The World of Young Japanese Animation Auteur Tomoyasu Murata (日本を代表する若手アニメーション作家の世界)

K’s Cinema in Shinjuku is running a two-week retrospective of the works of animator Tomoyasu Murata from September 3rd until the 16th. Murata is a prolific animator and artist. One of the top puppet animators of his generation, Murata also experiments with a variety of animation techniques including cutouts, montage, and computer animation. K’s Cinema will be screening three different programs of his animated shorts. Read the profile that I wrote for Midnight Eye to learn more about Tomoyasu Murata. Click on links below to read reviews of the films.  

Murata's works are also available to purchase on his website.

 Tomoyasu Murata Sakuhinshu - Ore no Michi

Program A: The Road Series (4 works)

Scarlet Road (朱の路, 2004)
White Road (白の路, 2003)
Indigo Road (藍の路, 2006)
Lemon Road (檸檬の路, 2008)

Program B (5 works)

Handstand Boy, Intently Runs! (さかだちくん、ひたすら走る！, 2004)　
Handstand Boy Goes to the Department Store (さかだちくん、デパートへ行く！, 2009)
Handstand Boy Intently Eats! (さかだちくん、ひたすら喰う！, 2006)
The Deck Family (家族デッキ, 2007)
Born in Arakawa, Name is Tomoyasu Murata (生は荒川、名は村田朋泰, 2006)

Program C (14 works)

Momoiro Ryokan CM (百色旅館　ＣＭ　天然色, 2008)
The Star Murata Band (ザ★ＭＵＲＡＴＡＢＡＮＤ)
ＮＥＷＳ７４
Hantomei no Mimi wo Motsu Shōjo (半透明の耳を持つ少女, 2008)　
The Star Sekai no Subete no Shichigatsu-tachi (ザ★世界のすべての７月たち, 2008)　
Nostalgia (睡蓮の人, 2000)
Memory (オモヒデ, 2001)
Hifukidake (火吹竹, 2004)
Tōryanse (とおりゃん, 2004)
Winter Rainbows (冬の虹, 2005)
Metropolis (2005)　
Ablation/My Pudding (アブレーション/わたしのプティング, 2009)　
♯１
Oyasumi


Schedule on K's Cinema Website.


K’s Cinema Shinjuku (MAP)
東京都新宿区新宿3丁目35-13 3F
TEL:03-3352-2471 FAX:03-3352-2472

CALF Short Film Festival in Summer

CALF Short Film Festival in Summer

Natsu no Tanben Matsuri/夏の短編祭

September 3-9, 2011

Eurospace in Shibuya is hosting the CALF Short Film Festival in Summer starting this Saturday night. CALF has lined up an exciting program of experimental films and animation including both established filmmakers like Masanori Tominaga, Naoyuki Tsuji, Takashi Makino and Takuji Suzuki as well as younger filmmakers like Shin Hashimoto and Dairiki+Miura. CALF regulars Mirai Mizue, Kei Oyama, Atsushi Wada, and TOCHKA also have films in the program. One animation not to miss is DREAMS, the final collaboration between legendary pop artist Keiichi Tanaami and the late, great Nobuhiro Aihara (read about him here). Check out the official website (JP only) to learn more about special guests, film talks and more.

Program A (7 works/89 minutes), 3rd and 7th of September 2011
Ningen no Kogai (人間の郊外)

Holiday (ホリデイ, Ryō Hirano, 2011)
Jigoku Sensei (地獄先生, Masanori Tominaga, 2008)
Beluga (ベルーガ, Shin Hashimoto, 2011)
Sunday (Donghoon Kim, 2007)
TEGWON RHAPSODY 2011 (Kenichiro Mizuno, 2006-11)
Ranbō to Totaiki (乱暴と待機, Masanori Tominaga, 2010)
NINIFUNI (Mariko Tetsuyo, 2011)

Program B (9 works/108 minutes), 4th and 8th of September 2011
Dreams/ドリームス

In a Pig’s Eye (わからないブタ, Atsushi Wada, 2010)
Q/P (Masanori Tominaga, 2011)
Scripta Volant (Ryo Orikasa, 2011)
Steps (TOCHKA, 2010) Read Review
One Piece Shōsetsuka (ワンピース「小説家」, Takuji Suzuki, 2010)
Oyasumi Paradox (おやすみパラドックス, Masanori Tominaga, 2011)
Ato no Matsuri (あとのまつり, Natsuki Seta, )
Nikotoko Island (ニコトコ島, Takuya Dairiki and Takashi Miura, 2008)
DREAMS (Keiichi Tanaami/Nobuhiro Aihara, 2011)

