Megumi Okawara

School cleaner Nozomi Haruta was happy. She was supposed to marry her partner, her beloved, her soulmate, the handsome teacher Chitose Yokomizo, but when he secretly marries someone else, he ruins her dreams and breaks her heart. Also, maybe her mind? Seized by desperation, Nozomi photobombs his big wedding photograph by replacing the bride, steals the camera, and makes a run for it! Headlong into the path of a courier carrying Castella cakes! When she wakes up, she sees Chitose hovering over her, only it’s not him, but a being who calls himself Castella (as in the cake). For the next two weeks (the expiration date for the cakes), he will be Nozomi’s cake-based companion and help her get over her despair.

Natsuko has been in a cold relationship with her husband, Kensaku, for many years. One day he dies suddenly, leaving Natsuko alone with a wizard, Mari, who appears and offers to grant up to four wishes. Natsuko requests to go 50 years back in time to the past before she met her husband. There, Natsuko meets young Kensaku, her young self, and her father Shintaro. Natsuko pretends to be someone she is not and attempts to uncover hidden truths while living in the past. What awaits Natsuko at the end of her time travel? And what will be her last wish to the wizard?

21st Century Girl is an omnibus feature that is of the girls, by the girls and for the girls. The work of 15 women directors under the age of 30, each of whom contributed an 8-minute film, the package highlights a range of genres, visions and thematic concerns.