Close-Knit  Is Japan's First Transgender Feature Film 

The film follows Tomo, a young girl, whose mother suddenly disappears and leaves her alone. So she moves to live with her Uncle, Makio, and his partner, Rinko, a trans woman.

The film is slowly paced, structured around seasonal changes, and focuses on the perspective of the little girl, Tomo. At the very beginning, she distances herself from a gay classmate for fear of being regarded as abnormal. But later on, as she becomes increasingly attached to Rinko, she shows full support for this gay friend. "Kids don't discriminate," said the director Naoko Ogigami.

Japan is still a very conservative country, Ogigami said. Even though there are quite a lot of trans comedians appearing on TV, it doesn't necessarily improve people's acceptance towards the community. While Japan has two trans public officials, regular trans people still face huge struggles in their daily life.

Take a look at the trailer here.