with a bigger version of herself who poses arbitrary challenges with unspeakable consequences. The little girl tries to keep up but suddenly the stakes are raised.
Dance to Life
Producer
For her, dance is life. And life is dance. Every tingle in her heart gets her swinging to the beat.
7 falls, 8 comebacks, 7 sports
Producer
Bloopers in sports are different from the blunders we make in everyday life but they tend to share similar physical movements. The title comes from an old Japanese saying about recovering from bad happenings.
SIBLINGS
Producer
Two sisters stay at home alone. They spend their time in their own worlds, at times in synch with each other and other times disconnected.
A4 Microcosm
Producer
Microorganisms propagate, gather, and transform into an A4 sheet of paper. You can feel signs of life within the page.
Angel inside a box
Producer
This video installation is an experiment that imagines the canvas as a box and animates images within that space.
Shiosai-bound
Producer
A white lump appears at a landfill site with an ocean view and slowly heads for the sea. It is anxious to find a place to return.
Fluffiction
Producer
Fluffy turtles, fluffy monkeys, fluffy lizards. Discover the world populated by these mysteriously charming imaginary creatures. They have adorably fluffy bodies and are becoming an ever more common sight in daily life.
Live or Let Live
Producer
There's a pet caterpillar named Larva in my class. I don't like bugs but Larva is sweet and we become friends. But one day, I am faced with a horrible choice.
Memory Drawers
Producer
Shiroinu writes down the day’s events before he goes to sleep. One day, he opens a drawer buried in the snow and finds old diary entries. He realizes that he’s forgotten the sensations and emotions from that time to the extent that he feels like he’s reading about someone else’s life.
light of temptation
Producer
The angel of wind exhales, sending fluffy dandelion seeds into a slow dance. Wind and light guide the downy seeds into the magical world of botany.
Quest of the Battling Gods
Producer
In the moments before death, one of the Battling Gods recalls his defeat in a magnificent fight. That battle transcended meta worlds, time and parallel universes as the Battling God faced off with another of his kind. All living creatures celebrated their fight with cries of joy.
Time Autobahn
Producer
A speeding car leaps onto the highway of Time and hurtles forward -- its velocity is limitless.
The Red Bridge is Falling Down
Producer
Everyone crosses the Red Bridge and yet no one likes him. One day, he falls into the deep valley.
四季
Supervising Producer
A Japanese-produced animated film using Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons as its soundtrack. The four seasons all have separate animation directors. Its production was partly crowdfunded. The film premiered in Kitakyushu in 2017 along with a live performance of the Four Seasons and this performance was recorded and distributed to supporters of the project.
Notes on Monstropedia
Director
An animated archive of imaginary monsters written by a fictitious mosterologist in Medieval Europe.
yelp
Producer
Once we used to be happy and grateful for the pure act of eating.
The Story of a Motorbike
Producer
A motorbike yearns to return to its good old days. One day it takes a courageous leap to its own future.
AEON
Producer
Self-replicating entities that have evolved on different planets merge and proliferate exponentially. In search of more energy sources, they consume other stars.
Candy.zip
Producer
Aoko is confident about the documents she creates at work, but doesn't get any positive feedback. Then, she witnesses her colleague secretly changing the documents she created. Aoko is turned into a piece of candy to keep her quiet…
Cogito Wonderland
Producer
This film is an allegory towards clumsy people. Having met egocentric people, I go down the stairs of melancholia. I get swallowed up by the waves that I myself create. I know life is not only bad... But who am "I"? What am "I"?
flower
Producer
This film shows various images of flowers growing, blossoming and losing their petals.
RINGING CITY
Producer
Big cities are glutted with information. Unconscious curiosity, hidden under apparent indifference, invites us into a noisy loop.
Self-Honest Me
Producer
One day the protagonist watches a movie with friends. She finds the film to be boring and reveals her discontent, but somehow nobody agrees with her.
Squid Introspection
Producer
One rainy day, a squid falls on a crosswalk. A businessman and a homeless man see the squid and get lost in their own fantasies.
There was a man
Producer
An one-armed mountaineer encounters a lost arm on a mountain of salt. Who did it belong to? Why was it left there?
South Forest
Producer
The story about a Palestinian girl who feeds animals at the zoo.
Cosmopolite
Producer
A subtle and softened x-ray tinted journey through an opaque, undescribed stratosphere.
