Extremely Short

A man sets out in search of the shortest thing in Tokyo, which turns out to be a single syllable uttered by a dying man…
The first installment in a series of animated shorts called “Bungaku Bideo”, Koji Yamamura’s Extremely Short translates into film a powerful story by Hideo Furukawa, read by the author himself.
Trailer
Teaser

Extremely Short has been selected for film festivals.

• The 56th Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
• The 19th Sapporo Short Fest 2024
• The 31st International Film Festival Etiuda & Anima 2024
• The Directors’ Fortnight 2024 in Tokio
• The 21st London International Animation Festival (LIAF 2024), Best Original Score Award 'Extremely Short' Isaji Sunao Dsir. Koji Yamamura
• 2025 PIAFF : Paris International Animation Film Festival
• The 14th International Animated Film Festival Animocje, Poland, 2025.04

DIRECTOR

KOJI YAMAMURA
Born in 1964, Koji Yamamura is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts. Nominated for an Oscar, his short “Mt. Head” won grand prizes and was selected for 100 Films for a Century of Animation. His first feature film Dozens of Norths won the Grand Prize at the Ottawa and the Annecy International Animation Film Festivals. In total, his films have won over 140 awards.
Yamamura Animation, Inc. (yamamura-animation.jp)

TEXT & VOICE

HIDEO FURUKAWA
Born in Fukushima Prefecture in 1966, Hideo Furukawa is the prolific author of dozens works of fiction, including everything from short shorts to very long novels, as well as plays, poetry, and non-fiction. Known for his dynamic readings, he often partners with musicians and other artists in collaborative performances.

MUSIC

SUNAO ISAJI
Sunao Isaji’s activities range from contemporary music composition and improvisation to live performances of Showa songs, children’s songs, and Brazilian music. He is also a lover of soccer, movies, and folklore. He has received the Akutagawa Composition Award, the Idemitsu Music Award, and the Keizo Saji Award for “Nanban Gekijo – Sunao Isaji Solo Exhibition.

FILM CREDITS

“Totemo mijikai” (2010) by HIDEO FURUKAWA
Planning & English translation MICHAEL EMMERICH
Producer KOJI YAMAMURA
Assistant Producer SANAE YAMAMURA
Co-Production Yamamura Animation
Production THE YANAI INITIATIVE at UCLA + Waseda University
Project Managers, The Yanai Initiative YUMI JOKO, SANAE YAMAZAKI
Voice Recording ERIC SIERCKS @ Waseda International House of Literature
Music performance SUNAO ISAJI, KEIKO NIIMI
Music Mixer HIDEKI ISOBE
Music Recording Studio
Mixer MASASHI SHIMADA, Aoi Studio
Color Grading, DCP lab Assist

The Graffiti

2025 / Japan, US / 12’33” / Standard

The moment the first gleam of sunlight trickled in gently stirring the folds of a shallow sleep—that was when the graffiti appeared . . .
Installment #2 in the “Bungaku Bideo” series fusing Japanese literature and animation, Ryo Orikasa’s hypnotic animated short “The Graffiti” brings to life a prose poem by Makoto Takayanagi, read here by the poet himself.

• The Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2025
• The Ottawa International Animation Film Festival 2025

DIRECTOR

RYO ORIKASA
Born in Ibaraki, Japan, 1986. Datum Point (2015) received several awards include the Ōfuji Noburō Award, The Mainichi Film Awards 2015, the Golden Zagreb Award, Animafest Zagreb 2016, the Best Experimental or Abstract Animation Award, Ottawa International Animation Festival 2016. Recent film, Misérable Miracle (2023), inspired by the work of Henri Michaux, was co-produced by Miyu Productions (France), the NFB (Canada) and New Deer (Japan).

TEXT & VOICE

TAKAYANAGI MAKOTO
Born in 1950, Makoto Takayanagi is a prolific, prize-winning poet and writer. He was
awarded the H Prize for Eggspace / Crystal Palace / Natural History; the Takami Jun Prize for Portrait of a City; and the Tōson Memorial Rekitei Award for Moonlight Perspective, An Anatomy of Sensation, and For the Transcription of Interstellar Music. Three volumes of his collected works were published from 2016–2019. Recent publications include How to
Assassinate an Immaculate Summer; Francesca’s Skirt; and Elegy for the Twisting, Turning Stingrays. His collections of criticism and essays include Riemenschneider: The Last Medieval Sculptor and A Theory of Poetry for the Theory of Poetry.

SOUND DESIGN

TAKINO MASUMI
She started her career as a sound designer while she was still a student at the Tokyo University of the Arts’ Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment, and she has since worked extensively in animation, movies, commercials, and video games. Her work includes the animated movie “Ghost Cat Anzu” (2024), animated short movies “The Great Rabbit” (2012), “Bird In The Peninsula” (2022), “A Bite Of Bone” (2023), live-action movie “Mado” (2022) and animated TV series “Dinosaur Biyori” (2021), “Shinobanai! CryptoNinja Sakuya” (2023. 2024), “Ikimono-san” (2023) among others. She also took part in various movies and video games as a foley artist.

FILM CREDITS

Based on the poem “Rakugaki”(1999) by TAKAYANAGI MAKOTO
Planning & English Translation MICHAEL EMMERICHh
Producer　ORIKASA RYO
Direction & Animation　ORIKASA RYO
Production　The Yanai Initiative at UCLA + Waseda University
Project Managers　The Yanai Initiative JOKO YUMI, YAMAZAKI SANAE
Text & Voice　Takayanagi Makoto
Sound Design　Takino Masumi
Sound Mixing　Aoi Studio, Nakajima Katsu, Kobayashi Aoi
Voice Recording　Waseda International House of Literature
Fukasawa Taisei
DCP　Bart.lab