cinematography
Yukiko Iioka
editing
Keiko Okawa
music
Skank

sound
Young Chang Koh
costumes
Yoshiko Kosato

cast
An Ogawa (Haru)
Yuko Nakamura (Yukiko)
Hidekazu Mashima (Tsuyoshi)

producer
Misaki Kawamura
production
Nekojarashi

world sales
Iha Films
jun18.h@gmail.com

international press office
Gloria Zerbinati
gloria.zerbinati@gmail.com

Haru, a bookstore clerk, talks to Yukiko pretending to ask for directions. Haru has detected deep sorrow on Yukikoʼs face. Meanwhile, Haru has been spending days following Tsuyoshi discretely and checking his expressions. In the past, when Haru had lost her mother as a junior high school student, she met and talked separately to Yukiko and Tsuyoshi by chance who seemed to suffer from heartache. The action was brought by the remorse that Haru couldnʼt help her mother while knowing her sadness. Haru has kept watching Yukiko and Tsuyoshi now and then. Occasions that Tsuyoshi, who has been aware of Haruʼs behavior, appears at her workplace and Haru once again talks to Yukiko unfold new dimensions in each relationship. Haru confronts with her own feeling toward her mother and grief during the days passing with the two.

2023 Kanata no uta (Following the Sound)
2021 Haruharasan no uta (Haruhara-san's Recorder)
2017 Hikari no uta (Listen to Light)
2011 Hitotsu no uta (A Song I Remember)

"Following the Sound is a film that asks you to face a question whether you can help someone who is familiar to you like a family member or who is a complete stranger. In the recent times when disparities and rifts are continued to occur and are further getting complicated, by depicting the protagonist, Haru, who cares about people in need of help, extends the hands to them, and delicately building relationships with them, the film will give you a chance to step forward in the world of coming days." [Kyoshi Sugita]

Kyoshi Sugita worked as an assistant director for films directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama, Nobuhiro Suwa, and others. His debut feature, A Song I Remember (2011), was shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival. His second feature, Listen to Light (2017) was screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival as well as Jeonju International Film Festival. His third feature, Haruhara-san's Recorder (2021) was screened at the FIDMarseille (Grand Prix, The Best Acting Award, Audience Award), Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award Special Mention), San Sebastián International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Viennale, Belfort International Film Festival, Gothenburg International Film Festival, FICUNAM.