Nosferatu Maiden
Producer
The story of Nosferatu vampires glimpsed by a boy who gets lost in a forest.
Water Dream
Director
This film depicts evolution from birth of life to whale in the sea with music and images by dedication to the American contemporary composer George Klum's "Vox Balaenae (1971)" .There are 4 part, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
Satie's
Writer
A Parade for three managers and four performers. Sketchy drawings in a neatly arranged palette, involving quotes from the French composer Erik Satie, set to the music of Parade performed by the Dutch Willem Breuker Kollektief.
Satie's
Producer
A Parade for three managers and four performers. Sketchy drawings in a neatly arranged palette, involving quotes from the French composer Erik Satie, set to the music of Parade performed by the Dutch Willem Breuker Kollektief.
Satie's
Animation
A Parade for three managers and four performers. Sketchy drawings in a neatly arranged palette, involving quotes from the French composer Erik Satie, set to the music of Parade performed by the Dutch Willem Breuker Kollektief.
Satie's
Director
A Parade for three managers and four performers. Sketchy drawings in a neatly arranged palette, involving quotes from the French composer Erik Satie, set to the music of Parade performed by the Dutch Willem Breuker Kollektief.
At The Mouth of Summer
Producer
The beach is packed in a Chinese resort. People are enjoying the summer holidays. An abrupt thundershower makes them run around in a flurry.
mayumi
Producer
Mayumi is a spoiled girl whose parents buy her everything she wants. She names her name "Mayumi" to everything she receives, and her room is gradually filled with many Mayumis. Mayumi herself gets swallowed by the characters of her name.
Red Forest
Producer
Amii runs and runs on a bloodstained earth, through dark forests and warm fields. She keeps running in fear.
Awakened Seed
Producer
Memories from the ancient times have been engraved on his body. "Where do we come from?"he asks,"Where are we going?" Would the light guide us there? This is a journey of blind pursuit for wisdom.
Starting Over
Producer
You always stumble before reach. The glass in your hand gets chipped every time. Then everything should start again from the start. There are, however, things you can discover only through repetition. The answer resides in yourself.
CHARON Pluto’s lonesomeness
Producer
This is the story of Pluto, a planet that has been removed from the solar system and is wandering alone in the vastness of space, and its satellite, Charon, which hovers around Pluto.
man of many arms
Producer
Many arms cling to a man. He doesn’t like it but he believes the situation will never change.
Umbrella
Producer
In the world of constant black rain, people live under umbrellas’ protection. One day a man threw his umbrella away, which resulted to brought him a green plant, only existing green in that world. People desire his plant and start to scramble for it.
Silence
Producer
Short animation by Simon Feat at Tokyo University of the Arts
Milky Ways
Producer
A woman pours milk from the top of the mountain. At the foot of the mountain a man milks and pours it into a tank. One evening his pigeon doesn’t come back as usual, and finally it brings back small miracle from a woman. 1st year work 2016, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation
RADIO WAVE
Producer
Numbers stations were prominently used during the Cold War. A boy was tuning the radio in the snow mountain and happened to tune the shortwave of codes.
First Hand Memories
Producer
The Rakugo story of PARROT is told by a Rakugo-ka, or a lone storyteller formed of Japanese characters.
Film Adventurer Karel Zeman
Self
A look at the life, work and importance of Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman (1910-89), a genius of world cinema, a wizard of special effects, revealing his sources of inspiration and his revolutionary filming techniques.
Color Blots
Producer
A game to find image in a chance. In this Aleatoricism there are much more potentials than what I have moved.
The Yellow Ball
Producer
A mysterious yellow ball falls down into the present city across time and space. It involves many people and unfolds various dramas.
Crossing Sight
Producer
Various visions of life and death, as seen from an operation table. Did the operation succeed ? Is the patient still alive ?
Reinventing the Square Wheel
Producer
On various forms expanded in all directions and a dance by a man in tights.
Missing You
Producer
Mother secretly threw a letter of her daughter in the snow ocean. The daughter in suspicion, followed her mother and sneak into a boat. She waits for a thaw with unreached feelings
Tepid Bath
Producer
The borderline of water, a body, or a bathtub gets more and more unclear. All are mixed together in the lukewarm water.
Fox Fears
Producer
In the evening of a village festival, a young boy named Bunroku goes to the festival with his friend and visits a clog shop on the way. There he learns an old superstition about the fox.
