Following up his gargantuan 2016 box-office anime hit Your Name., visionary animator Makoto Shinkai returns with this visually stunning fantasy romance about two teenagers teaming up to combat climate change in the most unorthodox of ways. When 16-year-old runaway Hodaka arrives destitute in a relentlessly rainy Tokyo, he’s taken under the wing of Mr. Suga, a slippery detective who spearheads a magazine specializing in urban legends. Hodaka’s first assignment is to investigate the mythic hare-onna (or “sunshine girl”) rumored to possess mystical powers that can manipulate the weather. His snooping leads him to Hina, who, in the midst of caring for her dying mother, discovers she can part the clouds and summon rays of sunlight through praying. Set against the backdrop of the impending threat of climate change, this beautifully painted trip across frenzied skies is at its heart a love story about two people attempting to restore harmony to a chaotic world.

In competition for the FIPRESCI Prize