Synopsis

This is a story of an adolescent boy living in a burning house with his parents. He can’t drink black coffee, yet he refuses his mother’s offer of sugar lump. Rejecting his mother’s kindness and ignoring his father’s concern, he struggles with his own internal conflicts and continues to perform the minor rebellions of youth. Trying to attract the attention of a girl, the boy crashes a stolen motorcycle. In the aftermath of the accident he finds in his pocket a bill stolen from his mother’s purse, now changed into a sugar lump. Rather than mend the relationship with his family, he takes the sugar lump to his friends, but they reject him, throwing the sugar lump away.

Ryo Okawara

Born 1986 in Yokohama, Ryo Okawara is a freelance animation director and illustrator. He graduated in 2009 from the Department of Graphic Design, Tama Art University and in 2012, from the Department of Animation, Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts. Ryo’s 2012 film, A Wind Egg, was awarded the Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film. His other films include the collaborative work Orchestra (2008) and Animal Dance (2009). His work has been shown at animation festivals in Hiroshima, Toronto, Ottawa, and Annecy, France.