SYNOPSIS
Set in 1998, Porcelain Birds features Kayo, an imaginative 17-year-old girl, who feels trapped in a Japanese educational system that doesn’t value individuality. Kayo applies to a new exchange program funded by an American billionaire named Henry Hughes, and convinces her single-parent mother to let her spend the year in California.

While Kayo spends most of her days struggling to assimilate into the new culture, her nights are spent secretly exploring Hughes’ magical ranch nearby with a mysterious ostrich that lives there. With the gentle guidance of Ostrich-san, Kayo opens up to her roommate, Geo, a politically active teenager who has a short temper and doesn’t fit in. And Jessica, a confident and sexually liberated Korean-American girl who is the only other non-white student at the school. Kayo gradually learns to share her imaginative world with both of them and begins enjoying her new life in America

But when disturbing allegations against Henry Hughes come to light, Kayo’s innocence is tested as she tries to find her place in an unfamiliar social structure and discovers the dark side of the American dream.

CREDITS
Director / Writer: Max Porter & Ru Kuwahata
Producer: Emmanuel-Alain Raynal & Pierre Baussaron @ Miyu Productions
Country: FRANCE
© Miyu Productions

CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT

—Funding—
Sundance Screenwriting lab, USA (2019)
Torino Script Lab, EU (2018)
Rooftop Film Fund, USA (2019)
NEF Animation, France (2019)
The Animation Workshop, Denmark (2019)
West Danish Film Fund (2019)
Ciclic Animation, France (2022)
CNC, France (2021)

STILLS