Haunted by recurring apparitions, sixteen-year-old Ami (Mihaya Shirata) embarks on a supernatural journey from Singapore to Japan in search of her mother, who went missing during a cataclysmic tsunami. Upon her arrival in Tokyo, she meets Isamu (Masatoshi Nagase), her cynical taxi-driving uncle, who becomes her custodian and reluctant guide through the ravaged landscape and her family’s dark past.
Set against the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami and shot mainly in Rikuzentakata, a city almost wiped out during the tsunami, Last Shadow at First Light is a “post-apocalyptic story of survivors’ trauma” (The Film Verdict) that deals with lingering family trauma. The feature film debut from writer/director Nicole Midori Woodford had its world premiere in the New Directors section of the San Sebastian Film Festival, where it was nominated for the New Director’s Award.
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Last Shadow at First Light arrives on DVD/Digital on Nov. 11, 2024.
