)
Smoke & Oakum signs Ikuo Yamamoto
)
The Tokyo-based director brings a "mixtape" approach to generative production, drawing on nearly two decades of commercial work, Japanese hip-hop music videos and personal AI art.
The New York generative-first production studio Smoke&Oakum, has signed Tokyo-based director and AI visual artist Ikuo Yamamoto to its directing roster for the US market.
Yamamoto joins Smoke&Oakum with nearly two decades of commercial, music video, documentary and series work, including work for Sony Honda Mobility and Yamaha, alongside a growing body of personal AI work.
"Ikuo's work looks like nothing else on our roster, and that's exactly why we wanted him. He builds a piece like a mixtape. Live action, AI, sound and edit all happen at once, right up to the last frame. It's dense, it's funny and you want to watch it again the second it ends," states Adam Witten, Creative Director and Partner at Smoke&Oakum.
Yamamoto collages timelines, cultures, formats and references across film, art, street culture and generative technology, returning again and again to themes of memory, identity and transformation. In Japan, Yamamoto is best known for his work in the Japanese hip-hop scene, a defining part of his career that includes music videos for Tha BOSS, Mummy-D, SEEDA, BES, SENNINSHO and MonyHorse. Yamamoto has also directed documentary and series projects, including the Taipei Fashion Week AW24 documentary and work for YouTube Originals, alongside commercial work for Sony Honda Mobility's EV brand AFEELA and Yamaha.
"What first drew me to Smoke&Oakum was the idea of being 'AI-first, never AI-only,' and that they were interested in my work precisely because it felt different from what they were already doing. I love the afterglow, the humour and the affection in their work. Some of it reminds me of the warmth and coolness of advertising from the era when television was still 4:3," said Yamamoto.
Yamamoto studied moving image in the Department of Graphic Design at Tama Art University. Yamamoto's AI films Land Of Bastards and City of Bastards were both selected as Official Nominees at OMNI NINGBO 2026, two of 90 short films chosen from more than 1,000 submissions. His generative projects earned further recognition at Sydney’s OMNI International AI Film Festival in 2026, securing nominations among a selective pool of 180 entries chosen from over 3,800 global submissions. His recent AI work was also placed in the top 10 of its category at the Shaike Film Festival and has been published in Altered District Issue No. 2 and the creAtIva AI Art Book Vol. 9.
A self-described maximalist whose influences run from Katsuhiro Otomo, Wong Kar-wai and Jim Jarmusch to Cowboy Bebop, Nas and Kurt Cobain, Yamamoto likes to hide small references and homages that only reveal themselves after several viewings, and many of his pieces loop, which he admits may be a quiet attempt to get people to watch twice without realizing it.
The signing of Yamamoto follows Smoke&Oakum's recent additions of New York director Matthew James Thompson and Toronto director Blair Vermette, extending the studio's roster to Tokyo, New York and Toronto.
