Franz Kafka's a Country Doctor

Franz Kafka's a Country Doctor 2007

6.80

A hapless country doctor describes with breathless urgency a night-time summons to attend a young patient. Events soon take on a surreal aspect as "unearthly horses" transport him instantaneously to the bedside. The doctor, preoccupied with personal distractions and grievances against those he is employed to care for, fails to find what is revealed to be a vile, fatal wound. He is humiliated by the villagers, who are "always expecting the impossible from the doctor," and doomed to an endless return trip, losing everything.

2007

Five Fire Fish

Five Fire Fish 2013

1

Created using "Etching on film" from the NFB's McLaren's Workshop Application.

2013

Mount Head

Mount Head 2002

6.40

A miserly man eats the pits of some cherries he can't stand throwing out. A tree starts growing from the top of his head. He cuts it off; it grows back. After a while, he gives up and lets it grow, but the crowds that gather on top of his head to enjoy the tree (and leave huge mounds of trash) eventually drive him to uproot the tree. This leaves a crater on top of his head, which fills with water, which becomes a popular lake.

2002

Satie's

Satie's "Parade" 2016

6.20

A Parade for three managers and four performers. Sketchy drawings in a neatly arranged palette, involving quotes from the French composer Erik Satie, set to the music of Parade performed by the Dutch Willem Breuker Kollektief.

2016

Extremely Short

Extremely Short 2024

8.00

Somewhere between calligraphy, embryology and words from beyond the grave, a convulsive poem wraps itself around the Japanese syllable ‘da’ – a breath that could just as well be the first as the last.

2024

Muybridge's Strings

Muybridge's Strings 2011

6.00

Koji Yamamura's allegory the immutability of time, love and devotion, and the unbreakable nature of the parent-child bond, into interlacing story.

2011

Man & Whale

Man & Whale 2007

7.00

A seaside school. In the corridor stands the principal, beloved of the high-spirited youngsters. Gazing at a picture of a whale drawn as a child, the head teacher is swept away with sentiment into a flashback from the past.

2007

Dozens of Norths

Dozens of Norths 2021

2.70

Here, everything is The North. This is an account of the people I met in The North. However, my fragmented memory doesn't capture the essence at all.

2021

The Old Crocodile

The Old Crocodile 2005

6.40

An short movie that is illustrated in black and white using rather simple animation. The story is told by a narrator with a lovely British voice that reminded me of Malcolm McDowell and he does all the voices of all the characters as well. The story is about an ageless old crocodile that is quite nasty--even for a croc! Because he's older and lazy, he mostly just sits around doing very little.

2005

Polar Bear Bears Boredom

Polar Bear Bears Boredom 2021

7.00

A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea. It continues an ancient tradition of "Caricatures of Frolicking animals" in scroll painting-style; this time, "Frolicking Sea Animals," in animation form, with a play on Japanese and English language word-plays: "Hokyoku-Guma Suggoku Hima. / Polar bear bears boredom", "Kawauso Kawaisou./Other otter, poor otter," etc.

2021

Serenade

Serenade 1985

8.00

One night Mr. K went for a walk with his pet...

1985

A Child's Metaphysics

A Child's Metaphysics 2007

6.80

A child whose head is numerals, a child who winds his own face and has it under his arm. What was left is his identity, a child whose eyes are provided by fishes, a child who cannot say anything because of a zipper across his mouth. Ecology and philosophy of children with sadness and humor.

2007

Pieces

Pieces 2003

5.67

Short by Koji Yamamura

2003

Zodiac One Third

Zodiac One Third 2016

7.00

This work was commissioned for the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and made possible by support from the 2016 Champion and Patron Members of Reel Asian. Chinese Zodiac is 60-years cycle by 10 heavenly elements and 12 earthly animals, 20th anniversary is just one third. In this movie appearing and changing into 20 elements from 1997 that was started the festival to 2016.

2016

Notes on Monstropedia

Notes on Monstropedia 2017

1

An animated archive of imaginary monsters written by a fictitious mosterologist in Medieval Europe.

2017