First Assistant Director
Acclaimed director of Summer of Chirusoku, Half a Confession and Yunagi City, Sakura Country Kiyoshi Sasabe casts Rin Takanashi and Takumi Saitoh as members of the farming industry. The Sowing Traveller 3 tells a universal story of the cherished act of growing fruit. Ayane is conflicted about coming back home because she feels it’s a setback. Filming took place in Akaiwa, Okayama prefecture, a peach growing area with lots of sun and fertile soil. Along with the harmony of daily life that the local people have with nature, an important feature of the film is its beautiful landscapes.
Assistant Director
Thirteen years afterward, I wonder if those who bombed Hiroshima are looking at me and saying: 'We did it! We were able to kill another person!' They should be," murmurs Minami (played by Kumiko Aso), one of the two leading female characters in Yunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni, as she lies dying in 1958, her life brought to a premature end by sickness resulting from her exposure to atomic bomb radiation. This is a story about those who at least initially survived the first U.S. atomic bombing of 1945 and their descendants in contemporary times. The film, based on a comic by Fumiyo Kono, jumps between the two time frames and quietly depicts the sorrow and mortification experienced through the everyday lives of laid-back and soft-spoken Hiroshima people. Only a few scenes of the bombing and the ensuing devastation are featured.
Assistant Director
Kaori is pursuing her career as a journalist for a magazine with great enthusiasm. But as a result of an article she wrote, she is sent to work for a community magazine at Fukuoka. An anonymous letter arrives, which puts her in contact with an old and forgotten theater, the 'Minato Theater' in nearby Shimonoseki.
