Discover a program of short films curated by acclaimed animator and professor YAMAMURA Koji, showcasing inventive works by current and former animation students of the Tokyo University of the Arts. The total runtime of the program is 63 minutes, and the films will be on loop at the JFT Event Hall on Saturday, May 23* and Sunday, May 24.
*On Saturday May 23, the films will be paused during the BYOB: Japanese Language and Culture Talk session, from 11:45AM to 1:15PM.
Gathering 収集家の散歩
A collector 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. A man reading a newspaper, a kangaroo statue, little flowers blooming in the grass…Those things change their shape and are trimmed, and they stay in the corner of his mind. We see things consciously and unconsciously everyday. How do we memorize things in an ordinary life?
Created by OMI Akiko • 2010 • 6:13
Recruit Rhapsody 就活狂想曲
The hero has been living a life as an undergraduate. There is nothing remarkable about her. However, she has noticed something strange about her friends recently. She learned that they were getting mad about “job-hunting.” Without realizing what the job-hunting is, the hero is also getting drawn to Japanese job-hunting swirl.
Created by YOSHIDA Mayo • 2012 • 7:27
Mimoptera キドモモドキ
Mimoptera has a nature to assimilate with its surroundings. It assimilates its own form into the environment to avoid the attention. What would imitation bring on? Will mimoptera keep imitating all the life?
Created by MIYAZAKI Shizuka • 2013 • 5:04
It’s time for supper. 夜ごはんの時刻
Playtime ends at the five o’clock chime. And there comes the indefinable time between vanishing playtime and dinner time at home.
Created by MURAMOTO Saki • 2013 • 8:28
Zdravstvuite! ズドラーストヴィチェ！
On a summer day, a strange man who teaches Russian at the beach took me to a town. The familiar town looked totally fresh from a different point of view. The man should be there at the beach tomorrow.
Created by YUKI Yoko • 2015 • 5:36
RINGING CITY
Big cities are glutted with information. Unconscious curiosity, hidden under apparent indifference, invites us into a noisy loop.
Created by IMAZU Yoshiki • 2017 • 3:58
Bath House of Whales くじらの湯
In this small town somewhere in Japan, the mothers in the neighborhood end their day at the public bath. When a little girl goes along with her mother, she is awed by the sight of a group of bathing women who behave very differently from the others. Within that group is her mother and she blends in perfectly.
Created by Kiyamamizuki • 2019 • 6:40
Nocturnal Roadwork 夜の道路工事
Nightly road constructions are completely forgotten in the morning. But they not only repair and maintain the streets, they heal scars and make them disappear without our knowing.
Directed by HASHIJI Misuzu • 2019 • 4:30
OCTOPOLIS – Prologue オクトポリス -プロローグ-
Human-like creatures inhabit this planet. Their peaceful lives are senselessly destroyed by octopus suckers that appear out of the blue. Then comes a mysterious spaceship shaped like a chikuwa (fishcake tube). A new civilization – OCTOPOLIS – is about to emerge.
Directed by YAMAMOTO Nao • 2023 • 3:21
Follow the Hill さかのめ
My day begins by descending a hill. At the end of the day, I climb it and go home. Down and up I go, feeling what?
Directed by GOAN Kurumi • 2025 • 7:16
The Swamp Nearby 近所の沼
There’s a pond at a park near my home but I call it a swamp. The people and animals that gather there somehow share a swampy vibe, and they are there again today.
Directed by FUJIWARA Misaki • 2025 • 4:10
