Yôji Kuri

An animated film based on one of the renku (collaborative linked poems) in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō. The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material – the visuals for each of the 36 stanzas were independently created by 35 different animators. As well as many Japanese animators, Kawamoto assembled leading names in animation from across the world. Each animator was asked to contribute at least 30 seconds to illustrate their stanza, and most of the sequences are under a minute (Yuriy Norshteyn's, though, is nearly two minutes long).

A series of mini-stories satirising our world in the 20th Century.

A montage of scenes that describe how people can be as bad as animals.

A short experimental anime about a woman desperately in love. Made by Yoji Kuri, a well-known Japanese indie animator.

A night when parasites of various green forms devour humans. A cruel food chain that never ceases, and an eternal repetition of life and death. A grotesque and strange parable drawn by Yoji Kuri. Isao Tomita's synthesizer music echoes quietly and eerily.

A series of 16 "short stories" created by the creator's group Images Forum.

A small white box. Everything happens in that little world. A woman's face comes out from the side of the room and roars, birds peck at human flesh, trains run through, and a couple quarrel begins. When the billiard ball penetrates the room, the billiard ball changes into various shapes ... Each room is a world, and what happens there is a microcosm of modern times.

Short animation by Yoji Kuri

The original version is monochrome, but in 1967 it was remade in color as an international version. In the international version, the first and twelfth episodes and the fake commercials have been omitted.

An abstract animation about people and organs of the body in and out of drawers.

The humble line has a life of its own. As it travels from one point to the next it can take whatever route it fancies. With plenty of ups and downs, it encounters all manner of random items and beings as it endlessly travels towards its destination. But when lines become objects it can all go wrong. - MUBI

Here and There (1961) fuses live-action and animation and was screened at Three-Person Animation 2. Musique concrète and electronic sounds made by modulating everyday noises such as flush toilets are interspersed throughout the work. Contrasts between opposites, as encapsulated by the title – between live-action space and animated space, between mundane sounds of daily life and bizarre noises – and the war between the sexes, a signature theme in Yōji Kuri’s work, are also palpable in the juxtaposition of musique concrète and scat singing. (CJC).

An absurd film by Kuri Youji.

The train just runs. A collage of various images, including cel animation and drawing, animates smoke emitted from trains. The title comes from both the sound of a passing train and Pop Art (Yōji Kuri).

A short film by Kuri Youji. A man plants a flower and waits for it to bear fruit...

Short animated film by Yoji Kuri.

Short animated film by Yoji Kuri

Interesting conceptual film where people of various ages and professions are asked to sit on a chair for 15 minutes with nothing to do. We see how bored and uneasy modern people start to feel when wasting time.

The original black and white version that tells the story of a man and a woman who go by raft to a remote desert island with chickens and a dog. At first, it is a kind of paradise for them. They farm and fish following the same routine every day, feasting on grilled sanma that they roast out in the open. One day, their harmony gets interrupted by a mustachioed scientist on a raft powered by an abused pig. This unwanted visitor constructs a robot which begins the process of industrialization on the island. The couple are disgruntled but decide to put up with the man and his technology.

A work that incorporates live-action fast-forwarding, live-action stop-motion animation, and a few cel animations. A number of strange events that occur in a room. I left the camera in the empty room after moving and took a month to shoot.