Festival of Souls

A tale from Japanese folklore of Hungry Ghosts released during the yearly Obon Festival in Dellwood, Illinois. Sari Tamura mourns the loss of her daughter during the season of Obon, a Summer Festival of the Dead. She and her surviving daughter, Emi, bond with two young boys, one grappling with the loss of his mother. Sari instructs the boys in the traditions of Obon during a local Hungry Ghost Festival. During the ritual Welcome fire, or "Mukae-bi", ancestors' spirits are summoned from heaven and hell. Paper lanterns are hung to guide spirits home, food and drink are left as offerings, but there is evil released as the gates of hell are opened. The inhabitants of the Hungry Ghost realm are cursed with an insatiable hunger for the flesh of the dead. The townspeople of Dellwood celebrate the summer ghost festival amid growing terror as supernatural happenings befall the town. On the final evening of Obon a ritual Farewell fire, "Okuri-bi," is set to send off the spirits who must return to the grave, guided by paper lanterns set afloat to guide them back to their spiritual realm. But, there are those spirits that fight to stay in the earthly realm.