Kenji Iwaisawa
Directing
Biography
Kenji Iwaisawa is an independent filmmaker and animator who was born in Tokyo Prefecture in 1981. After graduating from high school, Iwaisawa became an apprentice to the director Teruo Ishii. He began creating his own animation works by drawing on influences from live-action movies. In 2008 he finished his first animation piece, Fukuraicho, The Man in the Tunnel Alley. Henceforth, he focused on short film animations and began production on his independent feature-length animation On-Gaku: Our Sound.
Known For
A gifted runner trains a determined but unskilled classmate, unaware he's creating a rival who will challenge him on the track for years to come.
100 METERS
Our hero, called by a different name in each chapter of his life, becomes a J-pop idol, an outcast, a leader, and an oracle in this hundred-year chronicle spanning the past, present, and future. Through a chance encounter with a transfer student, he trains to become an idol, starting his search for self-identity and a journey toward greatness beyond superstardom.
Jinsei
A bored trio of high school delinquents start a rock 'n' roll band together. They have no skill, money, or even a full set of drums, but are determined to jam out and impress their only friend.
On-Gaku: Our Sound
Set in Izu, Japan. Men are fighting over a woman called Hina. What is it exactly that makes Hina mislead men? As the men try to reveal their true feelings for Hina, strong, muscly men also get involved and the sound of the festival drum signals the start of a confrontation.
Hina Is Beautiful
While comically depicting the fragility of the end of summer from the perspective of popsicles, this work conveys the smell of the Showa era and the atmosphere of downtown.
Mourning Ice Pop
Taro, who looks like a skull, doesn't stand out at school, but he is blessed with friends like Yasushi, who has a head that looks like the inside of a clam, and finds meaning in seemingly meaningless things as he goes about his daily life.
Taro Wanted to Become Water
This work was created at the "Ginza Shoeikai Art Festival" event held in June 2014 in Fussa City, Tokyo, as part of a workshop that allowed visitors to experience up-close the rotoscope animation technique. Visitors drew each piece by hand. The complete short film consists of those joined individual sketches.
Fussa Dancing Animation
A child is watching a music video on his television screen.
Nicky
A mysterious man, wearing a mask with eyes on it, is unable to go anywhere because he is plugged into an electrical outlet. He sits in an alleyway while various people visit him, curious about who he is and why he is there.
Man in the Tunnel Alley
Done with high school, a boy goes into exile in the mountains. His best friend, who hasn't found happiness in society, joins him.
Mountain
Ogasawara was supposed to spend New Year's Eve quietly alone in the kotatsu, but he is at the mercy of Goto, a mysterious man who appears every year. Iwaizawa's first live-action work, which he took on when he was trying to figure out whether he could compete with animation.