Isamu Hirabayashi (平林勇, b. 1972), is one of Japan's top experimental filmmakers. Upon graduation from Musashino Art University, he started out as a graphic designer for a advertising agency, but then went freelance as a director of commercials. His non-commercial, independent works are what he is most famous for; however, and his short experimental and animated shorts have shown and won prizes at prestigious festivals around the world from the Berlinale to Japan's Image Forum Festival. His older works can be viewed on his official YouTube channel (see playlist below).
Read my reviews of 633144 (2011) and Soliton (2013).
The class of
2012 was taught by Professors Yuichi Ito
(Model Animation), Mitsuko Okamoto
(Production), Takehito Deguchi
(Screenwriting), Koji Yamamura (2D
animation), and Taruto Fuyama. Assistant Professors were animator Hiromitsu Murakami and lecturers Ilan Nguyen and Eiji Otsuka. Sayaka Omodaka, Hiroko Tochigi and Yuichi
Matsumoto provided additional assistance.
Sound instructors for the films were Tatsuhko Nishioka, Toru
Kamekawa, Yuichi Kishino, and Hiroshi Takayama. Learn more about this year's graduating class here or via links to the graduate's offical websites and social media below.
The first year short animation works by Tokyo University of the Arts' (Geidai)MA Animation class of 2012 can now be screened on YouTube - see the playlist below and click here to learn more about the students and to read film summaries. Tatsuhiro Ariyoshi and Yuka Imabayashi graduated a year later with the class of 2013. Fans of Geidai Animation should order the DVD which comes with a full colour booklet:
The second
year of graduates from the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo
University of the Arts (aka Geidai) debuted May 5-8, 2011 with
screenings under the name GEIDAI
ANIMATION 02 SOURCE. To learn more about this graduating class, click here. With the permission of the animators, Geidai has uploaded student works onto the internet. The exception is Wataru Uekusa, whouploaded his work The Tender March, on his own YouTube channel. Films not currently available online: Masaki Okuda's Uncapturable Ideas(アイデアが捕まらない, 2011), Atsushi Makino's Specimens of Obsessions(標本の塔, 2011), and Ken Yoshida's Wish Upon a Snowdrop(魔術師と雪の花, 2011). All films, including first year works can be found on the DVD:
The Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo
University of the Arts (Geidai) has posted the works of their 2010 first year students with the permission of the artists themselves. Most of these animators graduated in 2011. South Korean animator YungSung Song graduated in the class of 2012 and Risa Kimapara graduated with the class of 2013.Not included: Ryo Okawara's Walls (2010) and Atsushi Makino's Hole (穴 / Ana, 2010). All of these films (includingthose by Okawara and Makino) can be found on the 2011 DVD along with the students' graduate films. For more information about these artists click here.
