A film by

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Can time be made to stand still? Can it be reversed? Koji Yamamura’s Muybridge’s Strings is a medi-tation on this theme, contrasting the worlds of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge — who in 1878 successfully photographed consecutive phases in the movement of a galloping horse — and a mother who, watching her daughter grow up, realizes she is slipping away from her. Moving between California and Tokyo, between the nine-teenth century and the twenty-first, the film focuses on some of the highpoints in Muybridge’s troubled

life and intercuts them with the mother’s surrea-listic daydreams — a poetic clash that explores the irrepressible human desire to seize life’s fleeting moments, to freeze the instants of happiness. Enriched by Koji Yamamura’s refined artistry and Normand Roger’s soundtrack, Muybridge’s Strings observes the ties that cease to bind, fixes its gaze on the course of life, and presents a moment in time suspended on the crystalline notes of a canon by J.S. Bach.

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The film

eadweard MuybridgeThe designer of an ingenious system for capturing the consecutive movements of a galloping horse, photographer Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904) is regarded as a pioneer in the field of photo-graphic analysis of motion. He began his photo-graphic experiments in 1872, but was forced to interrupt them after shooting and killing his wife’s lover. In 1879, he resumed them on various animals and, starting in 1886, on human subjects. In 1880, he developed the zoogyroscope, for projecting photographs in series, and replaced it in 1889 with an improved version called the zoopraxiscope which was inspired by the work of Émile Reynaud.

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Koji YamamuraBorn in Nagoya in 1964, Koji Yamamura is one of the leading Japanese independent animation filmmakers. He made his first shorts while still a teenager, showing a passion for film that he went on to develop further as a student at Tokyo Zokei University, where he discov-ered the work of foreign filmmakers like Canada’s Ishu Patel, Russia’s Yuri Norstein and Estonia’s Priit Pärn. The influence of these masters of animation is apparent in his early films (Aquatic, 1987; Japanese-English Pictionary, 1989; Perspektivenbox, 1990), which are characterized by technical exploration. During the 1990s, Yamamura refined his style, spending much of his time making films for children (Kid’s Castle, 1995; Bavel’s Book, 1996). This period culminated with Your Choice! (1999), which he made collaboratively with a group of children after giving workshops in Japan and the United States. Mt. Head (Atama Yama, 2002) marked a turning point in his career.

The winner of the grand prize at the Annecy, Hiroshima and a Zagreb animation festivals, and a nominee for the Oscar for Best Animated Short, the film vaulted Yamamura to a place among the world’s top animation filmmakers. His subsequent productions consolidated his reputation: The Old Crocodile (2005), A Child’s Metaphysics (2007) and especially Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor (2007). They reveal the vision of an artist with a distinctive personal style and a keen interest in graphic and sound experimentation. The allusions to various forms of Japanese theatre in Mt. Head and Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor give the films greater depth and originality. Muybridge’s Strings (2011) is Koji Yamamura’s first collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada.

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Filmography2007 A child’s Metaphysics

2007 Kafka Inaka isha Grand Prize, Ottawa International Animation Festival; Best Short Film, Animadrid; Golden Jabberwocky, Etiuda &Anima International Film Festival Krakow; Grand Prize, I Castelli Animati; Grand Prix, Internationales TrickFilm Festival Stuttgart; Grande Prémio, Monstora Lisbon Animated Film Festival; Grand Prize, 2008 Hiroshima International Animation Festival; 12th International Animation Festival Prize for Best Short Film, AniFest Trebon; Best Film in Category III, KROK International Animated Film Festival; Silver Dove, International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film; Silver Peg Bar, Animanima International Animation Festival Serbia; Excellence Prize, Japan Media Arts Festival; Ofuji Noburo Prize, Mainichi Film Awards.

2007 Man & Whale

2006 Fig

2005 The Old Crocodile

2003 Fuyu no hi (Winter Day)

2003 O make (Pieces)

2002 Atama Yama (Mt. Head) 2003 Oscar nomination for Best Short Film (Animated); Grand Prix (The Annecy Cristal), Annecy 2003; Grand Prix, 16th Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film; Grand Prix, 2003 Hiroshima International Animation Festival (Best Animated Film International Competition); Grand Prix, 2003 Mediawave Hungary; Grand Prix (1st Prize, International Competition Animated Film), 15th Filmfest Dresden; “RICA” Grand Prix for best animated short film, Rencontres internationales du cinéma d’animation de Wissembourg; Best Film Animation, Festival Internacional de Filmets de Badalona; Best Short Animated Film, 2003 AniFest Trebon, Annual International Festival of Animated Films; Auszeichnung Computeranimation/Visual Effects, Ars Electronica Festival; Silver Dove, International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film; Silver Jabberwocky, 2005 Etiuda & Anima International Film Festival Krakow; 2nd Prize, 2004 Festival Internazionale Cinema d’Animazione e Fumetto; Special Jury Award, Chiavari International Animated Film Festival; Special Jury Prize, 8th I Castelli Animati; Special Jury Prize, International Animated Film Festival Vilnius; Excellence Prize 2002, 6th Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival; Excellence Prize, Interfilm 19th Short Film Festival Berlin;

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Best Animation selected by jury, Kinofilm Manchester International Short Film Festival; Prix du Public for Best Short Film, 9th Cinema Tout Ecran Festival; Best Soundtrack Creation Award, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival; Special Mention, 19th International Short Film Festival Berlin; Special Mention 12th Internationales Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart.