Moonlit Night and Opal
Producer
Half asleep with my eyes closed, my conscience flies beyond time and space and I transform myself to all the life forms existing. I become the universe and the universe becomes me, until I fall asleep.... It is a song to pray for the existence of heart and soul at an awakening.
Zdravstvuite!
Producer
On a summer day an strange man who teaches Russian at the beach took me to a town. The familiar town looked totally fresh from a different point of view. The man should be there at the beach tomorrow.
00:08
Producer
This piece takes 8 seconds, and creates intervals between the frames, and then makes them bigger. It's about expansion and enlargement, not the passage of time. 8 seconds becomes that much more luxuriant.
Everyday Sins
Producer
Guiltee is an art university student who is slacking off on her school work and feels horrible about it. Plus, she's confused about her family and Christianity, and she can't even get her ex-boyfriend to accept a small present she bought for him.
Exit My Room
Producer
He lives his life everyday like it's nothing special. Today he eats, gets dressed, and heads out once again.
Crazy Little Thing
Producer
The two of them, all alone at home. All alone with her father's corpse. Memories, ideals, and reality all sink beneath the muck. Everyone is alone. Everyone is in solitude.
Through the Windows
Producer
The gaze of a woman from a window at other windows leads to a recollection of various scenes. The metamorphosed windows transfer, expand, reflect, conserve, and sometimes shine like a lighthouse.
See ya, Mr. Banno!
Producer
One day out of the blue Prof. Banno of came to school with his hair shaven. Students made fun of his bald head. Prof. Banno flew in a hot air balloon the next day. Nobody knows anything about what happened to him after that
My Dear
Producer
At the waterside surrounded by factories and waste lives a white frog. It loves a goldfish who also lives in the neighbourhood. Recently the goldfish appears to be in poor health, which worries the frog.
Spoon
Producer
A boy’s spoon falls on the floor when he is having breakfast. The moment he is trying to pick it up, the boy is thrown into a different world. There he begins the adventure to take his spoon back
aaH / Hee
Producer
When the mind says aah, the body says hee. I dance around the confusion and the consensus, and my whole life is getting composed of these dances.
Flower Bud
Producer
The uncertainty, struggles, and joy of the moment upon becoming an adult. Between lullabies and songs I hum to myself. Between a man and myself. That subtle flickering in a single instant, forgotten once it is over. Never forget that moment...
Mrs. KABAGOdZILLA
Producer
‘Mrs. KABAGodZILLA had a daughter whose feet and arms looked just like her own.’ Mother and child were always together, but the mother's hospitalization makes the daughter remember the past, and think a little about what lies ahead.
My Milk Cup Cow
Producer
The father tells his daughter Nunu a lie that there is a cow in her milk cup. She believes it and drinks up milk, but there isn't any cow. Her father tells her a variety of lies, which Nunu finds increasingly difficult to believe.
It’s Time for Supper
Producer
Playtime ends at the five o'clock chime. And there comes the indefinable time between vanishing playtime and dinner time at home.
Maze King
Producer
We cannot stay here any longer. We must leave tomorrow morning. A clown convinces and hurries the residents of an amusement park, a girl, a gay, a soldier, a dog, to be in time for the merry-go-round.
Wild Wild Ham
Producer
How to spend a ten-minute break at club activities. Let us take off [our] shoes and socks, and enjoy the fresh breeze between our toes. We are all flesh after all.
From a Stone
Producer
Four years ago while out for a walk in Ome, I picked up an intriguing stone of 30cm across. Then I wanted to pursue its image until its ultimate end.
USALULLABY
Producer
Increasing in number, small rabbits take care of a great dolphin. Can the dolphin get to sleep by rabbits’ gentle caress? May many people have a good sleep and sweet dreams tonight even in the world with whining sounds and wriggle of yin and yang.
Ream
Producer
The theme is ‘one continues to live, leaving his trace.’ It is an abstract animation in which movement is done by repetition of pencil drawings and erasure on a piece of paper.
Kicking Rocks
Producer
All of a sudden, a boy starts to play hopscotch. Kicking stone[s] is. . . simply play, but it doesn’t work as simply as it seems. He struggles by the rule he made himself.
Cubic Centimeter
Producer
This animation shows how the liquid in a glass erupts, spreads, mixes, and overflows.
