Animator Koji Yamamura premieres new work to help pay tribute to the NFB

by Chris MaGee

Koji Yamamura is probably one of the most important independent animators working in Japan today. A far cry from what people would categorize as anime Yamamura's hand drawn works tackle everything from folk tales to Franz Kafka and his 2002 short film "Atama-yama (Mt. Head)" was nominated in 2003 for an Oscar.

Yamamura has a special connection to Canada and Toronto specifically. His films have been a staple of the Toronto Japanese Short Film FestivalAnime News Network is reporting that Yamamura will be strengthening his ties to Canada by premiering a clip of his upcoming film, titled "Muybridge's Strings" at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo as part of a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of Canada's National Film Board. All you Canadians out there will know that the NFB has been a real pioneer in the field of animated shorts, plus they are one of the producers on "Muybridge's Strings".

We can all safely assume that Yamamura's film will have something to do with Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), the English photographer whose pioneering work capturing frozen images of people and animals in motion helped lay the groundwork for motion picture technology.