Completion screening event of new movie "Kita no Sakuramori"

The completion screening event of new movie "Kita no Sakuramori" was held at Tokyo International Forum on 4 January which was attended by the director Takita Yojiro and cast members Yoshinaga Sayuri, Sakai Masato, Shinohara Ryoko and Kishibe Ittoku. The movie is the last of the Kita trilogy series set in Hokkaido after "Kita no Zero Nen" and "Kita and Kanariyatachi" and Yoshinaga's 120th movie to date.


The story stretches over 30 years from the days of WWII to after the war where Eren Tetsu (Yoshinaga) flees Sakhalin in 1945 due to the attacks by the Soviet Union and ends up in Abashiri in Hokkaido. However, she has to grapple with the bitterly cold weather and hunger while keeping her two sons alive. Time goes by to the year 1971 when Tetsu is still waiting for her missing husband and lives on her own. Her second son Shujiro (Sakai) returns to Hokkaido after making it big in the United States and they start living together in Sapporo. Just then, Tetsu who is very advanced in age, starts to have issues due to the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) she developed during the war. The movie will be shown in cinemas from 10 March.


Yoshinaga commented that she had been acting in movies since she was in the second year of junior high and it was thanks to the support of everyone that she could make it to her 120th movie. Sakai expressed his admiration for Yoshinaga as a professional at all times and that he needs to reflect on himself since he feels like an amateur in her presence. He also described the process of acting in this movie as a journey and was glad to have Yoshinaga, the co-stars and staff members together during this process. Shinohara then said that she had never imagined that she would be able to act with Yoshinaga one day when she first started out as an actress and was glad to have this opportunity.

Sources: Natalie / Eiga.com / Oricon