Directing

Nobuhiro Aihara

Born October 17, 1944 · Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Died April 30, 2011 · aged 66

Nobuhiro Aihara was born in Kanagawa prefecture in 1944, where he studied at the design school. He began his career in television animation in the 1960s and started producing his own independent animation in 1965. His aesthetic is distinctive for his use of flowing lines, highly complex drawings, and his love of psychedelic colours. He was a prolific artist who often produced several animated shor…

Known For

Water Ring: Karma 2

Water Ring: Karma 2 · 1980

Water Ring: Karma 2

Abstract forms animated in drawings.

Trip

By the maker of Yellow Night. Also an exercise in the storyless and meaningless description of a drawn journey through the subconscious. Hallucination as a cheerful firework display. Made with style and skill, because nonchalance obviously has to be conquered. (IFFR)

Wind

Photos taken with pinhole camera, sky + clouds. Swirling animation like smoke against a black background.

Japanese Independent Animation, Volume 1

Japanese Independent Animation, Volume 1 · 2013

Japanese Independent Animation, Volume 1

A compendium of independent Japanese animation, featuring a wide range of experimental techniques from drawn animation to pixilation.

Chirico

Chirico · 2008

A wordless short homage to the maestro of pittura metafisica.

Noise

An experiment concerning the attempts at creating a ‘moving image’ long before the invention of cinema. A re-experiencing of the history of ‘magic with light’ unfolds through the use of various devices and techniques, including flip-book animation and Muybridge’s photographs in motion zoopraxiscope. (IFFR)

Shunga

Inch-High Samurai

Inch-High Samurai · 2007

Inch-High Samurai

A collaborative film between Keiichi Tanaami and Nobuhiro Aihara with a new interpretation of the traditional Japanese folk tale.

Filmography

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Water Ring: Karma 2

Water Ring: Karma 2 · 1980

Water Ring: Karma 2

Abstract forms animated in drawings.

Director

Trip

By the maker of Yellow Night. Also an exercise in the storyless and meaningless description of a drawn journey through the subconscious. Hallucination as a cheerful firework display. Made with style and skill, because nonchalance obviously has to be conquered. (IFFR)

Director

Wind

Photos taken with pinhole camera, sky + clouds. Swirling animation like smoke against a black background.

Director

Japanese Independent Animation, Volume 1

Japanese Independent Animation, Volume 1 · 2013

Japanese Independent Animation, Volume 1

A compendium of independent Japanese animation, featuring a wide range of experimental techniques from drawn animation to pixilation.

Director

Chirico

Chirico · 2008

A wordless short homage to the maestro of pittura metafisica.

Director

Noise

An experiment concerning the attempts at creating a ‘moving image’ long before the invention of cinema. A re-experiencing of the history of ‘magic with light’ unfolds through the use of various devices and techniques, including flip-book animation and Muybridge’s photographs in motion zoopraxiscope. (IFFR)

Director

Shunga

Director

Inch-High Samurai

Inch-High Samurai · 2007

Inch-High Samurai

A collaborative film between Keiichi Tanaami and Nobuhiro Aihara with a new interpretation of the traditional Japanese folk tale.

Director

Shelter

Shelter · 1980

MovieAnimationDocumentary

Set in a cave imagined as an air-raid shelter, images of the surrounding trees are painted over directly on the film. Vivid colors intermixed with the sound of wartime radio communications and bombing create a harmonious composition of documentary and animation.

Director

Cherry Blossom

Cherry Blossom · 1970

Begun in 8mm film, but completed in 16mm following the purchase of a new camera, this work continues with the psychedelic and anti-war themes, while moments provide the seeds of his later abstract exploration.

Director

MY SHELTER

MY SHELTER · 1981

Following on from Shelter (1981), the setting is again an air-raid shelter. Close-up images of trees are dissected and reformed abstractly. The film culminates with images of elderly survivors of the war in another example of Aihara’s unique blending of documentary storytelling with abstract illustration.

Director

Dusk

A uniquely psychedelic animation of sordid and chaotic images.

Director

Zap Cat

Zap Cat · 2008

Circles printed on white paper. Animation frenzy as music becomes more erotic/erratic.

Director

Gavora

Psychedelic animation that impresses with eyeballs and other motifs.

Director

Yellow Fish

Yellow Fish · 1998

Images of the sea and clouds seen from the top of the mountain, the candles of the Tibetan temple, etc., and a chaotic psychedelic animation are juxtaposed.

Director

SPIN

A tense abstract animation with delicate line drawing. Contemporary musician Nakamura Shigenobu is in charge of the music used in the work.

Director

LINE

The scenery of the forest in Ogawa and the city of Kyoto and the abstract animation conceived from there are juxtaposed.

Director

The Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra · 2010

The Heart Sutra

'There is a fusuma (paper sliding door) work based on the Hannya Shingyo (Prajna-paramita Hrdaya Sutram) by woodblock print artist Shikou Munakata. He wrote the sutra in one go without any rough drafts or scketches and the result is a very powerful and compelling work. Ever since I first saw this fusuma I have had a special interest in the Hannya Shingyo... ' (extract of the commentary by Keiichi Tanaami)

Director

Twilight

Twilight · 1985

Hands / flicker / morphing animation suggests sexual organs in a frantic dance.

Director

Image (Shadow)

Image (Shadow) · 1987

Steps with shadows. An arm shadow in the landscape - concrete/grass/flowers. Flicker and a finger morphs into abstraction. A real hand appears above the animation, a zoom - drawings/hands/feet.

Director

Fairground in the Stars

Fairground in the Stars · 1989

Fairground in the Stars

A young boy named Takeshi steals an origami crane from his friend Nobu. To Takeshi's surprise the crane begins talking to him and offers to take him and his friends to an amusement park in space where children from many planets play. While riding an attraction designed to test the children's courage, Akiko is sucked into a black hole, leaving Takeshi and his friends to save her.

Screenplay

S＝13

An animation that combines the motion of abstract lines and the motif of an apple.

Director

Lotus

Vivid, chromatic animation.

Director

Stone

Originally titled Stone No. 2, this is considered a seminal work of Japanese independent animation. Stones, houses and the surrounding natural landscape transform continuously.

Director