is a Japanese independent animator who, after leaving a career as a

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 e ...

at an

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animation, 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 ...

, directs, writes, edits, animates, creates the

model sheet In visual arts, 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 a character in arts such as animation, comics, an ...

s and background art for and sometimes produces his own

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s and has worked on many commissions such as

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

title sequence A title screen (also called an opening screen or intro) is the method by which films or television show, television programmes present their title and key filmmaking, production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often an op ...

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

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

and

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...

s. His animation spans a variety of media, his earliest independent works mixing

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. Clay painting animation (which is also a variation ...

and

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

with

cel A cel, short for '' celluloid'', is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th cent ...

s, but has latterly come to concentrate on

traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawing, drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there wa ...

. Two of his most famous and acclaimed films are the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

-nominated and ''Cristal d'

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

''–winning ''

Mt. Head is a 2002 anime short film. It was nominated at the 75th Academy Awards in the category of Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Plot It is based on Japanese ''rakugo'' of the same title, with a slightly modernized setting. A stingy man e ...

'' and the

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Grand Prize and

Ōfuji Noburō Award The is an animation award given at the Mainichi Film Awards. It is named after Japanese animator Noburō Ōfuji. History Following the death of pioneering animator Noburō Ōfuji in 1961, Mainichi established a new award in his honour to rec ...

–winning '' A Country Doctor''. His 2011 short film ''

Muybridge's Strings ''Muybridge's Strings'' (; ''Maiburijji no ito'') is a Canadian-Japanese animated short film, directed by Kōji Yamamura and released in 2011. A meditation on the passage of time, the film contrasts the story of Eadweard Muybridge, the British pho ...

'' was one of five animated shorts nominated for the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor ...

for

Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

at the

32nd Genie Awards The 32nd Genie Awards ceremony was held on March 8, 2012 to honour films released in 2011.

in 2012. Brian D. Johnson
"Quebec and Croneberg (sic) lead Genies"
''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...

'', January 17, 2012.

Biography

Yamamura was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

and studied painting at

Tokyo Zokei University is a private university in Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1966 by Japanese art educator, fashion designer and design journalist, Yoko Kuwasawa (1910-1977). It is a four-year art college offering both bachelor's and master's degrees in studi ...

. His 2002 movie ''Mt. Head'' (''Atama Yama'') won the short film award for the

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

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

Animafest Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb (), best known as Animafest Zagreb, is a film festival entirely dedicated to Animation, animated film held annually in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), the e ...

and was nominated for the

Academy Award for Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1 ...

. Yamamura won the 2007 Ottawa Grand Prix with his animated adaptation of Franz Kafka's " A Country Doctor." Both of the films were included in the Animation Show of Shows. Yamamura also held an exhibition at the Aichi

Expo 2005 Expo 2005 was a world expo held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. Japan has also hosted Expo '70 Osaka (World Expo), Expo '75 Okinawa (Specialised Expo) ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * * 1964 births Japanese animated film directors Japanese animated film producers Claymation Japanese animators Anime directors Japanese film directors Japanese film editors Japanese anime producers Living people Artists from Nagoya Stop motion animators Background artists Japanese children's book illustrators Tokyo Zokei University alumni Academic staff of Tokyo University of the Arts {{animator-stub