Isao Yamada

is a Japanese film director, graphic artist, and manga author.

Career Yamada started his artistic career by working at Shuji Terayama's theatre company, Tenjō Sajiki. In 1974, he was appointed as an artistic crew member in Terayama's feature-film, Denen ni Shisu (Pastoral: To Die in the Country, 1974). He also worked on Boxer (1977), Kusameikyu (Grass Labyrinth, 1979), Saraba Hakobune (Farewell to the Ark, 1982).

At the same time in Sapporo, Yamada started a film club, Gingagahou-sha Eiga Club, with his colleague Yumekichi Minatoya in 1977. Ever since his first 8mm film made for the club, Subaru no Yoru (An Incident of Night, 1977), was selected for the Pia Film Festival, he has been constantly working with 8mm films (and occasionally 16mm). Most of them are short 'private films' and named by himself 'Yamavicascope'. Since 1991, La Camera Gallery in Tokyo has produced regular duo-screenings of his films and the works by Yamazaki Mikio. In the filmography of Yamavicascope, the film-correspondences between Yamada and Yamazaki are titled as OUFUKU (Film Letter) I~V (1986~2006). In addition to screenings in Japan, Yamada's experimental art works have been featured at Cannes, Oberhausen, Stockholm and other film festivals. His feature-films are Anmonaito no sasayaki wo kiita (I've heard the Ammonite's Murmur:1992), Jouhatsu Tabinikki (The Soul Odyssey, 2003) based on the essay by Yoshiharu Tsuge, and Shutorumu unto Doranku (Sturm und Drang, 2014).

In addition to his work in cinema, Yamada works with the media of manga, painting and graphic design. His calligraphic font has been appointed for a number of publications and advertisement posters.

Film works There are more than one hundred short films produced by Yamada. The following is only a selected list and excludes the feature-films mentioned above, in chronological order.

An Incident of Night (1977), 25min, colour, 8mm (selected for Pia Film Festival) Night Window (1978), 20min, colour, 8mm A Marine Barber (1980), 25min, colour, 8mm Way Home (1981), 25min, colour, 8mm (selected for the Berlin International Film Festival) Night of the Milky Way Railroad (1982), 45min, colour, 8mm The Fan of Spiral Shell (1983), 12min, colour, 16mm Sad Gadolf (1984), 20min, colour, 16mm All Alone (1985), 10min, colour, 8mm A Lion and Violet (1986), 65min, colour, 8mm (shot in USA) HINA (1987), 3min, colour, 8mm The Sketch of Snow (1988), 25min, colour, 8mm FLAMME (1989), 9min, colour, 8mm The Crown of Dreams (1990), 16min, colour, 16mm Recollect (1991), 17min, colour, 8mm Tokyo Dusk (1992), 33min, colour, 16mm A Moment Before both Eyes Memorize a Phenomenon (1993), 48min, colour, 8mm Tears of Socks (1994), 9min, colour, 8mm The Descendant of Androgynous (1995), 25min, colour, 8mm Fragmentation of Night (1996), 12min, B&W, 16mm Long Good-Bye (1997), 32min, B&W, 16mm I Have Been Looking at the Dream Continuously (1998), 20min, colour, 8mm Lemon (1999), 12min, colour, 8mm Moon Globe (2000), 28min, colour, 35mm (selected and bought by the 46th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen) PUZZLE (2001), 20min, B&W, 8mm, The Sun Which Shone Like a Pearl (2001), 15min, colour, 8mm (shot in France) Every Day (2002), 50min, colour, 8mm Suspicious Alley (2003), 22min, colour, 8mm Maiglöckchen (2004), 30min, B&W and colour, 8mm (shot in Germany) The North Glimmer (2004), 30min, colour, 8mm (shot in Sweden) Skeleton in the Boy's Arms (2005), 48min, colour, 8mm Fragilitat (2006), 25min, colour, 8mm (selected for the 52nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen) Delicate Eyelashes (2007), 36min, B&W, 8mm (music by Simon Fisher Turner) Chocolate (2008), 20min, colour, 8mm Tokyo Nostalgia (2009), 32min, B&W, 8mm Winterreise / Winter Journey, (2010), 38min, B&W and colour, 8mm Despair Arabesque (2011), 34min, colour, 8mm Instant Memory (2012), 34min, colour, 8mm Looking for My Vision (2013), 32min, B&W and colour, 8mm Kioku / Reflection (2014), 23min, B&W, 8mm (selected and bought by the 61st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen) Mosaïque en Blanc (2015), 35min, B&W and colour, 8mm Strasse / Transient Passage (2016), 40min, B&W and colour, 8mm Apparition's Moment (2017), B&W, 8mm Art works Koutou Yakyoku - Aishuu no machi ni hoshi ga furu - Momoiro Tsukiyo hen / Red Gaslight Serenade - Stars Falling Down over the Nostalgic Town (1975) Aka Uogashi / Red Fish Riverside (1976) Hinata no Nioi / The Fragrance of Sunny Side (1992) Ukiyo / Floating World (1994) Tawamuro / À la Folie (1995) Utsubuse / Sur le Ventre (1998) Itazura / Mischief (2000) Michi kusa (2001) Midori kame / Green Turtle (2005) Fuyu no neko no nakigoe / The Creeping of A Winter Cat (2007) Dandizumu no namida / Tears of Dandyism (2008) Ningyo / Sirène (2009) Moeru youna orengi iro no senkou de kakomareta aoi yokogao / A Blue Profile Outlined by the Burning Orange Dim Light (2010) Watashi no Aoi Touno nakani Darega iruno / There is Someone in my Blue Tower (2011) Gozen sanjini rousoku no higa aozameru / The Candle Light Turning Blue at 3:00 am (2013)