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.
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.
Koji Yamamura's allegory the immutability of time, love and devotion, and the unbreakable nature of the parent-child bond, into interlacing story.
Here, everything is The North. This is an account of the people I met in The North. However, my fragmented memory doesn't capture the essence at all.
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.
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.
A child whose head is numerals, a child who winds his own face and has it under his arm. What was left is his identity, a child whose eyes are provided by fishes, a child who cannot say anything because of a zipper across his mouth. Ecology and philosophy of children with sadness and humor.
Somewhere between calligraphy, embryology and words from beyond the grave, a convulsive poem wraps itself around the Japanese syllable ‘da’ – a breath that could just as well be the first as the last.
Short by Koji Yamamura
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.
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.
One night Mr. K went for a walk with his pet...
Short by Koji Yamamura
An animated short film by Yamamura Kouji.
The first short in the series Karo and Piyobupt by Koji Yamamura
An animated archive of imaginary monsters written by a fictitious mosterologist in Medieval Europe.
Short by Koji Yamamura
Short by Koji Yamamura
This work was commissioned for the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and made possible by support from the 2016 Champion and Patron Members of Reel Asian. Chinese Zodiac is 60-years cycle by 10 heavenly elements and 12 earthly animals, 20th anniversary is just one third. In this movie appearing and changing into 20 elements from 1997 that was started the festival to 2016.
Created using "Etching on film" from the NFB's McLaren's Workshop Application.
