World Film Festival
August 24 - September 4, 2006

The international Ecumenical Jury, composed of six members coming from Switzerland, Canada, Cuba, and the US, has decided to give the Ecumenical Award to the film

NAGAI SANPO (A Long Walk)
by director Eiji Okuda, Japan.

The motivation of the jury reads as follows:

“Out of the broken relationships of a retired widower alienated from his daughter, a five-year old abused by her mother, and a lost teenage boy, director Okuda has unveiled transformational moments that make this a movie filled with grace. These three are all on a walk that leads to a journey where redemption and hope may come.”

Eiji Okuda has been the producer of the film KAMATAKI by director Claude Gagnon which has been the winner of the Ecumenical Award in Montreal last year.

The jury and the award winning director, from left to right: Alberto Ramos Ruiz (Cuba), Derek Macleod (Canada),
Hana Sugiura (the young star of the film), Eiji Okuda, Dave Pomeroy (President of the Jury, USA),
Andréanne Bournival (Canada), Marc Aellen (Switzerland), and Glenn Strand (USA)

The Ecumenical Award aims at promoting movies that distinguish themselves not only by their artistic merit, but also by their exploration of the ethical, social and spiritual values that make life human.
The Jury in Montreal is coordinated by Interfilm-Montreal and by Communications et Société (www.officecom.qc.ca), the member association of SIGNIS for French-speaking Canada.
For more information on the Ecumenical Jury in Montreal, with the list of all the winners since 1979, visit  http://www.officecom.qc.ca (french).

Film synopsis:
Matsutaro Yasuda, retired principal of a girls' high school, has moved from the city to an apartment in a small provincial town. Yasuda is alone. After losing his wife to alcohol, he has become estranged from his daughter. But at his new address he has neighbours. In particular 5-year-old Sachi, a little girl with cardboard angel's wings on her back who clutches the iron fence with her fists and gazes into the distance. She is barefoot and wears a summer dress despite it being winter. Her leg is bruised and scratched. Yasuda tries to speak to Sachi but gets neither words nor even a smile in return. When night falls, Yasuda can hear the girl's mother and her boyfriend arguing loudly next door. Yasuda tries to block it all out. He doesn't want to hear or see anything. Only little Sachi affects him. She also seems to be blocking things out. "Have you ever seen a blue sky?" he asks her. "Where clouds look like cotton candy and a white bird is flying high? Would you like to walk with me?" Eventually he connects. Yasuda and Sachi take a long walk during which they meet a young boy named Wataru at a small, desolate train station. Wataru is also lonely. He joins the two on their journey but the trip takes un unexpected turn one day when Sachi begins to open her heart to Yasuda and Wataru. Her cardboard angel wings begin to fly up to a real sky...  (Festival information)