Hula Girls

Hula Girls (フラガール, Fura gāru) is a 2006 Japanese comedy film directed by Sang-il Lee and co-written by Lee and Daisuke Habara, and first. Starring Yū Aoi, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Shizuyo Yamazaki, Ittoku Kishibe, Eri Tokunaga, Yoko Ikezu and Sumiko Fuji, it is based on the real-life event of how a group of enthusiastic girls take on hula dancing to save their small mining village, Iwaki, helping the formation of Joban Hawaiian Center (now known as Spa Resort Hawaiians), which was later to become one of Japan's most popular theme parks.

Hula Girls had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2006, and was released theatrically in Japan on September 23. The film was critically acclaimed upon release in Japan and received 12 nominations at the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, winning five awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (for Yū Aoi), and Most Popular Film. It also won two major awards at the 80th Kinema Junpo awards, including that of Best Film and Best Supporting Actress (for Aoi). Since its release in Japan, the film has been shown across theaters and film festivals worldwide. It was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.