FIREFLY DREAMS - INTRODUCTION

Firefly Dreams is the story of one defining summer in the life of teenage rebel, Naomi, set in the beautiful and remote countryside of Horaicho in central Japan.

City brat Naomi is packed off to work at her aunt's hotel after her mother runs off with another man. She hates the hard work in the isolated hotel so her aunt arranges for her to look after an aging relative, Mrs. Koide, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Naomi hates this, too, but gradually becomes intrigued by the old woman and the mysteries in her past. As Naomi's summer romance with a local boy turns sour she grows closer to the old woman and they begin to share their secrets and their dreams.

Firefly Dreams is a film with deep resonance for contemporary Japan, where a huge gulf of experience separates the generation that experienced the war, and the younger rootless generations who have been raised in an era of peace, but spiritually empty materialism. The story also contrasts the divide between frenetic urban Japan and the warmth and human values found in the countryside.

A 100 METER FILMS production.
Japan 2001/105 mins / 35mm / 1:1.85 / Colour / Dolby SR