Haru, a former resident of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, lost her family in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, at the age of nine. Ever since, she has been living with her aunt in Hiroshima. When her aunt collapses and becomes hospitalized, she is once again left on her own. Haru starts hitchhiking back to her old home. This road movie follows Haru’s journey from Hiroshima to Iwate. Along the way, she encounters many people who share their life stories and wounds—not only in connection with the 2011 earthquake but also disasters that drive people into despair and helplessness. An elderly woman in a village ravaged by a landslide recalls the atomic bombings of Hiroshima. Later, Haru meets a family of Kurdish refugees, who suffer the pain of wandering without a home country. Through her encounters with others, Haru learns to embrace pain and console grief. Especially, Morio, a middle-aged man still searching for his family who went missing in the tsunami, explains why they must live on in spite of everything. Another masterpiece from SUWA Nobuhiro, Voices in the Wind, is at once a deeply moving coming-of-age story of a young girl who withstands the impact of a catastrophe, and a kind of ritual for its victims. The long take towards the end of the film where Haru speaks into “the wind phone” to communicate with the deceased is the highlight of the ceremony. [MOON Seok]