Hotori no Sakuko

Three years after “Hospitalité,” Kiki Sugino and Koji Fukada return with another socially-aware film centered on an 18-year-old girl navigating the transition from adolescence to adulthood during a summer in a valley filled with romance. Sakuko, preparing for her university entrance exams, joins her aunt Mikie on a visit to a coastal town. There, she forms a friendship with Takashi, a high school dropout and refugee from Fukushima, who is employed at a motel owned by Mikie’s friend, Ukichi. As she stands on the cusp of childhood and adulthood, Sakuko begins to grasp the challenges of growing up.