This film screens as part of The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2024
In 1986, Hisada, a young boy surrounded by a loving family in a small village in Nagasaki, befriends fellow fifth-grader Takemoto Kenji, who is shunned by others due to his family’s poverty. One day, young Hisada decides, rather gingerly, to join Takemoto on an adventure to Boomerang Island, where they hope to bear witness to a pod of dolphins reported to be in the area. This mini adventure deepens their friendship and gives them a summer holiday to remember. Not long after their return, however, a heart-breaking event puts their ongoing friendship in peril…
Reminiscent of Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me, Sabakan marks Kanazawa Tomoki’s directorial debut. Set amongst the beautiful, peaceful landscapes of Nagasaki, Kanazawa’s hometown, this heart-warming tale is teeming with nostalgia for the excitement of childhood and filled with heaps of authentic 1980s Japanese culture, offering something for the inner child in all of us!