Film

Maria of the Ant Village

1958 · 1h 50m · Drama

Alongside Tokyo's Sumida River is a ragpickers' settlement known as Ant Village. One night, a young Catholic girl, Satoko Kitahara, who has been baptized under the name of Maria, comes to offer her services. However, Ant Village is not just an ordinary vagrants' community but a fine autonomous organization, and as the municipal authorities have long been demanding that the people of Ant Village leave the site, Satoko is utilized to publicize the Village and win public sympathy. While being utilized in this manner, Satoko is nevertheless glad to be able to help the people of Ant Village, especially the children, and when the summer vacation comes she decides to take the children on an excursion to Hakone. To raise funds for this purpose she becomes a rag-picker herself.

Kakuko Chino

Satoko Kitahara

Kōji Nanbara

Shūji Sano

Kōji Mitsui

Jun Tatara

Fujio Suga

Akihiro Miwa

Fumio Watanabe

Machiko Mizuhara

Shizue Natsukawa

Mutsuko Sakura

Mitsuko Yoshikawa

Chōko Iida

Tatsuo Saitō

Zeko Nakamura

Hikaru Hoshi

• Heinosuke GoshoDirector
• Keiji HasebeScreenplay
• Jiro KagaExecutive Producer
• Haruo TakenoDirector of Photography
• Yasushi AkutagawaOriginal Music Composer
• Shin NagataEditor

Release date

December 7, 1958

Status

Released

Original language

Japanese

Runtime

1h 50m

Genres

Drama