ACF 136: Canary to open in NY and LA

Canary / Kanaria

Written and Directed by Akihiko Shiota

Distributed by Bandai Visual and ImaginAsian Pictures

Language: Japanese w/ English subtitles

Japan, 2005, 132 min

Canary is based on the true events of the deadly gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. It's the story of two children who are abandoned by their families and who come together in the wake of this scarring event.

Twelve-year-old Koichi (Hoshi Ishida) has grown up within the confines of a religious cult whose violently instilled dogma has all but destroyed his sense of identity. After a murderous attack, the cult disbands, and Koichi finds himself abandoned by his mother and separated from his sister. To reunite his broken family, Koichi breaks out of the child welfare system and sets off to Tokyo. While on the run, he meets Yuki (Mitsuki Tanimura), a girl desperate to flee from her abusive father.


Koichi and Yuki travel together in search of his sister, facing the inevitable troubles of children making their way in the world without the guidance or protection of adults. The separate scars of their pasts cause friction between the two, but their struggles develop a familial bond that allows them to confront both their pasts and the future ahead.Beautiful and poignant, Akihiko Shiota's film illustrates the resiliency of forgotten youth in forging their own destiny from a tragic past.

Hoshi Ishida won the Sponichi Grand Prize New Talent Award for his role at the 2006 Mainichi Film Awards.

Canary will screen in New York July 25 - 31, 2008 at:

The ImaginAsian Theater
239 East 59th Street

and in Los Angeles August 8 - 14, 2008 at:

The ImaginAsian Center
251 S. Main Street

For the film's website, click here.