Koji Yamamura is making his first animated feature Film!

Koji Yamamura delivered a spectacular speech at Fuzhong 15, New Taipei City

Oscar-nominated animation filmmaker Koji Yamamura (山村浩二) delivered a spectacular and inspiring speech yesterday at Fuzhong 15 in New Taipei City. He also answered to the audience question that he has been started working on his first animated feature film.

The speech is one of the free events open to the public at 2018 International Experimental Animation Exhibition, 2 June – 11 Nov, 2018 at Fuzhong 15, New Taipei City, Taiwan. It is curated by Beijing Film Academy Professor Sabrina Yu(余紫詠).

During the one and half hours of speech, Mr. Yamamura shared his animation experiences, philosophy, and techniques by showing the sketches, designs, photos, and clips behind the scene of his animation such as, "Mount Head"(頭山, 2002), "Fig"(無花果, 2006), "A Country Doctor" (Kafuka: Inaka isha, 田舎医者, 2007), and Muybridge's Strings(2011).

Mr. Yamamura said he has been working on animation for 40 years since he made his first animation at 13 years old. Most of his animation were funded and created by himself. Sometimes there is one or two assistant (most of the time is his wife, Sanae Yamamura) helping coloring or motion checking.

Yesterday, the first film that Yamamura introduced to the audience is "Mount Head", which is nominated for the Academy Award in the category of animated short in 2003. The story is adopted from Japanese 200-year-old comic story (rakugo) "Atama-yama", but Yamamura re-positions the set in the present-day Tokyo. He did a lots of sketch of cherry trees and skyscrapers in the background, as well as many the characters designs for the pre-production. He likes to "write down" new ideas instantly by doing quick small drawings on the notebook everywhere.

Yamamura paid the tribute to Takeharu Kunimoto (国本武春) during the speech. (Photo by Fuzhong 15)

Yamamura paid the tribute to one of the fellow crew members by sharing his stories, photos, and clips to the audience. His name is Takeharu Kunimoto (国本武春), a prominent Japanese shamisen player and rokyoku singer, who performed both music and voice-over for the "Mount Head". "Unfortunately, Mr. Kunimoto passed away in 2005" said by Yamamura.

The second film was "Fig"(無花果, 2006), a 4-min commissioned work for "Tokyo Loop" to honor the city of Tokyo and the 100th anniversary of the birth of animation. It was the only film that played all the way through in the speech,poetic and sentimental. The film renders the loneliness of "Tokyo night", a character literally transformed from the window of Tokyo night. In addition to the sketch, storyboard, designs, Mr. Yamamura showed clips of make-of "Fig" to the audience. We saw how Yamamura worked with his wife, Sanae, together.

Then the "A Country Doctor" (Kafuka: Inaka isha, 田舎医者, 2007), a direct interpretation of Franz Kafka's short story "A Country Doctor", voiced by kyogen actors of the Shigeyama house. The film won several awards, including the Grand Prize of 2007 Ottawa International Animation Festival and 2008 Hiroshima International Animation Festival.

The last one showed to the audience was Muybridge's Strings (2011), which followed the life of legendary British photographer, Eadweard Muybridge, who was considered the pioneer involving the birth of film and animation. It took Yamamura seven years to finish the 12-minute short in a co-production with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and other parteners.

During the Q&A, Yamamura answered the questions such as "why choosing animation as way of storytelling?", "Any feature film plan?", "Why hand-drawing?" Yamamura said he choose animation because he studied painting in the university and used to work for the movies. He preferred the techniques of hand-drawing because of he liked the unpredictable characteristics such as random noise, textures, and lines that made by hand. He showed the audience how to use the real foam to create the lens effects of vignette in "A Country Doctor". Yamamura also admitted that he has been working on his first feature-length animation for three years. "The total running time might be shorter than a standard feature film.." said by Yamamura.

Koji Yamamura delivered a spectacular speech at Fuzhong 15, New Taipei City. (Photo by Fuzhong 15)

Yuting Hsueh met Koji Yamamura at Fuzhong 15, New Taipei City

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Yamamra Animation, Inc http://www.yamamura-animation.jp
Yamamura Animation Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8fbk85Q36IAkDABhvlGCTA