Hamamatsu Film Festival Hamamatsu Anime Festa 2022 “Solitary Genius: Tomomichi Nakamura Works Collection”

Special Screenings.

At the Hamamatsu Film Festival and Hamamatsu Anime Festa 2022, screenings of the Tomomichi Nakamura Works Collection “Solitary Genius: Tomomichi Nakamura Works Collection” will be held.

To all the staff members of the Hamamatsu Film Festival, thank you for inviting me. Although I have already ceased production of visual works, I am grateful for the opportunity to be introduced in this way.

Details can be found in the D Program towards the bottom of the page.

Thank you very much.

You can check the program from the link above.

Solitary Genius: Tomomichi Nakamura Works Collection Program

my town


Animation: Tomomichi Nakamura Music: Tomoko Ueyama

2007, 17 minutes, Japan

In 2004, though it hadn’t been diagnosed yet, I, who had autism spectrum disorder, created my first animation based on the ‘enormous power’ and ‘unresolved image’ I felt at the time. I now recognize that the ‘enormous power’ I felt back then was the power of the ‘majority,’ the force of the crowd. This animation portrays the internal struggle stemming from the resentment and helplessness arising from that.

2007 Image Forum Festival 2007 *Encouragement Prize (Japan)
2007 Vancouver International Film Festival *Apocalyptic (and other) Anime”(Canada)
2008 Calgary International Film Festival *An Animator’s World Short (Canada)
2013 EXPERIMENTA *SPECIAL FOCUS – JAPAN: THE SHADOW WORLD(India)

etc.

Ants

Animation: Tomomichi Nakamura Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto

2008, 11 minutes, Japan

An animation piece created concurrently with “My Town,” this work re-edited unresolved footage that couldn’t be fully incorporated into it. Reminiscing about my childhood spent watching ants, I found myself identifying with them. The technique used in this work later evolved into photographic works, and its successor, “Like Ants,” won the Grand Prize at the Canon’s New Cosmos of Photography 2019. Currently, the series continues as “Ants Plus.”

2009 55th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen *International
Competition (Germany)
2009~2010 Les Rencontres Internationales (France) (Spain) (Germany)

etc.

Mock Angel

Animation: Tomomichi Nakamura Music: Masahiko Ishida / Yoko Ikeda

2015, 13 minutes, Japan

I focused on the differences in the existence of two identical twin sisters with the same genetic information, mainly because the concept of genetics is not unrelated to the genetic issues I face. From there, I questioned what it means to exist. The “Mock Angel” is a “hybrid species” positioned between humans and birds. Many hybrid species are known for being unable to leave offspring. Although they may resemble angels, they are not considered a species. I juxtaposed such biological issues with the concept of not leaving offspring (ending one’s own genetic line), which relates to myself. “Mock Angel” signifies the artwork itself for me. One could say it represents an inheritance of knowledge.

2015 45th Tampere Film Festival *International Competition (Finland)
2015 Image Forum Festival 2015 (Japan)
2015 34th Uppsala International Short Film Festival *International Competition(Sweden)
2016 Interfilm 32nd International Short Film Festival Berlin *International
Competition (Germany)

Okayama Art & Culture Award *Second Prize

Ants

Tomomichi Nakamura Music:Hiromichi Sakamoto

2020, 27 minutes, Japan

Should this be considered a film? In reality, it is a photographic video presented at the Canon’s New Cosmos of Photography 2020 Grand Prize solo exhibition. I added credits and music to it. Truth be told, both film and photography are currently dealt with as visual media, but there are significant directional differences between them, perhaps due to cultural disparities. This documentary video was created as an intermediary form. It could be considered a somewhat rebellious piece against the style, as it may appear strange from either perspective.

2020 Canon’s New Cosmos of Photography 2020 *Solo exhibition (Japan)
2021 FIDBA 9- INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL OFBUENOS AIRES *Nuevas Narrativas (Argentine)

The film “Ants” has been nominated for the “New Stories” category at FIDBA – INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL OF BUENOS AIRES

“Recently, the film ‘Ants’ has been nominated in the ‘New Stories’ category at FIDBA – Buenos Aires International Documentary Film Festival, the largest documentary film festival in Ibero-America. The winners will be determined through international competition in the future. This marks Tomomichi Nakamura’s debut submission to a documentary film festival.”


This work is organized by photos and films illuminates intimate relationships and others in my everyday lives. It attempts to depict the deep empathy of human world by contrasting world of ants and ours. There are multiple perspectives to enter and feel the world of “Ants”. One of them is myself “Tomomichi”, and other one is my partner “Shiho”. They are expressed with fragments of each of their lifetimes of which are connected to the third perspective “All”. “All” implies all others including viewers. By feeling the connection between intimate world and Others, we would be able to reimagine connections among the fragments of lifetimes of all beings. In this way, we would be able to regain imagination about human’s connections with ants. We are like ants, and ants are like us.