is the 2000 Japanese horror prequel of Ring directed by Norio Tsuruta. The film is based on a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi which in turn is based on the short story "Lemon Heart" from the Birthday anthology by Koji Suzuki. Ring 0: Birthday was nominated for the 2001 edition of Fantasporto, but lost to Amores perros. Plot In the present, a girl calls her friend to tell her about how she watched the cursed videotape. She recounts about how she experienced a nightmare, where she witnessed Sadako being murdered by Dr. Ikuma. Thirty years prior, Akiko Miyaji, the fiancé of a fellow reporter who was killed during Shizuko's infamous ESP demonstration, interviews Shizuko's daughter, Sadako's former elementary school teacher Sudo about Sadako's nensha powers. Sudo recounts how Sadako was withdrawn as a child and predicted her classmates drowning in the ocean during a field trip. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Sadako joins an acting troupe as an understudy. Her natural charisma infuriates lead actor, Aiko Hazuki, whose relationship with the troupe director, Yusaku Shigemori, sours due to the latter's newfound favor for Sadako. Aiko is later found murdered by a figure in white so Sadako takes her place. Sadako and troupe sound director, Hiroshi Toyama, are attracted to each other, much to the disappointment of Toyama's girlfriend, costume designer Etsuko Tachihara. While praised by Shigemori and Toyama, the other troupe members grow to distrust and fear Sadako, as they suspect that she is the one who caused Aiko's death and other supernatural occurrences, including an apparition of a girl in white with long hair similar to Sadako. Akiko is told by Sudo that Shizuko descended to madness before her suicide ever since moving to live with Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma, and that Sudo heard strange childlike noises in the attic. Etsuko, wanting to discover Sadako's origins, contacts Sadako's psychiatrist, but he refuses to answer and throws away Sadako's résumé; the résumé is taken by Akiko's assistant, allowing him and Akiko to locate Sadako in the troupe. When they start to photograph her, she telekinetically breaks the camera; the two discover that all the photographs contain ghostly faces and a girl with long hair, confirming Akiko's suspicion of the existence of "two" Sadakos. Shigemori, obsessed with Sadako, says he will kill her if she tries to kill him. Toyama interrupts and Shigemori is killed through a cut that also wounds Toyama. Sadako heals him just