Katayama Shinzo poured his heart and soul into the film, serving as director, writer and editor on this portrayal of a brother and a sister struggling to survive which was shot over four seasons. Having served as an assistant director on many films, and working on films by Bong Joon-ho and Yamashita Nobuhiro, he made this self-financed film as his feature debut. The film won the Best Picture and Audience Award at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival 2018. Matsuura Yuya, whose performance in Rolling (2015) was outstanding, stars as Yoshio. Wada Misa, who portrays a female sumo wrestler in Zeze Takahisa’s The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine (2018), takes on another challenging role as Mariko. Both shone together as important characters in A Balance. Katayama’s second and commercial- debut film Missing (2021) competed in the New Currents section at BIFF. (HASEGAWA Toshiyuki)