is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese independent animator

Independent animation

Independent animation is a term used to describe animated short cartoons and feature films produced outside the professional Hollywood animation industry.- Early independent animation :The history of animation is as old as the film industry itself...

 who, since leaving a career as a background artist

Background artist

A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of animation who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation layout artist. The methods used can either be through traditional painting or by digital...

 at an animation studio

Animation studio

An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced...

, currently directs

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, writes

Screenwriting

Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....

, edits

Film editing

Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...

, animates

Animator

An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...

, creates the model sheet

Model sheet

In animation, a model sheet, also known as a character board, character sheet, character study or simply a study, is a document used to help standardize the appearance, poses, and gestures of an animated character...

s and background art for and sometimes produces

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 his own short films and has worked on many commissions such as music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s, television advertisement

Television advertisement

A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

s, title sequence

Title sequence

A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...

s and station idents

Station identification

Station identification is the practice of radio or television stations or networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name...

, both on his own and under or with other directors. He is also a regular illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 of children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 and textbook

Textbook

A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...

s.

His animation spans a variety of media, his earliest independent works mixing clay painting

Clay painting

Clay painting animation is a form of clay animation, which is one of the many kinds of stop motion animation. It blurs the distinction between clay animation, cel animation and cutout animation....

 and stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 with cel

Cel

A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...

s, but has latterly come to concentrate on traditional animation

Traditional animation

Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...

. Two of his most famous and acclaimed films are the Academy Award for Animated Short Film

Academy Award for Animated Short Film

The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....

-nominated and Cristal d' Annecy-winning Mt. Head and the Ottawa

Ottawa International Animation Festival

-History:In 1976, the Canadian Film Institute founded the biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival . First held August 10 to 15, 1976, the OIAF created a gathering place for North American animation professionals and enthusiasts to ponder the craft and business of animation...

 Grand Prize and Ōfuji Noburō Award-winning A Country Doctor

A Country Doctor (film)

is a 2007 anime short film by Kōji Yamamura.The film is a direct interpretation of Franz Kafka's short story "A Country Doctor," voiced by kyōgen actors of the Shigeyama house....

.

Biography

Yamamura was born in Nagoya and studied painting at Tokyo Zokei University

Tokyo Zokei University

is a private university in Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1966 by Japanese female art educator, fashion designer and design journalist, Yoko Kuwasawa . It is a four-year art college offering both bachelor's and master's degrees in studio arts....

. His 2002 movie Mt. Head (Atama Yama) won the short film award for the Annecy International Animated Film Festival

Annecy International Animated Film Festival

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became annual in 1998...

, the Grand Prize at the 2004 Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films

Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films

Animafest Zagreb, also known as World Festival of Animated Film in Zagreb, is an annual festival dedicated to animated film held in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Film Association, the event was established in 1972 at the time when Croatia was part of SFR Yugoslavia)...

 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film

Academy Award for Animated Short Film

The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....

. Yamamura won the 2007 Ottawa Grand Prix with his animated adaptation of Franz Kafka's

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...

 "A Country Doctor." Both of the films were included in the Animation Show of Shows

Animation show of shows

The Animation Show of Shows is a traveling selection of the year's best animated short films, curated and presented by Acme Filmworks founder, Ron Diamond. It began in 1998 with the aim of showing the most original, funny, intelligent short animated films from all over the world and presenting them...

.

Yamamura also held an exhibition at the Aichi Expo 2005

Expo 2005

Expo 2005 was the World's Fair held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. It was a Specialized International Exhibition under the scheme of the 1972 protocol of the Convention relating to International Exhibitions...

.

Films

• 48 sec. segment "CARP" for REMtv (1999)
• 40 sec. segment for
• 5 min. segment "Fig" for Tokyo Loop (2006)

External links