Japanese produce documentary about program for people with intellectual disabilities

From The Yomiuri Shimbun:

A documentary featuring people with mental disabilities or autism living in a welfare institution was completed in February, with its first screening scheduled for April in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo.

With the aim of showing the day-to-day lives of disabled people, who tend to have limited contact with society, Nobue Miyazaki directed "Ashita Tenki ni Naru?" (Will It Be Sunny Tomorrow?), produced by the Koto Ward-based production company Peace Create.

In 2006, Miyazaki directed "Mumyo no Hito" (A Person Without a Name), a movie about Fudeko Ishii, who devoted herself to running Takinogawa Gakuen, the country's first facility for people with mental disabilities, in the Meiji era (1868-1912).
After "Mumyo no Hito," the 66-year-old director said she wanted to shoot a movie about the situation of disabled people nowadays.

Miyazaki and her crew started filming residents of the welfare institution in November 2007 at a facility in Kuratemachi, Fukuoka Prefecture, where about 30 mentally disabled people live. They spent about 40 days documenting activities at the facility, such as baking cookies and collecting aluminum cans, and the day-to-day lives of the residents.

The title for the 85-minute film comes from a favorite phrase used by one of the residents in the movie who is fond of taking a walk. While the phrase is used to ask other people about the weather, Miyazaki said it could be construed to mean whether society will become more accommodating to disabled people.

Another important theme is the relationship between residents and their parents.

While the film shows residents harming themselves or doing harm, such as hitting their own heads when panicking or biting a mother's arm, it also features an interview with a mother who said, "[Despite such actions,] I love my child so much."

"Though raising such a child is tough, a strong parent-child bond can be created," Miyazaki said. "I want to tell young mothers who feel themselves isolated not to run away [from their troubles]."