Geidai Animation: 1st Animation Works 2010 (DVD)

Geidai Animation: 1^st Animation Works 2010

東京藝術大学大学院映像研究科アニメーション専攻

第一期生修了作品集2010

The Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts (aka Geidai) began its 2-Year Animation MA Programme in 2008.  Their first graduating class of eleven students was in 2010 and in this year they inaugurated what has now become a tradition of holding a screening event at the end of the school year (March) and releasing a DVD showcasing their student works.  The students share the copyright of their films with the university.  In return, the university promotes their student works at festivals around the world.  

Order DVD Geidai Animation 2010

The class of 2010 was taught by Professors Yuichi Ito (Model Animation), Mitsuko Okamoto (Production), Takehito Deguchi (Screenwriting), and Koji Yamamura (2D animation).  Assistant Professors were animators Hiromitsu Murakami, Sayaka Omodaka and Arisa Wakami and lecturers Ilan Nguyen, Yuichi Kishino, and Eiji Otsuka. 

With this first graduating class, Geidai set the bar high for itself accepting only the cream of the crop of applicants to their programme.  Following in the footsteps of their mentors, many of the graduating animators of 2010 have gone on to win top prizes at both domestic and international festivals.   The biggest success story so far has been Atsushi Wada whose graduate film In a Pig's Eye (2010) was nominated at Zagreb, Annecy, Hiroshima, and Ottawa, and won the Best Film at Fantoche, and the Grand Prix at the London International Animation Film Festival.   He then went on to win the prestigious Silver Bear at the Berlinale with The Great Rabbit (2012).  Other top animators to win the Silver Bear include Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart in 1956 for Rhythmetic, Paul Driessen in 1981 for On Land, at Sea and in the Air, and Ishu Patel in 1985 for Paradise.

The female animators of this inaugural graduating year are also outstanding.  In the tradition of Caroline Leaf and Aleksandr Petrov, Saori Shiroki has been making a name for herself with her monochrome paint-on-glass animation.  Aico Kitamura's Getting Dressed is an excellent film and I am impatient to see more work from this budding artist.

The cover art for the DVD is illustrated by Yoshiko Misumi and Aico Kitamura.  The opening trailer is directed by   Hiromitsu Murakami.  The DVD comes with a booklet of film descriptions and animator bios.  The DVD itself includes the 11 graduating works in Japanese and English.  Unless otherwise noted, the film descriptions below are from the booklet.  I have included links to the full reviews that I have written for some of the films.  The bios have been updated with the most current information I could find.  Links to official websites and social media have also been included.    

Yotsuya Alpha Beta

四ッ谷いろは / Yotsuya Iroha / 2010年 / 6'32"

“The Yotsuya Alphabet story tells of a girl caught in a surreal world with the use of Japanese characters.  The story is about the girl who lives in the town called Yotsuya and wanders around the surreal world.  Eventually she melts down and becomes a part of the Yotsuya town.  Is the town real or only her imagination?”

Nana Anzai (安西奈々, b. 1985) is from Hiroshima.  She did her BA at Tama Art University (2008) and graduated from Geidai in 2010.  Follow her on Twitter @nananna7 or YouTube.

The Gift of the Magi

賢者の贈り物/ Kenja no Okurimono / 2010年/ 12'48"

“This is a story about Jim, an apprentice magician, and Della, his wife, on Christmas Day.  Della has her beautiful and long hair cut off and sells it in order to buy him a present that is a chain made for his gold watch.  In the evening, Jim reaches home, but is stunned to see her look so different.”

Toshikazu Ishii (石井寿和, b. 1984) is from Chiba.  He did his BA at Waseda University and graduated from Geidai in 2010.  Ishii teaches how to make stop motion figures using armature at Otomeru alongside Keita Funamoto and Masahide Kobayashi.  See him teaching armature on Otomoru’s website.  Learn more about Keita Funamoto in Stop Motion Magazine (February 2011, Issue #10). 

Gathering

収集家の散歩/ Shūshūka no Sambo  / 2010年 /  6'13"

“A day and a collector’s stroll.  He goes out from his apartment for a stroll in the park.  He walks and sees things in the park unintentionally and these are gathered in his mind one after another.  How do we memorize things in an ordinary life?  Our mind is like a scrapbook, gathered and stuffed with mess.”