My Dear Flesh
Producer
A spring night, I walked past a ‘god’. I wonder if it was a cat or a man. Or was it a wind I felt in a slumber? They were certainly there, celebrating the cycle of lives in small ways.
I’m Nothing
Producer
I get up in the morning, prepare myself, wait for a bus, then the train, go to school, and return home. Days go by even while I wonder about, cry, or sleep.
My Frame
Producer
Suffering from her delusion, K tries to depict her disorder in her paintings. In her dream, she finds a frame, which makes her believe that drawing is her destiny.
Five Fire Fish
Director
Created using "Etching on film" from the NFB's McLaren's Workshop Application.
The Hyuga Episode of Kojiki
Director
A festival cut/compilation of the animated segments made by Yamamura Kouji for a TV documentary by NHK, Kojiki Girl Travelogue (古事記ガール 日向路を旅する). The 4 episodes that compose The Hyuga Episode of Kojiki are: #1 The Cleansing (禊/ Misogi, 3’17”) #2 Sun Goddess Amaterasu (天照大御神/ Amaterasu Ookami, 2’11”) #3 Flowering Tree (木花之佐久夜毘売/ Konohananosakuya-bime, 2’31”) #4 Umisachi and Yamasachi (海佐知山佐知/ Umisachi Yamasachi, 3’30”)
Recruit Rhapsody
Producer
The heroin has been living life as an undergraduate. There is nothing remarkable about her. However, she has noticed there is something strange about her friends recently. She learned that they were getting mad about ‘job-hunting’. Without realizing what it is, the heroine also gets drawn into the Nipponese job-hunting swirl.
A Wind Egg
Producer
The film is about a family, that runs a chicken farm. The boy hankers after birds and his little sister keeps an eye on him. The father loves eggs. The mother loves somebody else. In the family fixture, each member stays there with bias or secrets.
The Cloudy Dog Talk About
Producer
The film is of the memory love and gratitude of the dusty dog, and many other dogs, tracing their senses and memories, dedicating to you who gave love to them.
The Man Who Ate an Apple
Producer
An apple comes out of a man’s mouth. The man’s life goes backward, as video player is reversed. Many kinds of food accelerated to come out of his mouth and the man becomes younger and younger. Time goes back without end.
Awaiting
Producer
A man is waiting for someone in a small boat. In loneliness he keeps waiting for someone. For whom, or why he is waiting is not very important. He wishes to see the sight of formless ‘happiness,’ which can vanish in a blink of an eye as long as possible.
People who are Eating
Producer
People can show some other personality when eating. Some become like herbivores, chewing so many times. Some becomes like carp, crowing around bait. Some become like hamsters, with their mouths full, etc. Everyone is unique and worth observation.
Flower and Steam
Producer
A bride runs at full speed, with her veil flapping, and with steam. When you happen to encounter a bride in her wedding dress, you would love to bless her with a wave of your hand. Brides symbolize beauty and happiness. They are also athletes who won their happiness.
Spirits from the Night
Producer
At night, the child sees the sandy figure coming into his room. It lures his stuffed animal away from the shelf and they are gone beyond the hill. Following them to get his stuffed animal back, the child goes into the deep darkness of the night. . .
Sunset Flower Blooming
Producer
The film is set in China in the 1960s. An old woman cools herself in the garden. The sunset makes the sky orange. Sunset flower starts to bloom. The flower guides her to daydream. The woman dreams of her childhood memories and when she was young and beautiful.
Muybridge's Strings
Director
Koji Yamamura's allegory the immutability of time, love and devotion, and the unbreakable nature of the parent-child bond, into interlacing story.
The Grouse in Snow Mountain
Producer
A man blown by a blizzard on Snow Mountain wants to return to his warm home.
Spots Spots
Producer
A young man is drawing sketches of birds in the woods. The spotted pattern of the bird’s wings begins to scatter. He gradually becomes mesmerized by the pattern.
From the Dolphin
Producer
The image of dolphins ties together this story.
Scripta volant
Producer
I try to set this work – a film using texts, or a film-book – between watching and reading. This film is dedicated to J.L. Borges, a great artist, who had translated The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde at his early childhood, became one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and continued to publish the works by dictation even after losing his eyesight.
Anthology with Cranes
Director
"Anthology with Cranes" is a 17th Century scroll painting by Sotatsu Tawaraya, measuring over 13 meters long. Koji Yamamura attempts to decipher this painting by interpreting it as animation.
