In 2015, Un Certain Regard opened in poetic fashion with Sweet Bean (An) by Naomi Kawase. The Festival de Cannes is honoured to announce that the Japanese director will preside the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury for its 69th edition.
There are some directors whose careers are constantly intertwined with the Festival, much to its delight. The story with Naomi Kawase began back in 1997 when aged 27, she became the youngest winner of the Caméra d’or for her film Suzaku (Moe no Suzaku). The promise of this early discovery has since been reaffirmed time and again – as borne out by the selection in Competition of a whole series of her feature films: Shara (Sharasojyu) in 2003, The Mourning Forest (Mogari no Mori) in 2007, Hanezu (Hanezu no tsuki) in 2011 and Still the Water (Futatsume no mado) in 2014. In 2013, as a member of the Feature Film Jury, Naomi Kawase played a key role on the Croisette alongside Steven Spielberg.
In her films Naomi Kawase uses limited budgets and prefers non-professional actors – a sign of the director’s beginnings in the documentary genre, which first brought her to prominence after she graduated from the Photography School of Osaka. Her 1992 documentary Embracing (Ni tsutsumarete), in which she charts her search for the father who abandoned her, and Genpin in 2010, in which she explores the subject of women who have opted for natural childbirth, are two outstanding examples.

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