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Snow Prince - Forbidden Love Melody is a 2009 Japanese film. This film is adapted from the 1872 novel A Dog of Flanders and is inspired by the 1971 film A Small Love Melody. Directed by Joji Matsuoka and written by Kundō Koyama—the scriptwriter for the film Departures, it is a poignant story of a middle class woman's teenage friendship with a poor artist. Shintaro Morimoto plays the role of Sota, the orphan artist who lives with his grandfather, and Marino Kuwashima plays the role of Sota's friend, Sayo. Together, they have to weather the many challenges that come their way because of their lowly social status. Snow Prince marked the film debuts of Morimoto and Kuwashima.