Suzume
(SUZUME NO TOJIMARI)

Nozomi is an outgoing young womaIn a small peaceful town in Kyushu, a young 17-year-old girl called Suzume encounters a man who says he is travelling in search of a door. She decides to follow him and discovers a single dilapidated door standing there amidst the ruins, the only remains to have survived the passing of time. Yielding to an inexplicable impulse, Suzume turns the handle and other doors open all over Japan, unleashing all the disasters they contain. The man is adamant: any open door must be closed. For the first time Shinkai deals directly with the terrible earthquake that took place on 11th March 2011 and which led to a tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident.

"For me, giving hope is very important. For the real victims, reality is very hard. A lot of them find it hard to be optimistic. Not everyone is like my heroine, Suzume, who is always forging ahead. Therefore, yes, for me the most important thing was to make a really entertaining film even if it is about a natural disaster. I really want to show hope to the young generation and tell them there is a lot of hope in life. " Shinkai Makoto