Joji Koyama

21/11/08 appliances

Short notice! If you are in London TONIGHT please come along!

08/10/08 festivals

First Place will now begin the festival circuit, starting off at the Encounters Short Film Festival in November.

28/09/08 first place on specialten

My short film 'First Place' is now available to view on the new issue of SPECIALTEN. Many thanks to Marcus and Fabio for the continued support.

24/06/08 some info about my new short film

First Place

Synopsis: In the aftermath of an unexplained disaster, an F-1 driver is left stranded on a desolate arctic landscape. With help from a Siberian Husky, the stranded driver heads for the finish line only to find himself a pitiful champion to an indifferent world.

Commissioned by Animasivo as part of the Festival de Mexico en El Centro Historico 2008.
Duration: 9 minutes
Director: Joji Koyama
Producer: Beccy McCray and Joji Koyama
Animation, Set Design, Camera, Lighting: Woof Wan-Bau and Liling Lu
Music and Sound: Tujiko Noriko and Isambard Khroustaliov
Title Sequence: Isobel Knowles
Studio Scenes DOP: Martin Testar
Studio Camera Assistant: Andrew Flemming
Costume: Katie Heath
Braces: Carolina Melis

The ideas for First Place started coming together after I read a book by Michel Tournier called 'Friday'- an adaptation of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. In Friday, Tournier subverts Defoe's novel by portraying Robinson not as the hero of the original, but as a languid and pathetic figure who rather than mastering over his slave Friday, is questioned and at times even enlightened by him. I decided to take the very loose paradigm of 'the stranded man having to fend for himself in the wilderness' and make a short film about a champion relentlessly insisting on 'being a champion' whilst the universe couldn't care less. I tried to make everything about the film seem a little pathetic and redundant, even in the way it looks. There's something in the idea of being or trying to become a champion that always made me laugh. Hopefully this comes through in the film.

17/05/08 nowhere

i've been meaning to post something about this for a long time. 'nowhere', an album by isambard khroustaliov and lothar ohlmeier is now out on the not applicable label. some extracts from this very delicate and complex music was kindly lent to me to use in my short film from nose to mouth. please check it out- HERE.

09/04/08 first place, mexico city

i am about to fly out to mexico to present a new specially commissioned short film called 'first place' for animasivo, as part of the festival de mexico en el centro historico. at the moment i'm describing the film to people as a sort of adaptation of robinson crusoe. music was provided by my friend tujiko noriko and sound by long time collaborator isambard khroustaliov. my friend liling lu was an enormous help too. i guess it's more or less the same line up as when i made 'watermelon love' a while back, although the new film is nothing like it.. i will post more info on the film soon.. mexico. i'm so excited.

09/03/08 ann arbor film festival

wow. it's march already. from nose to mouth will be screening at this year's ann arbor film festival. more info HERE. incidentally, my film will be shown as part of a program which includes a film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul - a filmmaker i discovered last year. he is without a doubt one of my favourite filmmakers- someone i admire ENORMOUSLY. i can't recommend his films enough! i was hoping to be able to attend the festival, but i'm in the middle of making a new short film called 'first place' (commissioned by animasivo, as part of the festival de mexico en el centro historico) which is taking up all my time at the moment, so unfortunately i won't be going... more on the new short film soon.

23/11/07 specialten

'from nose to mouth' will be featured in it's entirety in the new issue of specialten dvd. a short trailer of the film is running on the specialten website.

03/10/07 some news

my animated short film 'watermelon love' will be screening as part of touring exhibition 'the geopolitics of animation', alongside works by norman mclaren, jan svankmajer, lotte reiniger, tabaimo, william kentridge and many more.
the exhibition was curated by juan antonio alvarez reyes. it is currently on show at the centro andaluz de arte contemporaneo, in sevilla from the 27th of september to the 9th of december. the exhibition is accompanied by a book 'the geopolitics of animation', edited by the centro andaluz de art contemporaneo in co-production with MARCO, museo de arte contemporaneo de vigo.

in other news, i have been commissioned to make a new short film for animasivo, an animation festival to be held in mexico city in april 2008. i will be traveling to mexico city to present the new film and conduct workshops.

