The fireflies

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

Hisako loses her home in Tokyo to Allied bombing. With her husband fighting somewhere in Asia, she and her two children evacuate to a suburb of Kobe, where they share a house with Hisako's cousin, Kyoko. Kobe is bombed and Kyoko is killed. Hisako is forced to take care of Kyoko's two children in addition to her own, but there is not enough food for everyone.

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

Despite the loneliness he experiences living in New York, Miguel remains resiliently motivated to help the family he hasn’t seen in 13 years. Combining dreamlike depictions of Miguels memories of his childhood in Oaxaca, Mexico with his everyday experience as a migrant worker, THE TIME OF THE FIREFLIES is a poignant depiction of the sacrifice many are forced to make in order to support their families.

After her estranged brother's sudden death, young wife Lucia bonds with his fiancée through their shared grief and finds herself falling in love.

Charu has been very close to her mom, who is a single mother. When she gets into a relationship, she tries to migrate to Canada with her boyfriend and she doesn’t reveal it to her mom. The mother, who does numerous odd jobs to make ends meet, is now on the mission to acquire Rs 6 lakh for her daughter, under the assumption that she is leaving the country for higher studies.

The Italian countryside was once full of fireflies, but now the flickering of far-off headlights pepper the fields as johns go hunting for a one-night mate. In the heat of the night, the reflective glow of other bioluminescent bodies returns the magic of twinkling lights to the darkness.

In Cuba the flight of fireflies in the night is said to be like a meeting of miniature specters, weakened fires, or wandering souls. Isabel invokes them and triggers the dance.

A vibrant watercolour dance, fireflies glowing in the darkness.