Snow Prince (2009)

Snow Prince: Kinjirareta Koi no Melody is a Japanese movie written by Kundo Koyama and directed by Joji Matsuoka. It premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 was was released by Shochiku in Japan on December 12, 2009.

Set in the early Showa era, Snow Prince tells the story of a 10-year-old boy named Sota (Shintaro Morimoto) who lives with in a poor, snowy village with his grandfather and his dog Chibi. He’s been friends with a girl from an affluent family named Sayo (Marino Kuwajima) since they were little, but Sayo’s father (Teruyuki Kagawa) doesn’t approve and tries to keep them apart.

Sota dreams of becoming a professional painter one day, and with the lessons learned from his grandfather he manages to stay optimistic while enduring mounting hardships.