Italian sales agent Intramovies has acquired worldwide sales rights to Japanese film “Children Untold” (“Watashi no Shiranai Kodomotachi”), a WWII historical drama written and directed by Nishikawa Miwa and produced by Koide Daiju for Japan’s K2 Pictures.
Set in Tokyo during the final days and immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the film follows a 12-year-old orphaned girl, the daughter of musicians, who disguises herself as a boy in order to survive the underworld, while her former teacher – burdened by guilt and her own need to survive – retraces her path.
The film is finalizing post-production and is targeting a world premiere in late summer or fall this year. 2026. Its Japanese theatrical release is scheduled for October 2026, with K2 handling distribution both domestically and across Asia Pacific territories.
Nishikawa ranks among Japan’s most acclaimed contemporary novelists and filmmakers of the new generation. She came up under the tutelage of Kore-eda Hirokazu, beginning her career as an assistant on “After Life” (1998) before making her directorial debut with “Wild Berries” (2003). Her second feature, “Sway” (2006), a study of two brothers with opposing temperaments, premiered at the 59th Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. She received a Japanese Academy Award for best screenplay for “Dear Doctor” (2010), and her films have since screened at major international festivals including Toronto, Busan, London, and Rome. Her most recent feature is “Under the Open Sky” (2020).
The score was composed by Hara Marihiko, who recently received a Japanese Academy Award for his soundtrack for “Kokuho” (2025), Japan’s submission to the Academy Awards. The music was recorded in Italy with the Roma Film Orchestra. Cinematography is by Kasamatsu Norimichi, with editing by Kikuchi Tomomi; both previously collaborated with Nishikawa on “Under the Open Sky.”
Geremia Biagiotti, Intramovies’ sales, marketing and acquisitions manager, said: “We are honored to begin this collaboration with K2 and director Miwa Nishikawa, who has crafted an intimate portrait of childhood resilience and a sweeping reckoning with the human cost of war. Told with a sharp eye and classical rigor, it is a film of universal reach, rooted in a uniquely Japanese wound. Drawing on the tradition of ‘Shoeshine’ and ‘Forbidden Games,’ with echoes of ‘Oliver Twist,’ it also resonates with more recent works such as ‘Nobody Knows’ and ‘Capernaum.’ It will connect with arthouse audiences of all ages and stand out across major international film festivals worldwide.”
Nishikawa said: “I was born in Hiroshima City, and I have family members who experienced radiation exposure from the atomic bomb. Growing up in an environment so deeply marked by the aftermath of war, I tended to avoid engaging with such a heavy subject when I was younger. However, after more than twenty years working as a creator, I have finally found my own way of approaching it through this work.”
She added: “I first began thinking about this project during the pandemic in 2020. Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine, followed by escalating clashes between Palestine and Israel. More recently, conflicts in Sudan and across all the Middle East have continued to unfold. Civilian homes, schools, and hospitals have been bombed; many parents and children have lost their lives, and countless others have lost their livelihoods. […] It is difficult to comprehend that a catastrophe which took place eighty years ago in Japan – and has since come to feel almost like a distant myth – is still occurring in the world today.”
Koide said: “When I first encountered this script, I was immediately struck by the presence of its protagonist, Kotoko. In the aftermath of Japan’s defeat, when all systems of value were suddenly overturned, a girl who lost her parents is forced to give up her identity as a woman, the music she loved, and even the name she received from her parents in order to survive. I found myself deeply compelled to follow where her journey might lead.”
He added: “This film was made as a quiet prayer – that no more children will have to live under such circumstances, and that this prayer may live on in Kotoko’s eyes as something that endures.”
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