If the only thing left after a massive disaster is hope, what could that hope be for? Sono Sion’s Land of Hope is a story about looking for hope where there is none. In Ohara village in Nakashima, Yoichi lives with his wife Izumi and his parents, making a living in stock farming. When an earthquake strikes and radiation leaks from a nearby nuclear power plant, the government draws a boundary line around the affected areas and issues an evacuation order. Yoichi’s house sits directly on boundary line. Yoichi’s father decides to remain in the house with his mother, suffering from dementia and after that the old couple live completely isolated lives. Yoichi and his wife are anxious all the time in the safe area; his parents are at peace. Ohara village, however, looks grotesque with its empty streets and vanished residents, as if it were the end of the world. What everyone is looking for is consolation rather than hope; being together and dying together. In that light the title, <Land of Hope>, is deeply paradoxical. (KIM Ji-Seok)