OKITA Shuichi / Japan / 2026 / 138 min / Competition  

An omnibus narrative unfolds around three women named Satoko. Fifteen-year-old Satoko (Kashun Himeno) is preoccupied with a boy her age whom she secretly has a crush on. Thirty-five-year-old Satoko (Kasumi Arimura), who works for a film publicity company, looks back on her memories of a lover with whom she had an affair and who has since left her. Fifty-five-year-old Satoko (Hikari Ishida), approaching the end of her life as a housewife, rediscovers a dream she had long forgotten. Though they encounter turning points at different stages of their lives, the three Satokos are united by their passion for writing. What makes this lively human drama so enjoyable is the faces and gestures of its three actresses, which animate every corner of the film. Expressions moving between longing and confusion, awkwardness and boldness, shyness and excitement vividly inscribe the twists and turns of their lives. Scenes of sharpening pencils and scribbling on paper, as well as fingers tapping away at a laptop keyboard, immerse us in the physical allure of writing. Above all, the way they bury their heads in paper and laptops, completely absorbed in what they are doing, evokes the tension and exhilaration of falling in love with something, beyond the specific act of writing itself. This is what makes the film a universal story about dreams and love. Satoko Always also finds pleasure in its structure and form. Okita subtly overlaps the three narratives, shaping the film almost like the chronicle of a single life. Particularly intriguing are the moments when these seemingly separate women happen to encounter one another and connect, creating a compelling structural tension. Ultimately, the three episodes speak to the possibilities inherent in fiction. Each of the three Satokos, in her own way, learns the craft of translating her life into fiction through writing. It may be nothing more than idle fantasy, but it nonetheless helps them grow. The fictions they create demonstrate how a story works while offering a way to look back on and reconsider their own lives.