Shinobu Yaguchi brought feelings of laughter, tears, and exhilaration to audiences in Japan with his films about boys’ synchronized swimming and girls’ high school big band jazz. The theme of his latest film is “airplanes” of all things! Usually, films featuring airplanes tend to be panic films or focus on just the pilots and flight attendants. But Yaguchi’s intent was to create a more realistic, completely new film that oversees all corners of the aviation industry. He interviewed the various sections to create his story, to understand just how many people are involved in making a single airplane take off and land.

The setting of the film is an airport and airplanes. A great variety of “aviation professionals” such as pilots, flight attendants, the ground crew, mechanics, dispatchers, controllers, and the bird patrol crew all support a single flight. They have only one mission: to secure the safety of the passengers!
Today was supposed to be any other day on the job, departing on schedule and heading safely to Honolulu, but…
The experience of seeing this film is fun and exciting, just like actually riding on a jumbo jet. A wonderfully entertaining film about the aviation industry chock-full of Shinobu Yaguchi’s love and fascination towards airplanes has been born!

About the Director
Director & Screenplay: Shinobu Yaguchi
Born in 1967 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Yaguchi began shooting films on 8mm as a student in Tokyo Zokei University. His work The Rain Women (8mm) won the Grand Prize in PFF Award Competition 1990. He made his feature film debut with the 7th PFF Scholarship film Down the Drain (’93). Since then, he has constantly released many works that feature his unique sense of humor. Water Boys (’01) is a shining example of Yaguchi’s style, and he is one of the most noteworthy filmmakers in the industry today.

My Secret Place (’97)
Adrenaline Drive (’99)
Waterboys (’01)
Parco Fiction (’02)
Swing Girls (’04)

Staff and Cast
Director & Screenplay : Shinobu Yaguchi
Cast :                             Seiichi Tanabe
Saburo Tokito
Haruka Ayase
Kazue Fukiishi
Tomoko Tabata
Shinobu Terajima
Ittoku Kishibe
Presented by Fuji Television Network, Altamira Pictures, Toho, Dentsu
Production Company : Altamira Pictures
Distributed by Toho
www.happyflight.jp
©2008 Fuji Television Network, Altamira Pictures, Toho, Dentsu
Supported by ANA