From Variety · Naman Ramachandran · · 1m 20s
The girl who erased herself to survive
Nishikawa Miwa's Toronto Platform opener follows a Tokyo war orphan who trades her name for a chance at staying alive.
In brief
Nishikawa Miwa's Toronto Platform opener follows a Tokyo war orphan who trades her name for a chance at staying alive. Survival after the firebombing came at a price: the children who lived often had to give up who they were. Originally reported by Variety.
Toronto opens with this
Nishikawa Miwa's "Children Untold" leads the Platform strand at the Toronto festival, a drama about Japan's abandoned war orphans.
Tokyo in ashes
The story starts in the rubble of the WWII firebombing of Tokyo, a city where children were left to fend for themselves.
A girl named Kotoko
She is 12, and she once dreamed of a life in music. The war takes that and leaves her shining shoes on the street.
Shelter under the yakuza
Kotoko falls in with a band of orphaned boys who survive under the protection of a local yakuza clan.
“fall in with a band of orphaned boys sheltering under a local yakuza clan”
Erasing her old self
To keep going, Kotoko wipes out every trace of the person she used to be. The self becomes one more thing to trade.
“erase every trace of the person she used to be”
Built from real testimony
Nishikawa spent years with archival accounts of Japan's war orphans, asking how much of yourself you can give up before survival stops meaning anything.
“how much of yourself a person can give up before survival stops meaning anything at all”
The big picture
Survival after the firebombing came at a price: the children who lived often had to give up who they were.