Akiko Omi (大見明子, b. 1977) is from Nara.  She has a BA (Hons) in Theatre, Set Design for Stage and Screen from Wimbledon College of Art (UAL, 2004).  After working as a modeller at an animation studio, Omi pursued her MA at Geidai (2010).  She won the Yōji Kuri Award at the ASK? Film Festival in 2010 and has shown her work at international festivals and galleries.  Check out her official website for samples of her work or follow her on Twitter @AkikoOmi.

Getting Dressed

服を着るまで/ Fuku wo kirumade / 2010年 / 9'17"

“This woman has detached herself from the outside world.  For her, it is daily work to feed her bird and to look at the town from her window.  Because she doesn’t go out, she does not even put on clothes.  However, this daily life has ended.  She has run out of the cornflakes that she eats every day. As we get up in the morning and put on clothes, we are alive in a social system.  Nobody understands whether it is the correct world.  However, even if you escape from the system, the day you have to return will come.”

Read my full review of Getting Dressed

Aico Kitamura (北村愛子, b. 1985) was born in Kyoto.  While a student at Kyoto Seika University she discovered the world of independent animation and graduated with a degree in Graphic Arts.  She completed her MA at Geidai in 2010.   Check out her official website and follow her on Twitter. @Aico_kitamura.

Woman who stole fingers

指を盗んだ女 / Yubi wo nusunda onna / 2010年 / 4'15"

“One day, a boy who separated from his mother’s hand is deprived of his fingers.  His fingers become a larva and part from his hand.  The house. .  .  conceal[s] a relationship between the two from anyone.  How does the boy who is deprived of his finger[s] grow up?”

Read my full review of Woman who stole fingers

Saori Shiroki (銀木沙織, b. 1984) was born in Saitama.  She did her BA in Oil Painting at Tama Art University (2007) followed by an MA in Animation at Geidai (2010).  She is a member of CALF Studio and has made a name for herself at international festivals as a paint-on-glass animator.  Follow her on vimeo.

Bring Me Up

つままれるコマ / Tsumamareru Koma / 2010年 / 6'40"

“Almost everyone in a contemporary society is picked up and moved by someone or something like a ‘Sugoroku’.  The first one which picks up is ‘Parents’.  A hero grows up along a ‘Sugoroku’.  This work describes.  .  .  the process of his growth [as] he depends on his parents.  .  .  One day he decides to cut off his relationship with his family.” 

Bring Me Up received a special mention at Animafest Zagreb 2010.

Miki Tanaka (田中美妃, b. 1982) is from Tokyo.  She has a BA in Design from Geidai (2004) in addition to her MA in Animation (2010).  Tanaka is a partner of CALF Studio and works as an independent animator.  Check out her official website to see samples of her recent work.

anti-chaos

強迫的な秩序についてのカエル / Kyōhakuteki na Chitsujo ni Tsuite no Kaeru / 2010年 / 4'05"

“It’s a story about a frog who is eager to make his companions stand [in] a line.  He is the only one who wears an armlet, and has a [slightly] different skin colour from the other frogs.  This work focuses on the relationship between the ‘rulers’ and ‘ruled ones’, and describes the consequences of some unexpected events.”

Shino Nagasako (永迫志乃, b.1983) was born in Hiroshima.  He has a BA in Graphic Design from Tama Art University (2007) and an MA in Animation from Geidai (2010).  His graduate film from Tamabi, The Kitty and the Pony (ネコの人とウマの人, 2007) won an Excellence Prize at the 2^nd Annual Charanime-kobo Movie Contest (2007).   Learn more about him on his official website and check out his work on vimeo.

CLIMBER

2010年 / 5'49"

“Climbers are try to conquer an endless stone pillar.  Each one of them keeps on climbing They are the symbols of accumulation.” Source: Anima Mundi catalogue

Akifumi Nonaka (野中晶史, b. 1985) is from Shizuoka.  He has a BA in Design and Architecture from Nagoya City University and an MA in Animation from Geidai (2010).  He freelances as an independent animator.  Check out his official website and follow him on twitter @noakitw and Youtube.  His most recent indie short is called The Rush Hour Commuters (通勤ラッシャーズ, 2013).

