Setting: Kyoto in the 1990s and Kochi in the late 1940s.

Synopsis:
The artists Tashima Seizo and Yukihiko are identical twins who spent part of their youth in a rural area of Kochi in the late l940s. Their father Kenzo, a government official who spent most of his time away from home, had been adopted by Jinma, a cranky landowner there who had no children. Their mother Mizue, who was a dedicated teacher at their small local school, was mostly responsible for their upbringing, but instead of scolding them for every bit of mischief they committed, she lovingly helped them develop their talents, especially in drawing, even if that brought charges from the other children's parents that she was playing favorites. To Seizo and Yukihiko, then, their village was a marvelous, Magical, but not always comprehensible world, where they could fish. encounter spirits, and draw what they liked.
One day at school, a poor-looking student named Nakai Senji joined their class. While he and the twins seemed to take a liking to each other. most everyone else treated him like a pariah. Iwata, the school principal and a former member of the military, particularly seemed to dislike him. Senji, however, apparently endured such prejudice and stoically continued his struggle to live. While the twins could be proud of the small Ash they caught together, Senji had to steal eels from other people's traps to sell for the money. The two were amazed at his fishing prowess.
One day, Yukihiko fell into the river and Seizo had to jump in to help him. That was probably the reason Yukihiko's tonsils became swollen, but the two swore it was because of the spirit of Shibaten they saw afterwards. Regardless. Yukihiko had to spend a week in the hospital to get his tonsils removed. That left Seizo to wander around by himself. In a deserted house in the woods, he found a conch shell horn but could not manage to blow it correctly until Senji showed him how. He also tried to make an eel trap by himself, but only ended up injuring himself. He thus watched with pride and amazement as his father finished it for him. Soon thereafter, Jinma died, leaving his house to his housekeeper Toshie and his land to Kenzo.
At school, the other students play a prank on Iwata, but he immediately blamed not those responsible, but those students he dislikes: the twins and Senji in particular. He even slapped Senji brutally and sent him home. Iwata continued his militaristic ways during practice for the school athletic meet: instead of having students of equal ability face off, he pitted the strong against the weak, in part so that he could make fun of a slow runner like Yukihiko. That only infuriated Yukihiko, who, with Seizo soon helping, started throwing the other students' shoes into the bushes. That got the twins in big trouble, but Kenzo was just as mad at Iwata as he was at the boys.
One day, some of the other children Banged up on Seizo and Yukihiko in revenge, but Senji came by to rescue them. In thanks, they Invited Senji to come over to their house the next Sunday, but when he did arrive, Mizue took Seizo aside to tell him that a boy like Senji is not allowed in their house. Unable to understand the structures of adult society, Seizo had to send the disappointed Senji home. After that, the twins only saw Senji once. He disappeared without anyone else taking notice, as if he never existed on this earth. Senji, however, was not the only victim of prejudice at their school. Yagi Hatsumi, who was an admirer of Seizo's pictures, was too poor to even have shoes to wear to school on cold days. When she arrived at school one day with bloody feet, the other children made cruel fun of her, Seizo felt empathy, but could only sit and watch. Depressed by the experience, he sat outside in the school yard while class was being held. It was at that point that he was assaulted by a cloud of dust raised by the mysterious three old women who seemed to reign over that village. While they aimed for his eyes, only his tonsils got bad, and he too had to have them taken out. A few months later, however, both Seizo and Yukihiko had to start wearing eyeglasses.

Notes:
Higashi Yoichi frames this biography of Tashima Seizo with documentary footage of the actual brothers in the present day. Documentary is then clearly one of the crucial intertexts here, given that not only Higashi, who started out in cinema at Iwanami Productions, one of Japan's most important producers of documentaries, before moving on to fiction features. but also the production company. The cinematographer, and other members of the staff are all veterans of non-fiction film. Village of Dreams, which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, is thus not only a nostalgic and fantastic rendering of how children viewed their own community, but also a delicate look at difficult 80Cial realities like prejudice which Higashi had treated before in the River with No Bridge ("Hashi no nai kawa" 1992).