Woman Who Stole Fingers
Producer
One day, a boy who separated from his mother’s hand is deprived of his fingers. His fingers become a larva and part from his hand. The house. . . conceal[s] a relationship between the two from anyone. How does the boy who is deprived of his fingers grow up?
A Gum Boy
Producer
Nobody in a class loves ‘Kuchao’ who cannot live without. . . gum. When all [his] classmates fly their balloons, he wouldn’t let his go. After school, on his way home, he gets to his own imaginary world with a bubble gum. His balloon turns to be a face and to many things as he chews [his] gum. His imagination doesn’t stop flying. Then comes a bird. . .
Googuri Googuri
Producer
Story of a girl’s imagination. ‘Googuri Googuri’ is a made up word, a secret word shared by a girl and her grandfather. For the granddaughter, her grandfather is at times like a mountain, at times like a tree, at other times like an ocean, and her thoughts take wing into her imagination endlessly.
Getting Dressed
Producer
This woman has detached herself from the outside world. For her, it is daily work to feed her bird and to look at the town from her window. Because she doesn’t go out, she does not even put on clothes. However, this daily life has ended. She has run out of the cornflakes that she eats every day. As we get up in the morning and put on clothes, we are alive in a social system. Nobody understands whether it is the correct world. However, even if you escape from the system, the day you have to return will come.
Bring Me Up
Producer
Almost everyone in a contemporary society is picked up and moved by someone or something like a ‘Sugoroku’. The first one which picks up is ‘Parents’. A hero grows up along a ‘Sugoroku’. This work describes. . . the process of his growth as he depends on his parents. . . One day he decides to cut off his relationship with his family.
In a Pig's Eye
Producer
A huge pig lies by a house. The family of the house go about their everyday life, pretending to ignore the pig’s existence.
Franz Kafka's a Country Doctor
Background Designer
A hapless country doctor describes with breathless urgency a night-time summons to attend a young patient. Events soon take on a surreal aspect as "unearthly horses" transport him instantaneously to the bedside. The doctor, preoccupied with personal distractions and grievances against those he is employed to care for, fails to find what is revealed to be a vile, fatal wound. He is humiliated by the villagers, who are "always expecting the impossible from the doctor," and doomed to an endless return trip, losing everything.
Franz Kafka's a Country Doctor
Animation
A hapless country doctor describes with breathless urgency a night-time summons to attend a young patient. Events soon take on a surreal aspect as "unearthly horses" transport him instantaneously to the bedside. The doctor, preoccupied with personal distractions and grievances against those he is employed to care for, fails to find what is revealed to be a vile, fatal wound. He is humiliated by the villagers, who are "always expecting the impossible from the doctor," and doomed to an endless return trip, losing everything.
Franz Kafka's a Country Doctor
Director
A hapless country doctor describes with breathless urgency a night-time summons to attend a young patient. Events soon take on a surreal aspect as "unearthly horses" transport him instantaneously to the bedside. The doctor, preoccupied with personal distractions and grievances against those he is employed to care for, fails to find what is revealed to be a vile, fatal wound. He is humiliated by the villagers, who are "always expecting the impossible from the doctor," and doomed to an endless return trip, losing everything.
A Child's Metaphysics
Director
Man & Whale
Director
A seaside school. In the corridor stands the principal, beloved of the high-spirited youngsters. Gazing at a picture of a whale drawn as a child, the head teacher is swept away with sentiment into a flashback from the past.
Tokyo Loop
Director
A series of 16 "short stories" created by the creator's group Images Forum.
Fig
Director
A segment for Image Forum Festival 2005's Tokyo Loop
The Old Crocodile
Director
An short movie that is illustrated in black and white using rather simple animation. The story is told by a narrator with a lovely British voice that reminded me of Malcolm McDowell and he does all the voices of all the characters as well. The story is about an ageless old crocodile that is quite nasty--even for a croc! Because he's older and lazy, he mostly just sits around doing very little.
Frank & Wendy
Japanese Tourist (voice)
Two American secret agents - Frank and Wendy - are sent to the world's hotbed of danger, known as Estonia. Estonia is a silly place, perhaps even sillier than the agents themselves. Frank and Wendy, for whom saving the world is their daily work, achieve both mental and manual feats with the greatest of ease. It appears that nothing can prevent their ultimate victory, but go figure. The axis of evil does not wither and attacks the super-agents from where they can least expect it...