PapA

2010年 / 3'45"

“When there are light sources and objects, shadows can sure there.  .  .  There is an object blocking the light.  .  .  The shadow is proof [that the object is there].  If the shadow [disappears], you should think that the object ha[s] disappeared.  It is the only reality.”

Kumi Matsui (松井久美, b. 1985) was born in Tokyo.  She has a BA in Animation from Tokyo Polytechnic University (2008) and an MA in Animation from Geidai (2010).  Her film Wild Pear (やまなし, 2009) won the Grand Prize at the Media Contents Awards (2009).  Follow her on twitter @kumimaru.

Googuri Googuri

2010年 / 8'22"

“Story of a girl’s imagination.  ‘Googuri Googuri’ is a made up word, a secret word shared by a girl and her grandfather.  For the granddaughter, her grandfather is at times like a mountain, at times like a tree, at other times like an ocean, and her thoughts take wing into her imagination endlessly.”  

Yoshiko Misumi (三角芳子, b. 1978) was born in Fukuoka.  She has a degree in Textiles from Geidai in addition to her MA in Animation (2010).  Her animated short for the NHK A Tale of a Carefree King (王さまものがたり, 2007) made the Jury Selection at the Japan Media Arts Festival (2007).  Googuri Googuri competed in international festivals and won the top prize at the ASK? Film Festival 2010.  Check out her official website.

In a Pig's Eye

わからないブタ / Wakaranai Buta / 2010年 / 10'00"

“[A] surreal snapshot of the life of a family, and the giant pig blocking their front door.” – MIFF catalogue

Read my full review of In a Pig’s Eye

Atsushi Wada (和田淳, b. 1980) is from Hyogo Prefecture.  He started off as a self-taught animator in 2002 and did the Animation Workshop at Image Forum before doing his MA at Geidai (2010).  Wada is the most successful graduate of the first graduating class winning awards at many festivals including the top awards at Fantoche and the London International Animation Festival.  The Mechanism of Spring (2010) premiered at the Venice Film Festival and The Great Rabbit (2012) won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale.  Wada is a founding member of CALF.  Check out his official website and follow him on twitter @Atsushi_Wada.  In addition to working as an independent animator he currently teaches at Otemae University in Hyogo. 

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014

Sunset Flower Blooming (夕化粧, 2012)

Yuanyuan Hu’s Sunset Flower Blooming (夕化粧/Yugesho, 2012) is set in the countryside in 1960s China.  A grandmother sits and hums in her walled garden as her granddaughters play with evening primroses (夕化粧/Yugesho). The growing shadows let us know that the day is coming to an end – the time at which the primroses open their small pink buds.  The granddaughters decorate their grandmother’s hair with primroses and one girl brings her a mirror to show her their handiwork.  The girl pauses and looks down at her grandmother’s feet encased in tiny pointy shoes.  She then moves her own bare feet in large, boxy sandals as if comparing sizes. 

This gesture draws attention to the cultural gap between the two generations of females in this film.  The grandmother was born into a time when foot binding (also known as “lotus feet”) was still a common practice in China.  For centuries it was considered a symbol of beauty and status for girls to have small feet.  Starting between the ages of 4-9, girls’ feet were broken and bound using (horrific) traditional methods that would force the ball and heel of each foot close together (learn more).  The practice was banned in the early decades of the 20^th century, but not strongly enforced until the Communists rose to power in 1949.  Thus the young girls in the film and their mother(s) would not have been subjected to this cruel tradition.