Program C (5 works/105 minutes), 5th and 9th of September 2011
Chika Honryū/地下奔流

Black Hair (黒髪, Nobuhiro Sawa, 2011)
Hand Soap (Kei Oyama, 2008) Read Review
In Your Star (Takashi Makino, 2011)
TUESDAY GIRL (Rikiya Imaizumi, 2011)
One Piece Dorobō (ワンピース「泥棒」, Takuji Suzuki, 2010)


Program D (7 works/88 minutes), 6th of September 2011
Otokotachi no Tatakai/男たちの戦い

aramaki (Isamu Hirabayashi, 2009)
One Piece Shitsuren Nema (ワンピース「失恋沼」, Takuji Suzuki, 2010)
Children of Shadows (影の子供, Naoyuki Tsuji, 2006)
Gentle March (やさしいマーチ, Wataru Uekusa, 2011)
Shinboku Motomachi no Inu (神木本町の犬, Shinichi Tamano, 2011)
AND AND (Mirai Mizue, 2011)
Mime Lesson (マイム・レッスン, Sho Miyake, 2006)

All Programs Start at 21:00
Admission 1,500 yen (1,300 for students)
Pass to all four events costs 4,000 yen


Eurospace (MAP)
Q-AX Bldg. 3F
1-5 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0044
Tel. 81-3-3461-0211

Muybridge’s Strings Road Show

It’s an exciting year for animation at the NFB of Canada with new work by top independent animators like Koji Yamamura, Georges Schwitzgebel, Co Hoedeman, Paul Driessen, and the animation duo Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis.

Koji Yamamura’s hotly anticipated film Muybridge’s Strings (Les Cordes de Muybridge/マイブリッジの糸, 2011) will be having a three week “Road Show” this fall at the Tokyo Metropolitan Photography in Ebisu.

Can time be made to stand still? Can it be reversed? Koji Yamamura’s Muybridge’s Strings is a meditation on this theme, contrasting the worlds of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge—who in 1878 successfully photographed consecutive phases in the movement of a galloping horse—and a mother who, watching her daughter grow up, realizes she is slipping away from her. Moving between California and Tokyo, between the nineteenth century and the twenty-first, the film focuses on some of the highpoints in Muybridge’s troubled life and intercuts them with the mother’s surrealistic daydreams—a poetic clash that explores the irrepressible human desire to seize life’s fleeting moments, to freeze the instants of happiness. Enriched by Koji Yamamura’s refined artistry and Normand Roger’s soundtrack, Muybridge’s Strings observes the ties that cease to bind, fixes its gaze on the course of life, and presents a moment in time suspended on the crystalline notes of a canon by J.S. Bach. (2011,12’39”) Source: NFB

From September 17 until October 7th, visitors can either watch a half hour screening dedicated to Muybridge’s Strings and how it was made or an hour-long program of recent works by Yamamura with some of his favourite NFB animated shorts including Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis’s latest work Wild Life (2011). The other Yamamura films being screened are Fig (無花果/Ichijiku, 2007), which was Yamamura’s contribution to Image Forum’s omnibus animation Tokyo Loop (read review), and A Child’s Metaphysics (こどもの形上学/Kodomo no Keijijyōgaku, 2007). A Child’s Metaphysics is a terrific little film but was a bit overshadowed by the success of A Country Doctor (カフカ田舎医者/Kafuka Inaka Isha, 2007) which was released in the same year. A Child’s Metaphysics is available on DVD in the States from Kimstim/Zeitgeist.

Program A (28 minutes)

Muybridge’s Strings + The Making Of

Muybridge’s Strings (Koji Yamamura, 2011)

The Making of Muybridge’s Strings: Tokyo/Montréal

Program B (63 minutes)

Muybridge’s Strings + Selected NFB Animated Shorts + Selected Works By Yamamura

Canon (Norman McLaren, 1964)

Mindscape (Jacques Drouin, 1976)

The Bead Game (Ishu Patel, 1977)

Jeu (Georges Schwitzgebel, 2005)

Wild Life (Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, 2011)

Fig (Koji Yamamura, 2006)

A Child’s Metaphysics (Koji Yamamura, 2007)

Muybridge’s Strings (Koji Yamamura, 2011)

Go to the official website or Facebook page for more information including film descriptions, bios, and a screening schedule. (JP only)

The short program costs 500 yen and the extended program 1,000 yen.

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (MAP)

〒153-0062　Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku Tokyo

Tel.03-3280-0099／Fax.03-3280-0033

Support Koji Yamamura buy ordering his work on DVD:

Order from Japan via cdjapan:

Tokyo Loop (JP only - but no dialogue)

The Old Crocodile and Selected Works (JP/EN/FR)

Mt. Head and Selected Works  (JP with English subs)

Kafka Inaka Isha (JP only)

From the US: