The World of Ryōji Yamada / 山田遼志の世界

The World of Ryōji Yamada / 山田遼志の世界

 http://ryojiyamada.com/
 https://vimeo.com/ryojiyamada

In the “before times”, when we were still able to meet in small groups in Japan, I was able to attend one of the The World of Ryōji Yamada ( 山田遼志の世界) special screening events hosted by tampen.jp. The screening selection featured a mix of Yamada’s acclaimed animated shorts and his commissioned works (music videos).

Waiter (2014)

Popping, Mixing (2012)

LaLaLa Brothers (2011)

Keita SANO’s ‘Mad Love’ (music video, 2017)

King Gnu’s ‘Prayer X’ (music video, 2018)

Doodle Project II (2019)

Kicell’s ‘Hitotsu dake Kaeta’ / キセル「ひとつだけ変えた」(music video, 2018)

Natsu to Suisei’s ‘27th’ / 夏と彗星「２７ｔｈ」　(music video, 2020)

WONK’s ‘Cyberspace Love’ (music video, 2017)

Hunter (2017)

handshake (2018)

Firehead (2019)

Yamada has an MFA in Animation from Tama Art University, and in 2018-2019 he had the opportunity to live in Germany as a Trainee Japanese Council Affair of Culture. During this time was a guest student of Andreas Hykade at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, and he was able to join us at Nippon Connection for a screening of his film Hunter.

I went to the event to see the film Yamada made in Germany, Firehead. I am glad that I did because I had never sat down and watched a selection of Yamada’s films altogether before and it was interesting to see how his style has developed over the years. I was also impressed by Yamada’s ability to adjust his style to suit the needs of his clients in the commissioned music videos.

Music is an integral part of Yamada’s films and the music for his independent works are composed by his long time collaborator Makoto Takahashi. I purchased a CD of the music Takahashi composed for the films at the event and it came with a fold-out poster featuring Yamada’s art.

Apart from Firehead, all the other films from the screening can be found online and I have assembled them for you below (plus the trailer for Firehead). The discussions with the director from the screenings can be found on tanpen’s YouTube Channel (JP only)

Waiter from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.












Doodle Project II (2019) from Dante Zaballa on Vimeo.









HUNTER from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.


handshake from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.


FIREHEAD Trailer from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2020

Affordance (アフォーダンス, 2016)

Hayato Nove (野辺ハヤト, b. 1971) is a graphic designer and illustrator by profession. Along with his web designer wife Tomoko Nobe (野辺智子), he has his own company breath piece which specialises in illustration, album cover design, web design, logos and other art projects. In addition to these commercial endeavours, Nove is also an artist and musician. In recent years, he has experimented with the medium of animation. Affordance (アフォーダンス, 2016) is his second film after his 2013 work Caterpillar (watch here). It was a part of the animation selection that I curated for Nippon Connection in 2017, and we were lucky enough to have Nove join us at the screening and answer questions about the film.

View this post on Instagram

@novehayato and I are ready for our screening tomorrow @nipponconnection #nc17 #indieanime

A post shared by Cathy Munroe Hotes (@nishikataeiga) on May 27, 2017 at 6:28am PDT

The term “affordance” is relatively new to the English language. It was coined by the late American psychologist James J. Gibson in a 1977 article entitled “The Theory of Affordances” and explored more deeply in his 1979 book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Gibson is considered one of the key 20th century researchers in the field of visual perception, with his work exploring how we see the world we do. Affordance pertains to how our perception of an object defines the possibilities of how it can or should be used. Thus, the concept of affordance is a key one in design (See: Don Norman, “Affordances and Design”, and Nove encountered the term during his studies at Musashino Art University.

Using Nove’s characteristically minimalist monochrome palette, Affordance is a mesmeric film, weaving in and out between simple line drawings to elaborate patterns of movement and metamorphosis. The varying pace of the animation is matched by the soundtrack, which was composed and performed by the artist himself .

You can immerse yourself in Nove’s unique poetic vision on Vimeo now:

affordance from Hayato Nove on Vimeo.

Nove is currently working on his latest work Parallax, due out sometime this year.  Watch the trailer:

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2020

Kōji Yamamura’s Archives / 山村浩二作品アーカイブ

Kōji Yamamura’s Archives / 山村浩二作品アーカイブ

http://www.yamamura-animation.jp/archive_index.html

https://vimeo.com/yamamuraanimation

The renowned independent animator Kōji Yamamura’s bilingual studio website, Yamamura Animation, has long been an invaluable source of information about his creative works. Although he may be best known overseas for his award-winning animation shorts, in the Japanese publishing world he is also known for his prolific illustrations for books, posters, and other media.

With the support of the Government of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁 / Bunkachō), Yamamura Animation has expanded to include an archive of stills, videos, storyboards, photographs, documentations of exhibitions, sketchbooks, and much, much more.

Some rare delights in the archive include stills and information about his earliest animations, such as his very first animation at age 13. Yamamura made the 8mm Short Short Show Theater (しょーとしょーとしょうげきじょう / Short Short Show Gekijō) using the techniques of cutouts and cel animation.

