Kitaushima is a small fishing village on the very northern tip of Sado Island. Until the 1960’s it was only accessible by boat. Hundreds of people used to live there, fishing and planting rice, burning charcoal, and raising cows. Most of the residents are now in their eighties but they continue to farm, to fish, to forage the sea and the land and to perform the annual rituals and festivals that hold the community together. The film follows several of the villagers over the course of ten years and celebrates the wisdom, humor and fortitude of the people who live in this remote but incredibly beautiful part of Japan. It is also a personal meditation on time, nature, and mortality.

John Williams has lived in Japan since 1988. He has produced, written, and directed both narrative and documentary films and has won multiple awards at international film festivals. His debut film, Firefly Dreams (2001) was nominated for Best New Director by the Directors Guild of Japan and won the Golden Maile at the Hawaii International Film Festival. Since then, he has directed or produced seven more feature films, including a satirical Japanese-set adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial (Shinpan, 2018). His most recent feature film, Tabi, combines traditional Japanese puppetry and live action, and was all shot in the fishing village of Kitaushima on Sado Island.