God's Children
-Forgotten Children Part 2-

Six years have passed since Shinomiya completed his previous film, Scavengers: Forgotten Children.
A gigantic garbage dump in the suburbs of Manila, called Smoky Mountain, had been considered to be the biggest slum in Asia for forty years until the Filipino government dismantled it by force in November 1995.
The Payatas dump, where God's Children was filmed, is called the second Smoky Mountain.
The film starts with the tragic collapse of the Payatas dump in July 2000.
Pivoting around the lives of three families living in the dump under the extremely harsh living conditions, the film vividly conveys the importance of "family ties" and "life with pride," both of which many Japanese people have long forgotten.
After the collapse, the dump was closed, thus depriving the residents their means for living. Yet the residents continued to live there with their heads high for the four months while they were filmed.
In the midst of many problems, people are born and die.
"For what was the child born?"
"That the child entered into this world has a meaning."
"I wonder if life should be measured by how long one lives."
The film poses many questions such as:
"What is poverty?"
"What is family?"
"What is life? And death?"
By showing the process of children's growth and thier ties with their families and friends, the film reexamines human ideal and hope, and ultimately, our way of life itself.
We invite you to view this film and experience for yourselves what we experienced in the dump.
We are convinced that the film will change your value system.