13th OKINAWA INTERNATIONAL MOVIE FESTIVAL

Film director Hiroshi Shinagawa breaks new ground in Hokkaido with his latest feature film "Restart." Set in Shimokawa, "Restart" is a crowdfunded project which began before the script was completed, making it a project that director Shinagawa and the audience could work on together.

The movie production represents a new frontier for filmmaking in Shimokawa, which signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Yoshimoto Kogyo in 2017 to promote SDGs, and launched "Shimokawa-cho Co., Ltd.", a project to enliven Shimokawa town with the power of entertainment. Shimokawa is located in the northern part of Hokkaido, and although it has the same area as the 23 wards of Tokyo, 90% of it is surrounded by rich forests, with a population of just 3,300.

The story of “Restart” tells of a girl who visits Tokyo, dreaming of becoming a singer-songwriter, but who eventually ends up working as an idol. Her relationship with a popular musician fails, and feeling hurt and tired, the heroine returns to her hometown of Shimokawa to repair her broken heart, touched by her classmates, her family and the surrounding nature.

The film stars EMILY one half of male and female folk duo HONEBONE who previously had no acting experience. “I had a dream that an indie artist could appear in a movie, and even though I do not have any acting experience, I would like to put my body and soul in to this project to meet the expectations of Director Shinagawa.” EMILY is accompanied by SWAY of the theater company EXILE, who plays a classmate living in Hokkaido who encourages and supports the struggling heroine.

The heroine’s sister is played by Yuri Asakura, leader of pop idol group Erabareshi, in her film debut. Hideo Nakano, who previously starred in Shinagawa's "Z Island" (2015) plays the heroine’s father, with Asuka Kurosawa, who has appeared in many films and dramas such as 2019’s "The Flower of Evil" directed by Noboru Iguchi, portrays the mother.

Director Shinagawa, who was born in Tokyo in 1972 was formerly part of comedy duo Shoji Shinagawa, with Tomoharu Shoji since 1995. As a film director, he has worked as director and screenwriter for works such as "Drops," "Slapstick Brothers," "One Third," and "Z Island." "Restart” is produced by Shunsuke Koga, whose film works include "Hibana," "Narratage," "River's Edge," and "Punk Samurai Slashed Weather."

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