Snow Prince (2009)

Set in the early Showa era (the mid-1930s), »Snow Prince« tells the story of a 10-year-old boy named Sota 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 since they were little, but Sayo’s father 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. The story begins in the present when the elderly Sayo Arima receives an unexpected package one day which happens to be a manuscript. As Sayo reads it, the movie goes back some 70 years in time to the snow-country village where young Sayo grew up.The story then focues on the friendship between Sota and Sayo.