Isao Yamada (山田 勇男, Yamada Isao, born 1952 in Hokkaido) is Japanese film director, graphic artist, and manga author.
Yamada started his artistic career by working at Shuji Terayama's theatre company, Tenjousajiki. In 1974, he was appointed as an artistic crew in Terayama's feature-film, Denen ni Shisu (Pastoral: To Die in the Country). He also worked for 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) was selected for Pia Film Festival, he has been constantly working with 8mm films (occasionally 16mm). Most of them are short 'private films' and named by himself ‘Yamavicascope’. Since 1991, La Camera 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 the cinema work, 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.
There are more than one hundred oeuvres, The following is only a selected list and excludes the feature-films mentioned above.
1977 An incident of night, 25min, colour, 8mm (selected for Pia Film Festival)1978 Night Window, 20min, colour, 8㎜1980 A marine barber, 25min, colour, 8㎜1981 Way home, 25min, colour, 8㎜ (selected for The Berlin International Film Festival)1982 Night of the Milky Way Railroad, 45min, colour, 8mm1983 The fan of spiral shell, 12min, colour, 16mm1984 Sad Gadolf, 20min, colour, 16㎜1985 All Alone, 10min, colour, 8㎜1986 A lion and violet, 65min, colour, 8㎜ (shot in USA)1987 HINA, 3min, colour, 8㎜1988 The sketch of snow, 25min, colour, 8㎜1989 FLAMME, 9min, colour, 8㎜1990 The crown of dreams, 16min, colour, 16㎜1991 Recollect, 17min, colour, 8㎜1992 Tokyo dusk, 33min, colour, 16㎜1993 A moment before both eyes memorize a phenomenon, 48min, colour, 8㎜1994 Tears of socks, 9min, colour, 8㎜1995 The descendant of androgynous, 25min, colour, 8㎜1996 Fragmentation of night, 12min, B&W, 16 1997 Long good-bye, 32min, Ｂ＆Ｗ, 16㎜1998 I have been looking at the dream continuously., 20min, colour, 8㎜1999 Lemon, 12min, colour, 8㎜2000 Moon globe, 28min, colour, 35㎜ ( selected and bought by the 46th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen)2001 PUZZLE, 20min, B&W, 8㎜, The sun which shone like a pearl, 15min, colour, 8㎜ (shot in France)2002 Every day, 50min, colour, 8㎜2003 Suspicious alley, 22min, colour, 8㎜2004 Germany:maiglöckchen, 30min, B&W and colour, 8mm (shot in Germany), The north glimmer, 30min, colour, 8mm (shot in Sweden)2005 Skelton in the boy’s arms, 48min, colour, 8mm2006 Fragilitat, 25min, colour, 8mm ( selected for the 52nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen) 2007 Delicate eyelashes, 36min, B&W, 8mm (music by Simon Fisher Turner)2008 Chocolate, 20min, colour, 8mm2009 Tokyo Nostalgia, 32min, B&W, 8mm2010 Winterreise (Winter Journey), 38min, B&W and colour, 8mm2011 Despair arabesque, 34min, colour, 8mm2012 Instant memory, 34min, colour, 8mm2013 Looking for my vision, 32min, B&W and colour, 8mm2014 Kioku (Reflection), 23min, B&W, 8mm (selected and bought by the 61st International Short Film Festival Oberhausen)2015 Mosaïque en blanc, 35min, B&W and colour, 8mmKoutou Yakyoku - Aishuu no machi ni hoshi ga furu - Momoiro Tsukiyo hen (Red Gaslight Serenade - Stars falling down over the nostalgic Town ), 1975Aka Uogashi (Red Fish Riverside), 1976Hinata no Nioi (The Fragrance of Sunny Side, 1992Ukiyo (Floating World), 1994Tawamuro (À la folie), 1995Utsubuse (Sur le ventre), 1998Itazura (Mischief), 2000Michi kusa, 2001Midori kame (Green Turtle), 2005Fuyu no neko no nakigoe (The Creeping of A Winter Cat), 2007Dandizumu no namida (Tears of Dandyism), 2008Ningyo (Sirène), 2009Moeru youna orengi iro no senkou de kakomareta aoi yokogao (A blue profile outlined by the burning orange dim light), 2010Watashi no Aoi Touno nakani Darega iruno (There is someone in my blue tower), 2011Gozen sanjini rousoku no higa aozameru (The candle light turning blue at 3:00 am ), 2013