Nagai sanpo

Matsutaro Yasuda, retired principal of a girls' high school, has moved from the city to an apartment in a small provincial town. Yasuda is alone. After losing his wife to alcohol, he has become estranged from his daughter. But at his new address he has neighbours. In particular 5-year-old Sachi, a little girl with cardboard angel's wings on her back who clutches the iron fence with her fists and gazes into the distance. She is barefoot and wears a summer dress despite it being winter. Her leg is bruised and scratched. Yasuda tries to speak to Sachi but gets neither words nor even a smile in return. When night falls, Yasuda can hear the girl's mother and her boyfriend arguing loudly next door. Yasuda tries to block it all out. He doesn't want to hear or see anything. Only little Sachi affects him. She also seems to be blocking things out. "Have you ever seen a blue sky?" he asks her. "Where clouds look like cotton candy and a white bird is flying high? Would you like to walk with me?" Eventually he connects. Yasuda and Sachi take a long walk during which they meet a young boy named Wataru at a small, desolate train station. Wataru is also lonely. He joins the two on their journey but the trip takes un unexpected turn one day when Sachi begins to open her heart to Yasuda and Wataru. Her cardboard angel wings begin to fly up to a real sky...  (Festival information)