1999 Docchini suru ? (Your choice?) 1st Prize from the Adult Jury, Animated Shorts, 1999 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival and Jury Special Prize, 4th Seoul International Family Film Festival; Certificate of Participation Awards, 14th International Festival of Film and Video for Children and Young Adults Iran; 7th ALTER-NATIVE International Short Film Festival; Annecy 2000; Asian Panorama Section, 11th Golden Elephant International Children’s Film Festival.

1999 REMtv CARP 1998 Chikyu rokkotsu otoko (Mr. Rib Globe)

1996 Baberu no hon (Babel’s Book) 1st prize, Animation, Adult Jury, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival; Prize for Outstanding Film Animation for TV Category, 1997 Seoul Animation Expo; Certificate of Participation Awards, World Animation Celebration, Cianima 1997, Cartoombria 3rd International Animation Film Competition, Anima mundi 1998 and 1998 Ottawa International Animation Festival; Panorama, Annecy 1997.

1995 Kid’s Castle

1995 Kipling Jr. Honourable Mention, Short Animation Film, Festival Adult Jury, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival; invited to 96 Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival; Fantoche International Animation Film Festival Baden; Festival of Light Filmfest and Animac Mostra International de Cinema d’Animacio Lleida; Certificate of Participation Awards, Ottawa International Animation Festival.

1995 Pacusi

1993 Ame no hi Anifilm Praha prize for unconventional and inventive animated film techniques, 1994 Zlin Film Festival; Second Prize, Category C, 1994 Hiroshima International Animation Festival; Best Director-Animation Film, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival; invited to 5th International New England Children’s Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, Best of Hiroshima 1994 in Canada & USA, World Youth Film Festival Canada, 1996 Anima Mundi Festival, Festival of Cartoons and Animated Films Brussels, and Festival of Light Filmfest.

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1993 Sandoicchi (The Sandwiches) Anifilm Praha prize for unconventional and inventive animated film techniques, 1994 Zlin Film Festival; Best Director-Animation Film, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival; Certificate of Participation Award from 5th International New England Children’s Film Festival.

1993 Karo to Piyobuputo “O-uchi” (Karo & Piyobupt “A House)

1991 Fushigina Erebêtâ (The Elevator)

1990 Enkin. hô no hako-Hakase no sagashimono (Perspektivenbox)

1989 Hyakka zukan (Japanase-English Pictionary) Special Jury Prize Award, 1990 Image Forum Festival Tokyo; invited to ICA Young Japanese Cinema UK in 1990, Young Japanese Cinema USA in 1991 and Cinema Jove 1992 in Valencia. Certificate of Participation Awards from 1991 Tampere Film Festival in Finland and 1992 Shanghai International Animation Film Festival.

1987 Suisei (Aquatic) Certificate of Participation Awards from 1987 Hiroshima International Animation Festival, Festival International du Court Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand, 1988 Shanghai International Animation Film Festival; invited to 1990 Hong Kong International Film Festival and Internationaler Experimentalfilm Workshop, Osnabrück.

1985 One night serenade

1985 Nature History

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How did Muybridge’s Strings come about?

In my mind, there are two distinct events associated with the project. The first was a conversation I had with my wife about our daughter. We talked about the fact that she was growing up so fast, that she was changing, that suddenly she was no longer at the same stage of development. It was as if her childhood was slipping through our fingers.

The second event was that I drew some pictures of animals—the movements of a dog and a cow. There’s no trace of them in the film, but I tried to find some meaning in the drawings. That’s what made me think of the system Muybridge invented for taking photographs of a galloping horse.

Muybridge is a point of reference for many animators. i imagine he’s one for you, too. So is that why you decided to devote a film to him?

Of course, I used his photographs as references when I was at university. But I never wanted to make a biographical film about him. In the begin-ning, I had a mental image of the horse’s hooves cutting the strings, which triggered the mechanism that took the photographs. Hence the title of the film. So the main idea is the broken ties, the idea of capturing an image as a result of a tie that breaks.

When I started work on the film, I didn’t even know that Muybridge had killed his wife’s lover. When I learned that, I saw how it tied in with the rest of the story. So the murder scene didn’t appear until the third version of the project. Funnily enough, I was interested in the fact that in English, you say “to shoot somebody” with a gun, but you also say “to shoot a movie.” The two actions are linked by the use of the same verb. The action of killing with a bullet and the action of making a film both have something to do with time, with a desire to act on time. Except that in a film, what was shot is recov-ered each time there’s a screening

Would you say that time is the driving force behind Muybridge’s Strings?

