(139mins, 2020)
Directed by Nobuhiro Suwa
In Japanese with English subtitles

Screening: Thursday, March 10, 7PM – Friday, March 11, 7PM（PT）
Click Here to Watch (accessible during screening period only)

*Pre-screening Mini Talk: Thursday, March 10 @6:30PM（PT）
Click Here to Register

Haru (Mottola Serina), a girl who lost her family in the Great East Japan Earthquake, sets out on a journey from Hiroshima to her hometown of Otsuchi. Along the way, Haru meets various people and is touched by their kindness, which heals her wounded heart.

This is a humanistic drama inspired by the "Kaze no Denwa", a real-life phone booth that was set up to communicate with the deceased in Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, which was devastated in the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami.

Prior to the online screening of “The Phone of the Wind” begins, we will have Esther Netter (Founder of the Cayton Children’s Museum) and Masako Unoura (Founder & President of Love to Nippon Project) as guest speakers for our online mini talk event.

Ms. Netter will talk about “Hello Booth” in her museum, which is inspired by the Telephone of the Wind (Kaze no Denwa) featured in the film. Ms. Unoura, as a survivor of Great East Japan Earthquakes and Tsunami, will share her traumatic experience then and her Love to Nippon Project with us.

ESTHER NETTER

She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Cayton Children’s Museum. Though the Cayton has been opened since 2019, she began her children’s museum adventure in 1991 when she opened the Zimmer Children’s Museum in the Westside Jewish Community Center. By 2018, she partnered with the leading retail developer, Macerich, to build the museum space on the rooftop of Santa Monica Place.

She received a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s degree in education from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She lectures and teaches internationally about museum education.

MASAKO UNOURA

She is a survivor of Great East Japan Earthquakes and Tsunami in March 11, 2011. Using her traumatic experience as a backbone, she established Non-Profit Organization (NOP); the Love to Nippon Project here in Los Angles, an annual event to promote awareness of the natural disaster in Southern California and to serve as a remembrance to all those who lost their lives or their loved ones at the LAPDHQs and Santa Monica Pier for last ten years. She lives in Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture and Marina del Rey with her husband; Ted Tokio Tanaka, FAIA who is known as an architect who created the colorful LAX Glass Pylons at the Los Angeles International Airport.
Unoura-Tanaka was born in Tokyo and grew up in Ofunato. After graduating from International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, her careers started working for a financial PR company as well as the URASENKE Foundation in Kyoto. In 1990s, she was invited to work for the United Nations University in Tokyo, focusing on the area of the environmental issues for more than ten years.

Click HERE to Watch the Trailer

This screening is partnershipped with Filmination which is a Japanese trading company specialized in selling Japanese movies to global VODs.