Sakura Guardian in the North

Screening Schedule

Nov 23 (Fri.) 12:30 at NTT CRED Hall 1

See Time Table

Details

Ⓒ2018「北の桜守」製作委員会

＜Story＞
In the spring of 1945, cherry blossoms flower in southern Sakhalin. For Tetsu Ezure and her sons, they symbolize hope. But the following August, the Soviet Union invades and they flee from Sakhalin. Barely managing to make it across the strait to Hokkaido, they make their way down the coast to Abashiri. Awaiting the battered family there is a life so harsh as to strain the imagination: cold and hunger through which they must struggle to survive.
In 1971 the younger son, Shujiro, now grown, has succeeded in the U.S., and returns to Japan as president of a chain of hotdog outlets. He returns to Abashiri for the first time in 15 years to find his older brother gone and his elderly mother living alone in poverty, still waiting for her husband to return. Shujiro decides to take her to Sapporo and care for her there.

＜Staff＞
Director: Yojiro Takita / Producer: Riuko Tominaga / Screenwriter: Machiko Nasu / Cinematographer: Takeshi Hamada
＜Cast＞
Sayuri Yoshinaga
Masato Sakai
Ryoko Shinohara
Ittoku Kishibe
Reiko Takashima Toshiyuki Nagashima
Ken Yasuda　Tōru Nomagudhi　Katsuya Maiguma
Shōfukutei Tsurube　Masatoshi Nakamura
Hiroshi Abe
Kōichi Satō

Year of production: 2018
Running time: 126’
Country: Japan

＜Guest＞
Katsuya Maiguma
Born March 28, 1987 in Hiroshima, Japan.
Maiguma’s outstanding performance in his debut feature Ken and Kazu (17’, Dir: Hiroshi Shoji) earned The Mainichi Film Concours for Best New Actor, and Takasaki Film Festival Award for Best New Age Actor. This year Maiguma appeared in 13 films including Sakura Guardian in the North (dir: Yojiro Takita), The Shoplifters (dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda), Recall (dir: Katsuhide Motoki), Think Again, Junpei (dir: Toshiyuki Morioka), A Crimson Star (dir: Aya Igashi), Dare to Stop Us (Dir: Kazuya Shiraishi). He also starred in Hideo Jojo’s Watashi no Dorei ni Narinasai : Chapter 2 and 3. Currently Maiguma is one of the most in-demand actors.

Director

Yojiro Takita
Born in Toyama Prefecture, he directed his first commercial release in 1981, while his Comic Magazine won rave reviews at the 1986 New York Film Festival. When the Last Sword is Drawn (03) won the Award of the Japanese Academy for Best Film, and Departures (08) won the Academy Award in the U.S. for Best Foreign Language Film, along with Awards of the Japanese Academy in 10 categories including Best Film and Best Director. With Sanpei the Fisher Boy (09) and Tenchi: the Samurai Astronomer (12) he has continued with his ambitious attitude to filmmaking, and in 2014 he was awarded the nation’s Medal with Purple Ribbon. The Last Recipe was released in 2017.