Sweet Bean: dir Naomi Kawase (2015)

A quiet, compassionate story of human connection. Sentaro runs a small dorayaki shop, living a routine life until Tokue, an elderly woman, asks to help in the kitchen. Her exceptional skill in making sweet red bean paste transforms the business – but as their relationship deepens, past wounds and hidden regrets surface. The film unfolds as a tender exploration of empathy, healing, and the bonds formed through shared experience.

In Japanese with English subtitles. Screens in the Louvre Abu Dhabi Auditorium as part of Cannes Film Nights, a curated programme of acclaimed films shown at Cannes and presented in collaboration with the Institut Français.