Many of Yamamura’s early works are now available to screen on Yamamura Animation’s YouTube and Vimeo channels. Four works, "Parade" de Satie (サティの「パラード」, 2016), Notes on Monstropedia (怪物学抄, 2016), A Child's Metaphysics (こどもの形而上学, 2007), and Yamamura’s Oscar-nominated Mt. Head (頭山, 2002), are available to rent or purchase on Vimeo On Demand (embedded below). "Parade" de Satie, Notes on Monstropedia, A Child's Metaphysics, and Yamamura’s recent work Dreams into Drawing (ゆめみのえ / Yumemi no e, 2019) are also due to be available via Amazon Disc on Demand sometime this spring. Please support this remarkable artist by acquiring his work via these outlets.

Satie's "Parade" from Koji Yamamura on Vimeo.


Notes on Monstropedia / 怪物学抄 from Koji Yamamura on Vimeo.


A Child's Metaphysics／こどもの形而上学 from Koji Yamamura on Vimeo.


Mt. Head from Koji Yamamura on Vimeo.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2020

Indie Short Film Crowdfunding: Noriko Yuasa’s “Coming Back Sunny”

The talented filmmaker Noriko Yuasa has an original new film project and needs your help. She is only seeking a modest sum of money to see the project through to completion and get it out to festivals.

Coming Back Sunny (おかえり、カー子) is a love story about a colour-blind schoolgirl rediscovering the world around her. The main shooting locations are the Edo era streets of Kawagoe City or “Ko-Edo” in Saitama Prefecture and the modern streets of Ikebukuro, which were selected in order to depict the theme of destiny and how it can transcend space and time.

The pandemic has only been with us a short time, but filmmakers and cinemas around the world are already feeling the pinch. Many of us have been feeling pretty helpless at not being able to go out and support our local art house cinemas and independent filmmakers. Filmmakers need our support at this time more than ever.

Head over the Kickstarter to learn more about Coming Back Sunny & give if you can:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/norikokyuasa/short-film-coming-back-sunny-crowdfunding-first-phase

【Trailer】Coming_Back_Sunny from Noriko Yuasa on Vimeo.

Cathy Munroe Hotes

Eri Sasaki's FUNSUS CM

The brilliant young animator Eri Sasaki (ささき えり, b. 1995) has made a delightful short animation for the clothing brand Studio Clip to promote their FUNSUS (ファンサス) campaign. Their motto is that their brand is both fun and sustainable.

Sasaki first came to my attention in 2017, with her TamaGra work Essay in the Desert (さばくのエッセイ/ Sabaku no Essei, 2017). She went on to do her MA at Geidai. Her graduate work, Pickle Plum Parade (うめぼしパトロール/Umeboshi Patōru, 2019), was one of the highlights of last year’s Geidai selection at Nippon Connection. Check out more of her work on her website: https://sasakieri.com/

🏠おしごと🏠

studio CLIP(@studio_clip)さんの
サステナビリティの考え方をやさしく伝えるアニメーションをつくりました🧒👩　

FUNSUS(ファンサス)
「明日も、たのしいといいな」https://t.co/sDHC3l07CV

たのしくかわいくつくりました！
ぜひご覧ください。

------ pic.twitter.com/f45t5CP04q

— ささきえり🏡Eri Sasaki (@mss_753) April 2, 2020

See also:
https://www.nishikata-eiga.com/2017/07/tamagra-animation-2017-2017.html
https://www.nishikata-eiga.com/2019/05/nc2019-tokyo-university-of-arts.html

2020 Cathy Munroe Hotes

Nippon Connection Film Festival Goes Online!

Virtual Edition of the 20th Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival
June 9-14, 2020

https://www.nipponconnection.com/

Nippon Connection has just announced that due to the spread of the novel coronavirus Covid-19, they have decided that it is necessary for the safety of visitors, guests, and volunteers to move the festival online.

The festival director, Marion Klomfass states that cancelling “the festival was not an option for us. Thus, after intense exchanges with our sponsors and cooperation partners, we have decided to hold Nippon Connection’s 20th anniversary in an online edition from June 9 – 14, 2020. We hope to make the best of a difficult situation and are looking forward to new challenges.”

The Nippon Connection team is currently hard at work on a new concept. Under the title Nippon Connection Online, a diverse selection of current Japanese short and feature length films will be presented alongside interactive offerings such as live streams and panel discussions with filmmakers.

The film programme director, Florian Höhr says that in spite of “the current crisis, giving Japanese cinema and its creators a public platform here in Germany is a great concern to Nippon Connection. Taking the festival online will continue to allow us to give our audience a varied view into the contemporary landscape of Japanese cinema.”

Florian has been in contact with me about plans for the short animation programme. With so many filmmakers suffering from the cancellation of events promoting their works we hope that this will be an opportunity for both audiences and film lovers to find hope in these dark times.

Cathy Munroe Hotes

April 2, 2020