CONNECTIVITY THROUGH CINEMA PRESENTS:
Masa Kudo: Experimental Animations, 2020–2026
A collection of experimental animated films by Masa Kudo * IN PERSON *
FRIDAY OCTOBER 2ND 2026 @ MONO NO AWARE : CINEMA ARTS NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
MONO NO AWARE 33 FLATBUSH AVE, 3RD FLOOR REAR - LIMITED ATTENDANCE TO 40 - MASKS AVAILABLE
DOORS 7 PM – STARTS PROMPTLY AT 7:30 PM – FREE TO ATTEND
TRT, 60 minutes. Additional time for discussion / Q & A with MASA KUDO *IN PERSON *
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
This selection of Masa Kudo’s experimental animations from 2020 to 2026 explores everyday spaces, objects, memories, and time through various handmade techniques. The works use drawing animation, puppet animation, cyanotype, and other material experiments.
PROGRAM:
Difference and Repetition and Coffee, Masa Kudo
digital | color | digital sound | 4 min | 2020 | Japan
A pencil-drawn animation depicting the interior of a coffee shop. Through subtle variations and rotational repetition, the familiar space continuously transforms, exploring the gap between our perception of time and its actual passage.
Tokyo Cyanoghosts, Masa Kudo
digital | color | digital sound | 3 min | 2020 | Japan
This animation was created in response to the temporary closure of the photographic darkroom where I worked as a workshop assistant during the pandemic. After losing access to the space, I turned to cyanotype, a photographic process that uses sunlight instead of a darkroom. The animation is composed of hundreds of hand-printed cyanotypes scanned frame by frame.
Still Life #2, Masa Kudo
digital | color | digital sound | 4 min | 2021 | Japan
An animation combining acrylic paintings and found footage. Through repetition and recombination, the film isolates the image of the coffee cup from its original context and explores new ways of perceiving a familiar object.
Tracing for Traces, Masa Kudo
digital | color | digital sound | 6 min | 2023 | Japan
This film documents my father’s century-old family home by combining live-action footage and animated frottage. It explores how traces left on its surfaces carry memories of past generations.
Jouhatsu Letters, Johan Chang & Masa Kudo
digital | color | digital sound | 30 min | 2024 | Taiwan, Japan
A cinematic correspondence between two filmmakers in Taipei and Tokyo, begun during the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing until 2024. Exchanging images and sounds, the film unfolds through animation, collage, cyanotype and 8mm experiments, quoting one another’s materials. The result shimmers with the joy of deeply personal cinema.
GARAGARA, Johan Chang & Masa Kudo
8mm | color | silent | 3 min | 2024 | Taiwan, Japan
A collaborative film by Masa Kudo and Johan Chang. Separated by the sea, the artists exchanged a single roll of expired Single-8 film between Tokyo and Taipei, layering images of their rooms through multiple exposure.
Wait for Me at Moon Station, Masa Kudo
digital | color | digital sound | 4min | 2026 | Estonia, Japan
This music video was created in Estonia, where I am currently studying, and is my first puppet animation. The animation follows the song’s lyrics, telling the story of a girl with an 8mm film camera remembering her cat, who is no longer with her. It was inspired by scenes from Night on the Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazawa.
Bio
Masa Kudo is an animation filmmaker from Hokkaido, Japan. She previously worked on education projects at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and the National Film Archive of Japan. She is currently studying for an MA in Animation at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Working mainly with drawing animation, she also explores classical analogue techniques such as 8mm film and cyanotype. Her work often focuses on themes of time, space, and memory.
Her films have been screened at the Zagreb International Animation Festival, the GLAS Animation Festival, and other film festivals in Japan and abroad. She is a member of the Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences (Analog Media Research Association).
MONO NO AWARE SCREENING SERIES:
The CONNECTIVITY THROUGH CINEMA series will present the work of artists, film-makers and curators who are traveling or presenting special interactive programs in-person. Our hope is to engage the community by showing work with a focus on post-screening discussion. This series is made possible by support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
