KYOTO INTERNATIONAL FILM AND ART FESTIVAL 2020

Notes

Ashibetsu in Hokkaido is an old northern town that once flourished as a coal mining town. The story unfolds in this beautiful land filled with stars on a clear night. Mitsuo Suzuki (Toru Shinagawa) was born in this town and has been working as a general practitioner for a long time. After closing his clinic, he and his granddaughter, Kanna (Saki Terashima), a nurse, start an antique shop named Hoshifuru Bunkado (Starry Night Culture Hall). One day, when Kanna comes home from the hospital where she works, she finds Mitsuo passed out in his studio at the back of the house. Kanna rushes to call an ambulance, but is told that Mitsuo has only a short time to live. Taking this opportunity, Mitsuo's relatives (Takehiro Murata, Yutaka Matsushige, Hirona Yamazaki, Tokie Hidari), who normally live apart, return one by one to Ashibetsu with their own family affairs. Just as Mitsuo is about to draw his last breath, a mysterious woman, Nobuko (Takako Tokiwa), appears in his hospital room. Her arrival leads the story to the spectacular events of Mitsuo's unknown past as he wanders between past and present. In the midst of the war in Sakhalin, which continued to cast a shadow over Hokkaido's history even after August 15, immediately after the war, Mitsuo's best friend Ono (Takao Ito) and the woman he has feelings for, Ayano (Yumi Adachi), are involved in a secret affair. A certain poem by Chuya Nakahara connects Mitsuo and Nobuko. This epic fantasy unfolds while considering what family is and what it means to live in the backdrop of Ashibetsu with its ever-changing breath-taking seasons.
Due to the events of March 11, 2011, director Nobuhiko Obayashi decided to take the opportunity to make this film as a filmmaker with the responsibility and commitment to the future, giving it his all.

CAST

Toru Shinagawa
Takako Tokiwa
Takehiro Murata
Yutaka Matsushige
Shunsuke Kubozuka
Saki Terashima
Hirona Yamazaki
Tomoka Shibayama

Data