After this brief, but significant, moment the grandmother puts down the mirror and takes a primrose from her hair, twirling it gently with her fingers.  Expertly using graphic matches of the grandmother at varying ages, Hu takes us on a journey to the past as the grandmother recalls her early childhood and preparations for marrying someone of status.  Although the sound of children at play bridges over into the past from the film’s “present”, the way in which the children are depicted in a washed out fashion suggest that they may have been imaginary friends – or that they were only fleeting friends who figured only briefly in the grandmother’s life.  Despite the beauty of the natural world and the lovely depiction of the changing seasons, imagery of confinement (closed behind latticed screens and windows in dark rooms, walled gardens, moths trapped inside a lantern with a burning flame, and so on) and loneliness remind us of the lack of choice the grandmother had as a child.  Her psychic trauma is depicted through brief, haunting sequences such as a needle and thread through cloth transforming into a pool of blood, and a twirling evening primrose turning into blood red flames. 

In the end; however, the film does not present a picture of bitterness and resentment on the part of the central protagonist.  The gentle soundtrack (music, wind and other natural sounds) and the framing narrative of the laughter in the garden, suggest that the grandmother has come to terms with the path of her life.  Yuanyuan Hu used digital computer drawing to give the film a look of watercolour paint on soft paper.  Although it has been realised on computer, the animation at times has the look of woodblock printing and kirigami (cutouts).  It is a hauntingly beautiful tale that educates about the wrongs done to women in the past with a positive outlook for future generations of girls in China.

Yuanyuan Hu (胡 嫄嫄/コ・ユェンユェン, b. 1986) is from Nanjing, China.  She has a master’s degree in animation from Tokyo University of the Arts.  She continues to live and work in Yokohama.  Sunset Flower Blooming was named to the Jury Selection at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2012.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014

My Milk Cup Cow (コップの中の子牛, 2014)

For her Geidai graduate film, Chinese animator Yantong Zhu has created a very personal hand drawn animation that has been lovingly dedicated to her father.  My Milk Cup Cow (コップの中の子牛/Koppu no naka no Koushi, 2014) is told from the perspective of a four-year-old girl called Nunu who lives alone with her single father.  Not only is there a first-person narration voiced by the animator herself of the central protagonist recalling her childhood, but the visual perspective of many scenes within the animation has been done from the point-of-view of a small child. 

Through the voice-over narration we learn that Nunu’s early childhood is very unsettled.  Her mother is absent from her life, and she and her father have moved several times.  In response to the constant upheaval of adjusting to new communities and nursery schools, Nunu becomes a picky eater.  Her father tries to convince her to drink up her milk by telling her a fanciful tale that if she drinks up all milk she will discover a cow he has hidden at the bottom of her cup using magic.  Nunu is intrigued by this and drinks up her milk only to discover an empty cup.  Her father tells her that she must have swallowed the cow and if she listens very carefully she will hear it in her belly.

Through a series of interlayered vignettes, this animated short gives us a glimpse into the everyday life of Nunu.  She overhears the whispers in the playground about her unusual family situation, she notices that her father has troubles getting enough money together to pay their rent, she rides in the basket of her father’s bicycle through the city on hot summer evenings taking a different route home every time.  Gradually, Nunu starts to realize that her father is weaving a fabric of white lies in order to protect her from the harsh realities of their hard scrabble life.  .  .  and as she grows up she may need to do the same in order to avoid causing her father more worry.

Yantong Zhu has created a very touching story.  Although it is ably narrated, the real emotional content of the film comes from the depiction of the child’s perspective on the world around her.  It is a very sensory experience, showing us both Nunu’s amusing observations (her father’s prickly chin feeling like a hedgehog) and her fears (that her father must have eyes in his knees to be able to see that she is peering through the slats of the bathroom door while he is on the toilet).  The emotional content of the film, and its nostalgic feel, are heightened by the use of a music composed by Asuka Horiguchi and performed on an erhu (Chinese violin) by Yingzi Li, as well as a lilting traditional northeastern Chinese lullaby arranged by Jianchun Zhen and performed by Long Wu (piano) and Guang Yang (singer).

Yantong Zhu (朱彦潼/シュ・ゲンドウ, b. 1988) grew up in Nanjing, China and graduated with a degree in Advertising from the Nanjing University of Finance and Economics in 2010.  She graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts’ graduate programme in animation this year.  My Milk Cup Cow is screening at international festivals this year.  It will screen at Nippon Connection on Thursday, May 29, 2014.  Click here to learn more.  You can follow Yantong Zhu on twitter or vimeo.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014