Kōji Yamamura

Who is Kōji Yamamura?

Kōji Yamamura is a Japanese independent animator who, after leaving a career as a background artist at an animation studio, directs, writes, edits, animates, creates the model sheets and background art for and sometimes produces his own short films and has worked on many commissions such as music videos, television advertisements, title sequences and station idents, both on his own and under or with other directors. He is also a regular illustrator of children's literature and textbooks.

His animation spans a variety of media, his earliest independent works mixing clay painting and stop motion with cels, but has latterly come to concentrate on traditional animation. Two of his most famous and acclaimed films are the Academy Award for Animated Short Film-nominated and Cristal d'Annecy-winning Mt. Head and the Ottawa Grand Prize and Ōfuji Noburō Award-winning A Country Doctor. His 2011 short film Muybridge's Strings was one of five animated shorts nominated for Genie Award.