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Official film website：https://mysmallland.jp/
The film’s fresh appeal despite being a social drama is due to the fact that it depicts the universal emotions that many people experience when they are young, such as 17-year-old Sarya’s struggle with her own identity and the gradual coming together of feelings with her part-time job companion, Sota, who is of the same generation. A gem of a film that can be seen as a coming-of-age film or a family film, and that radiates a variety of brilliance in a graceful way.（Ikuya Takamori）
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Commentary
The Kurds are known as “the world’s largest ethnic group without a state”. There is a community of around 2,000 people in Saitama Prefecture, but there have been no cases of Kurds being granted refugee status. And since 2017, when the project for this work began, the situation surrounding the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (Immigration Control Act) has continued to worsen.
This current situation is portrayed through the eyes of a 17-year-old girl by up-and-coming director Ema Kawawada. The director, who has a British father and a Japanese mother, drew on the feelings of identity she felt while growing up, and put them on screen as the protagonist confronts a major problem in an unreasonable situation, reflecting “Japan today”.
The lead role is played by Rina Arashi, who has multiple roots in five different countries and is an exclusive ViVi model. As an active high school student, she gives an imposing performance that is hard to believe that this is her debut film, and she freshly embodies the complex emotions of the main character Saarya. The role of Sota, a boy whom Saaria opens up to, is played by Okudaira Daikane, who has won many new actor award
The theme song “Ne w M o r n i n g” was written by noted artist ROTH BART BARON, and the staff includes Hidetoshi Shimiya, cinematographer of Drive My Car, and Xu Xiansheng, art director. The film was awarded Japan’s first Special Mention at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival/Amnesty International Film Awards, and has attracted significant attention from around the world. s.
summary
17-year-old Saarya is a Kurd who grew up in Japan from an early age with her family, who came to Japan after fleeing the land where they were living. She currently attends high school in Saitama and has friends she can call her best friends. Her dream is to become a school teacher.
They live with their father, Mazlum, sister Aryn and brother Robin, eat Kurdish food at home and always say a Kurdish prayer before each meal. Contrary to their father’s wish that they “never lose their Kurdish pride”, Sarya and her family grew up “like Japanese”, just like the boys and girls of their generation in Japan. At a part-time job she takes without telling her family in order to go on to higher education, Saariah meets Sota, a student at a high school in Tokyo. Sota is the first boy with whom Saariah can talk about his upbringing.
One day, Saarya and her family receive news that their refugee application has been rejected. They will not be able to leave their residential area of Saitama and will not be able to work. Then they receive news that their father, Mazlum, has been detained in an immigration facility.
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