22 May 2018

Tokyo University of the Arts Animation at Nippon Connection 2018




A selection of works by the latest cohort of graduates from Tokyo University of the Arts’ (Geidai) MA in Animation will once again screen at Nippon Connection.  The works will be presented by Yuichi Matsumoto (松本祐一 , b. 1975 / twitter)  assistant professor in the Geidai Graduate School of Film and New Media.  Matsumoto is a sound programmer and composer who has collaborated with other artists and musicians such as Masato Hatanaka.  Born in Yokohama, Matsumoto started off in the field of power electronics research and development with a degree from Ibaraki University, but he later studied music composition at IAMAS (International Academy of Media Art and Science) under the tutelage of Kazuko Hayakawa and Masahiro Mina.  Matsumoto won the top award at the Toru Takemitsu Composition Awards in 2008 for his work What do you think about the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?  The competition judge that year was the American composer Steve Reich 

Matsumoto is known from his Enquête-Art / アンケート・アート (Questionnaire or Survey Art) in which he uses surveys to gather opinions from many people and then presents the results in a musical work.  You can learn more on his website: enquete-art  or his  YouTube channel.   In addition to presenting this programme of Geidai graduate works, Matsumoto will host a workshop for kids called Paint Your Own Music where children can use a device that he invested to covert their drawings into music.  Learn more here.   

Here are the graduate films that will appear at Nippon Connection.  The descriptions are those of the artists themselves with minor spelling and grammar revisions for clarity:

A4 Microcosm
by Haruka SHIMIZU / 清水はるか, 2018, 2:22 min.
“Microorganisms increase, gather and change to a A4 paper. You [can] feel. . . sign[s] of life [on] the paper.”


FLUFFICTION
モフモフィクション / Mofumo Fikushon
by Yoshiki IMAZU / 今津良樹, 2018, 6:40 min.
“Discover [a] world populated by.  .  . mysteriously charming imaginary creatures. They have adorably fluffy bodies and are becoming an ever more common sight in daily life.”


Live or Let Live
花とラルバ / Hana to Rabuba
by Yoko ASANO / 浅野陽子, 2018, 8:48 min.
“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.”


Dance to Life
毎日は踊りたいことだらけ / Mainichi wa Odoritai koto darake
by Haruka HIRAMATSU / 平松悠, 2018, 2:22 min.
“For her, dance is life.  And life is dance.  Every tingle in her heart gets her swinging to the beat.”


The Red Bridge is Falling Down
あかばしは落ちた / Akabashi wa Ochita
by Daiki MORINAGA / 森永大貴, 2018, 7:28 min.
“Everyone crosses the Red Bridge and yet no one likes him. One day, he falls into the deep valley.”


today plus one
あしたから / ashita kara
by Yumeno HASHI / 星夢乃, 2018, 2:04 min.
“We go to sleep in hopes [of] a better tomorrow. The moment of truth nears as our eyes slowly open to the new day...”


Typhoon No.14
たいふう14ごう / Taifū 14 Gō
by Akino FUKUJI / 福地明乃, 2018, 6:56 min.
“Okinawa [feels] 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
性格変更スクール / Seikaku Henkō Sukūru
by Kazuki SEKIGUCHI / 関口和希, 2018, 8:35 min.
“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.”


The Pearl Remains
真珠草 / Shunju kusa
by Suyo YAMAZAKI / 山崎スヨ, 2018, 2:37 min.
“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.”


Jinxes
わたしルール / Watashi Rūru
by Yuki MAEHATA / 前畑侑紀, 2018, 2:47 min.
“A girl heading home from school is met with a bigger version of herself [posing] arbitrary challenges with unspeakable consequences. The little girl tries to keep up but suddenly the stakes are raised.”


gals
女友だち / Onna tomodachi
by Caori MURATA / 村田香織, 2018, 2:10 min.
“Reminiscing [about] the days I spent with an old friend, facing up to the narrow but deep gap that lies between us.”


fruits
くだもの / kudamono
by Takahiro SHIBATA / しばたたかひろ, 2018, 2:23 min.
“At some point, children diverge from the ideal path set forth for them by adults. The trigger is usually a trivial incident.”


Take Me Home
by Nozomi KOYASU / 子安のぞみ, 2018, 5:37 min.
“Brothers eating dinner, a girl watering the plants, a boy awakening in the night… daily scenery from the house where they all lived at one point or another.”


Quest of the Battling Gods
怪獣神話 / Kaijū Shinwa
by Yosuke TANI / 谷耀介, 2018, 13:18 min.
“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 celebrate their fight with cries of joy.”


Date and Location:
Saturday, June 2, 17:30 Naxoshalle Kino


Catherine Munroe Hotes