Winter Days
Director
Winter Days is a 2003 animated film, directed by Kihachirō Kawamoto. It is based on one of the renku (collaborative linked poems) in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō. The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material – the visuals for each of the 36 stanzas were independently created by 35 different animators. As well as many Japanese animators, Kawamoto assembled leading names of animation from across the world. Each animator was asked to contribute at least 30 seconds to illustrate their stanza, and most of the sequences are under a minute (Yuriy Norshteyn's, though, is nearly two minutes long).
Pieces
Writer
Short by Koji Yamamura
Pieces
Director
Short by Koji Yamamura
Mount Head
Animation
A miserly man eats the pits of some cherries he can't stand throwing out. A tree starts growing from the top of his head. He cuts it off; it grows back. After a while, he gives up and lets it grow, but the crowds that gather on top of his head to enjoy the tree (and leave huge mounds of trash) eventually drive him to uproot the tree. This leaves a crater on top of his head, which fills with water, which becomes a popular lake.
Mount Head
Production Design
A miserly man eats the pits of some cherries he can't stand throwing out. A tree starts growing from the top of his head. He cuts it off; it grows back. After a while, he gives up and lets it grow, but the crowds that gather on top of his head to enjoy the tree (and leave huge mounds of trash) eventually drive him to uproot the tree. This leaves a crater on top of his head, which fills with water, which becomes a popular lake.
Mount Head
Editor
A miserly man eats the pits of some cherries he can't stand throwing out. A tree starts growing from the top of his head. He cuts it off; it grows back. After a while, he gives up and lets it grow, but the crowds that gather on top of his head to enjoy the tree (and leave huge mounds of trash) eventually drive him to uproot the tree. This leaves a crater on top of his head, which fills with water, which becomes a popular lake.
Mount Head
Director
A miserly man eats the pits of some cherries he can't stand throwing out. A tree starts growing from the top of his head. He cuts it off; it grows back. After a while, he gives up and lets it grow, but the crowds that gather on top of his head to enjoy the tree (and leave huge mounds of trash) eventually drive him to uproot the tree. This leaves a crater on top of his head, which fills with water, which becomes a popular lake.
Your Choice!
Director
Short by Koji Yamamura
Bavel's Book
Director
Short by Koji Yamamura
Kid's Castle
Director
Short by Koji Yamamura
Kipling Jr.
Yohann Kipling
Short by Koji Yamamura
Kipling Jr.
Director
Short by Koji Yamamura
Karo and Piyobupt: Imagination
Director
The third and last installment in the Karo and Piyobupt series by Koji Yamamura
Karo and Piyobupt: The Sandwiches
Director
The second short in the series Karo and Piyobupt by Koji Yamamura
Karo and Piyobupt: A House
Director
The first short in the series Karo and Piyobupt by Koji Yamamura
The Elevator
Director
A normal day turns into a day of adventure when an elevator that carries a boy does not stop where it should.
Perspektivenbox -Researcher's Search-
Director
Short by Koji Yamamura
Japanese-English Pictionary
Director
Second short by Koji Yamamura
SONODA Video - Spring / Summer / Fall / Winter
Director
The soundless stop-motion paint-on-glass film by Koji Yamamura showcases the different seasons. He created the short in his early career in 1988. It is unclear whether the public could have seen it before its upload on YouTube in 2019.
Heavenly Bodies' Score
Director
Using the constellation as a motif, the heavens and the earth, metamorphose all the creatures.
Heavenly Bodies' Score
Producer
Using the constellation as a motif, the heavens and the earth, metamorphose all the creatures.
Aquatic
Director
An apple flows down the stream of a mill where innumerable illusions of fish appear and disappear in the sky reflected in the water.
Freshwater
Director
Early short animation by Koji Yamamura.
Serenade
Screenplay
Serenade
Director
Natural History
Director
An animated short film by Yamamura Kouji.
Red Peony of Night
A romantic melodrama about the shifting relationship between Ryosuke and Miki as their precarious employment and social circumstances shift around them.
Mado Kara Tobidase
Thief
Hand-Drawn: Documentary
Self
An indie documentary exploring the art form of hand-drawn animation through a contemporary lens in the digital era. Featuring insights and anecdotes by hand-drawn animation artists from around the world.