Naoko YAMADA

Naoko YAMADA studied the art of oil painting at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. In 2004 she started working as an animator for Kyoto Animation. After directing several episodes of the anime series CLANNAD (2008) YAMADA made her chief directorial debut with the anime series K-ON! in 2009. Its international success led to many more projects and the two feature films K-ON! THE MOVIE (2011) and TAMAKO LOVE STORY (2014). Her biggest commercial success was the feature film A SILENT VOICE (2016 / NC ‘17), which won the Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation and was nominated for the Japanese Academy Award for Best Animation of the Year.