JP 1977 | Director: Sachiko Hidari | Script: Ken Miyamoto | Camera: Jun’ichi Segawa | Editor: Minoru Miki | Cast: Sachiko Hidari, Hisashi Igawa, Yoshie Ichige, Kenji Isomura | Colour | DCP | 114 min | jap. OV with english SUB | Kiroku Eiga Hozon Sentā

THE FAR ROAD tells of the lives of railroad worker Satako (played by director Sachiko Hidari) and her family over a period of three post-war decades. It was a time when Japan's economy achieved world-class status. Hidari's nuanced and virtuosic film addresses the cost of this history of progress. Satako's husband Ichizô is a linesman with the Japanese railway. Satako attempts to supplement the meagre family income with part-time work. The people in the railway settlement live on the edge of poverty; what's more, Satako is subjected to her husband's violence. But as their father's job falls victim to automation, the son and daughter dare to rise up against the patriarch.

THE FAR ROAD tells of the lives of railroad worker Satako (played by director Sachiko Hidari) and her family over a period of three post-war decades. It was a time when Japan's economy achieved world-class status. Hidari's nuanced and virtuosic film addresses the cost of this history of progress. Satako's husband Ichizô is a linesman with the Japanese railway. Satako attempts to supplement the meagre family income with part-time work. The people in the railway settlement live on the edge of poverty; what's more, Satako is subjected to her husband's violence. But as their father's job falls victim to automation, the son and daughter dare to rise up against the patriarch.

Sachiko Hidari had already made a name for herself as an actor when she directed THE FAR ROAD. Her feature film debut was a co-production with the Japanese railworkers' union. She is considered to be the second woman director in Japanese film history, following Kinuyo Tanaka. The film's script was based on more than 300 conversations that Hidari held with Japanese housewives. The Far Road played in the competition of the Berlinale in 1978.