Toshio Matsumoto

A young man wakes up in what turns out to be a mental institution without any recollection of past events and even who he is. A doctor seems to want to help him recall his life, but does he, really? What is true and who is lying? What is real and what is a delusion? Is it even possible to answer such questions?

Engram is a three-part piece revolving around a few good old ideas such as photos inside of photos movies inside of movies photos inside of movies movies inside of photos and (even) a film director inside a TV set. (ubu.com)

Experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto.

A short by Tashio Matsumoto involving the ocean and fancy editing techniques.

Experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto

An experimental short by Toshio Matsumoto.

Experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto.

Experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto.

An experimental short by Toshio Matsumoto.

This experimental short shows a masked girl with long silver hair wearing a kimono and sitting on a chair by a river side. The mask with two short horns, the Hannya, represents the female demon of jealousy and wrath and has been used at the stage of No drama (a traditional Japanese dance to represent various spirits). She hardly moves but we experience an excessive speed when the stop-motion images, taken by infra-red film, are zooming in and out while circling around her. (wuemme experimental film)

A psychedelic yoga lesson with some beautiful and bizarre visuals.

There's more to picture than meets the eye in this journey into oriental metaphysical imagery. Starting (in a very Christian manner) with the Word, the film draws an explosion of visible forms, as if a sign of the shattering of shapes in the mundane world. But time is cyclical, of course, and what was once a multitude of sensible realities must eventually return to the Word and, finally, to sheer Color. (Sound of Eye)

A kaleidoskopic image of Andy Warhol, presumably found footage from some interview, is slowed down and played over sudden bursts of white noise and Warhol's own distorted, delayed, voice. (imdb)

The film serves as a tribute to those that lost their lives during the air raid on the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal on August 7, 1945. (ADC)

Experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto

An experimental film by Toshio Matsumoto

A stark, desperate tale of vengeance, Shura examines the plight of Gengobe - a Ronin and his quest to right the wrongs done unto him. (imdb)

Experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto.

Experimental short that show us some human faces and some strange images in a flashback-style way.

Essentially a short, collage-based film that seems to be a kind of document of late 1960's Japanese youth culture, music and trends, using a wildly creative juxtaposition of various film stock that is presented in the form of a continual split-screen. (imdb)

The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.

Magnetic Scramble is the first video work by Toshio Matsumoto. Here, the artist manipulates television images (of student demonstrations against the U.S.-Japan Security Pact) by holding a magnetic coil next to the monitor. Matsumoto later incorporated this piece into a scene of his film Funeral Parade of Roses (1969). (letterboxd)

The film begins with a shot of a baby being baptised in a font. We hear children crying "mummy" on the soundtrack before music and narration introduce a series of shots showing children and parents going about their everyday activities. (imdb)

The Song of Stone (1963) is an abstract, experimental piece from director Toshio Matsumoto, a filmmaker still best known for the avant-garde masterpiece, Funeral Parade of Roses (1969). (imdb)

Short documentary by Toshio Matsumoto.

A surrealist commercial for bicycles.