Right from the start, I had the idea that it would be a film about time. Time is the real subject of the conversation I had with my wife about our daughter. Time is what gives meaning to the drawings of the animals in motion.

What is time for someone who makes animated films?

As an animator, you’re always fighting against time. You constantly have to think about the concept of time. Does being an animator make time a concern, or do you become an animator because you’re con-cerned with time?

How do you perceive yourself? Are you a storyteller or more of a graphic artist?

I draw, I find it easy to draw. So being a graphic artist is something that’s easy for me. But making an ani-mated film also involves telling a story. I always try to find a way to be clear. Yet after each film, viewers tell me they didn’t understand. It’s because telling a story linearly, going from point A to point B to point C, just isn’t essential for me. I want the film to turn around point A, to make viewers think. I want them to feel something when the film gets to point B, I want them to have the time to become aware of what they’re feeling. Then I want to go back to point A if that can give viewers a new perspective on things. To me, animation is both a means of strong graphic expression and a way to tell a story.

Interview with

Koji Yamamura

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When we look at the list of films you’ve made, it seems that each film is related to the preceding one, as if some sort of dialogue was going on.

Even when I’ve finished a film, it goes on haunting me. The next one I make can be a reaction to the previous one, or a way of freeing myself from it. It probably has something to do with the fact that in each film there are things I’m not satisfied with.

French poet Paul Valéry said that you don’t finish a poem, you abandon it. is it the same for a film?

I hadn’t heard that quotation, but I agree with the message. No matter how much time and effort you put into a film, it will never be perfect. You have to accept that. In fact, sometimes the initial sketches have a greater impact than the drawings you spend hours on.

What filmmakers have influenced your work?

Jacques Drouin and Norman McLaren had a big influence on me when I was 15. At university, I started watching a lot more films and directors like Ishu Patel, Yuri Norstein, Priit Pärn, Paul Driessen, Co Hoedeman and Caroline Leaf left an impression

on me. If there’s one animator who really influ-enced the choices I made, I’d have to say it was Ishu Patel. I met him when he came to Japan, and that had a big effect on me. His style and technique change from one film to the next, but he always takes great care with the aesthetics. I was also fascinated by his use of metamorphosis in Bead Game and Afterlife.

Priit Pärn’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe was also a real shock for me. I knew that I didn’t draw the way he did. So it’s more a film I like than a real influence.Among Japanese filmmakers, I’ve been influenced by Tadanari Okamoto. I showed him the film I made for my university graduation, to get his comments. He was born in Osaka, in 1932. He has made around 30 films, using lots of different techniques—paper cut-outs, puppets, etc.—and changing his style from one film to the next, as if he was adapting it to suit the message and nature of each film. That approach had a big influence on me.

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And what do you think of your generation of filmmakers?

I really like Igor Kovalyov, the Quay brothers, Phil Mulloy, but obviously they’re not influences.

Muybridge’s Strings is your first opportunity to work with the National Film board of Canada. What does that mean to you?

Ever since I was at university, I’ve dreamed of working at the NFB. There’s no organization like it in Japan. At the NFB, there’s a real culture of making animated shorts. That’s really rare. In Japan, I’m constantly fighting against solitude: animated shorts just aren’t part of the culture. In Canada there’s a whole tradition and you get to meet different generations of animators. It’s a tremendously stimu-lating environment.

My meeting with producer Michael Fukushima was instrumental in my getting an opportunity to work with the NFB, and I’m very grateful to him for that.

you’ve also worked with highly reputed musician and sound designer Normand roger. How was that experience?

His way of working is not very different from that of Japanese sound artists I’ve collaborated with, but I’d imagined the contrary. It’s based on discussion and dialogue. Everywhere, creation goes through the same channels. The difference is that in Japan, I start working with the musician earlier. We meet at the start of the process, then in the middle. Normand prefers working from the finished film.

For Muybridge’s Strings, we knew we were going to use Bach’s “Crab Canon.” So it wasn’t an original composition, but rather a musical arrangement. The structure of the piece is crucial, because the film has to respond to the same structure. That was the challenge.

directed by KojI YAMAMurA•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

script, edit, design and animation KojI YAMAMurA•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

animation assistant sAnAe YAMAMurA•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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arrangement by norMAnd roger•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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technical co-ordinator julIe lAperrIère•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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administrationgIsèle guIlbAulTrosAlInA dI sArIo•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

executive producers dAvId verrAll (nFb)KenjI sAITo (nhK)shuzo john shIoTA (polYgon)•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

producersMIChAel FuKushIMA (nFb)KeIsuKe TsuChIhAshI (nhK)shuzo john shIoTA (polYgon)•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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pressnAdIne vIAu | n.viau@nfb.ca | 514-496-4486•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

distributionChrIsTInA rogers | c.rogers@nfb.ca | 310-487-0557•••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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Team