Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme: Cheers From Heaven

天国からのエール (Tengoku kara no eru) 

When “bento” (lunch box) shop owner Hikaru (Hiroshi Abe) learns that a group of local high school students have no place to practice music, he decides to build a studio beneath his store allowing them to play there for free. The students begin to grow fond of Hikaru but still know little of his terminal illness which Hikaru has been battling and keeping secret from his family and friends. 

Set in the coastal town of Motobu-cho, Okinawa, this film depicts the incredible true story of Hikaru Nakasone, a man who devoted the last days of his life to helping youngsters who felt as if they had nowhere to go. In similar fashion to Kurosawa’s Ikiru, this inspiring account tells the positive and unmeasurable effect one ordinary man can have on so many individuals’ lives.

Cheers From Heaven, dir. Makoto Kumazawa, Japan 2011, 114 mins, Japanese with English subtitles

Special ticket offer: four tickets for the price of three!

The ICA Cinema is now completely ad-free. Please note that there will be no trailers shown before this feature. This film is rated PG.