08/09/07 becks fusions

with regards to the beck's fusion event in which i was participating with matthew herbert, i would just like to say that i was as disappointed and frustrated as you were in the audience about what happened. after a lot of confusion, the ICA have now officially apologised. for the record, contrary to what some people were lead to believe, i did not stop the film because i was unhappy with the projector settings.i stopped the film because the projector was broken, and neither myself nor matthew herbert wanted to have the film we worked so hard to complete on time to be screened by a broken projector. the ICA have now posted an official apology on their website HERE. please make any further complaints you may have to the ICA.

IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ALREADY, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU GET A PROPER REFUND FROM THE ICA.

'meaningless 03, 04,05' - the collaboration itself can now be viewed online over at the ica website. it was never meant to be set up in this way- i'd intended the video to be more like visuals to accompany matthew herbert's live performance, so i feel a little funny about it being online like this, but see what you think. link HERE.

10/05/07 festivals

from nose to mouth has started the year long journey into the festival circuits. i will try to post information on the entered festivals whenever i can..
below are a couple of upcoming festivals.

www.courtisane.be
www.imageforum.co.jp/festival

03/04/07 metropolis

spanish television will be broadcasting a 40 minute monographic program of my work on the weekly arts program metropolis. i've been told it airs on the 9th of april. i particularly like how the title of my latest film translates into spanish- "De la nariz a la boca".
more info here.

28/02/07 la casa encendida, madrid

Videomix. Conversación Animada: Shahzia Sikande y Joji Koyama
La Casa Encendida, Madrid. 6th-27th March, Every Tuesday at 8pm

from nose to mouth will be screening with watermelon love throughout march at la casa encendida in madrid. the program was curated by susana blas, and will feature work by myself alongside the work of shahzia sikander.
more info here

06/02/07 london screening tuesday 13th february

Vertigo presents
Pictures from the Floating World: Moving Image Japan
Tuesday 13th February, 6-7pm
Curzon Soho
Shaftesbury Avenue
London W1
Ticket Office: 0870 756 4620
www.curzoncinemas.com

"To launch its special issue dedicated to the independent and innovative film and video of Japan past and present, international moving image magazine Vertigo magazine is proud to present a programme by two imaginative Japanese makers of singular vision and technique. Takahiko Iimura is perhaps Japan's pre-eminent artist film-maker of the post-war period, creating an extensive body of work that references both Japanese and international avant-garde tendencies while remaining resolutely personal. Joji Koyama graduated from Goldsmiths College and remains London-based. He has made a significant impact as a short film-maker and music promo director (as Woof Ban Bau). His latest film, 'From Nose to Mouth' was a commission for animate!, funded by the Arts Council of England.

As Vertigo is London-based, we are also very pleased to be showing the world premiere of Czech artist Tereza Stehlikova's new film 'Kyoto Garden' (5 mins), a dazzlingly textured envisioning of the eponymous landscape in Holland Park, a film that captures the stillness at the heart of the seasonal cycle."

Takahiko Iimura
Love ("A1")
Japan, 1962, sound, B&W, 12 mins, 16mm.

Ma: Space / Time in the Garden of Ryoan-Ji
Japan, 1989, sound, colour, 16 mins, video and 16mm.

Joji Koyama
From Nose to Mouth
UK, 2006, sound, colour,18 mins, 16mm and animation.

Watermelon Love
UK, 2004, sound, colour, 3 mins. CG animation.

01/02/07 vertigo

i was asked by gareth evans of vertigo magazine to contribute to the artists page of the current issue of vertigo, which has a special focus on japanese film and video, past and present. gareth suggested compiling a double page spread of the 'working material' from 'from nose to mouth'. i generally have an aversion to the 'romanticizing' or fetishising of the making of something, but having gone through my notebooks, i thought in this case, presenting a desktop view of the film might be an interesting thing to do. i started developing ideas for 'from nose to mouth' several years ago, and initially started shooting a significant amount of the film on a dv camera- which meant that i'd amassed a fair bit of material. tellingly, i had hardly written anything- the material was predominantly visual- video sketches of scenes, photographs, drawings, graphics etc. there was only so much i could compile in two pages, but hopefully it gives some indication of how the ideas were developed.

19/01/07 from nose to mouth

from nose to mouth
duration 18 min.
uk 2006

A solitary figure emerges out of seclusion to learn an ice-skating dance sequence. Set in a disorientating arena of shifting boundaries, structures and languages, the lessons are not going well. from nose to mouth portrays the unsuccessful efforts of an ambivalent figure trying to make sense of the demands and tasks of a strangely disjointed and fragmented world.