And Then There Was Light

Nobuyuki is a teenager living on Mihama Island. Tasuku who looks up to Nobuyuki like his real brother, is abused by his father every day. Nobuyuki’s only classmate is his girlfriend Mika. The day after Nobuyuki commits an unforgivable crime to protect Mika, a tsunami hits the island, leaving only Nobuyuki, Mika, Tasuku, and several no-good adults to survive. 25 years later, Nobuyuki is living in the city with his wife and daughter, while Mika is enjoying her lavish life as an actress. Tasuku, who has grown up without being loved by anybody, still seeks for Nobuyuki in his memory. As their lives intersect, a secret they buried in the past slowly reappears and Tasuku who holds the evidence threaten the other two. The three come to a decision to live and to protect their loved ones.

„I’ve always wanted to make Shion Miura’s „Hikari“ into a film. The title „Hikari“ which means light, is very abstract yet very strong willed and it felt different from her other works. The novel itself was terrifying and I was shocked by its intensity. By intensity, I mean that it was nothing close to moral or compliance, or images that can be easily categorized. And I was drawn by how the story expands outside the box. It didn’t depict the distress of a „house-kept dog“. It was a drama of human beings stepping out into the wild and I was deeply moved by it. For me, the novel „Hikari“ was an „anthem to life“ itself.“ – Tatshushi Ohmori, director