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Deutsch 
Sweet Red Bean Paste
by Naomi Kawase
Sentaro runs a small bakery that serves dorayaki pastries filled with sweet red bean paste (“an”). When an old lady, Tokue, offers to help in the kitchen he reluctantly accepts. She will soon prove to have magic in her hands…
France / Germany / Japan / 113 min
The story takes place on a small shop making traditional sweet red bean pancake, Dorayaki (Dorayaki is a Japanese traditional sweet made with pancake and anko (sweet Azuki red bean paste) filling. It’s said that the name of this cake comes from its shape, round like a dora (a gong)).
Sentaro stands in the tiny shop all day long, making Dorayaki on a hot plate.
Tokue, a woman in her 70’s with disfigured hands, visits the shop to seek employment. Amazed by the taste of Tokue’s Azuki red bean paste, Sentaro decides to hire her. His shop begins to thrive.
During her entire life, Tokue has been living with people’s prejudice against her.
As for Sentaro, he is in search of a reason to keep on living. Eventually though, they both find their way.
‘An’ is a story that lingers in one’s heart, embracing the beauty and the mystery of life, up to the very end.
| Actor | Role |
| Kirin Kiki | Tokue |
| Masatoshi Nagase | Sentaro |
| Kyara Uchida | Wakana |
| Kazue Tsunogae | Sentaro’s mother |
| Miki Mizuno | Wakana’s mother |
| Shuhei Hara | Shuhei |
| Miu Takeuchi | Miu |
| Saki | Saki Takahashi |
| Yuria | Yuria Murata |
| Director | Naomi Kawase |
| Author | Naomi Kawase |
| Producer | Thanassis Karathanos |
| Anne Pernod | |
| Naomi Kawase | |
| Production | TWENTY TWENTY VISION |
| COMME DES CINÉMAS | |
| KUMIE INC. | |
| in co-production with | ZDF/Arte |
| Director of Photography | Shigeki Akiyama |
| Editor | Tina Baz, Naomi Kawase |
| Sound Design | Roman Dumny |
| Mixing | Olivier Goinard |
| Art Direcor | Kyoko Heya |
| Director of Light | Yasuhiro Ohta |
| German distributor | Neue Visionen Filmverleih |
| supported by: | Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg |
Festival de Cannes / France (May 13-24, 2015) – Official Selection, ouverture Un Certain Regard
Moscow International Film Festival / Russia (June 19-26, 2015) – Female Blast program
Valletta FF / Malta (June 15-21, 2015) – Competition – Best Film+Best Actress for K.Kiki
Seoul International Food Film Festival / China (July 9-12, 2015) – Opening Film
Odessa IFF / Ukraine (July 10-18, 2015)
New Horizons IFF / Poland (July 23- Aug 2, 2015)
Sakhalin IFF “On the Edge” / Russia (Aug 21-28, 2015)
Semana International de Cine de Valladolid / Spain (Oct 24-31, 2015)
Best Director Award for Naomi Kawase
