La casa kintsugi

Mao faces a very uncertain future. She lives with her grandmother Chie, an artisan who repairs vases and ceramics using the ancient art of kintsugi. In her hands, broken objects are pieced back together with a special lacquer that carefully bonds each fragment and is then covered with gold dust: a millennia-old technique that celebrates imperfections, highlighting them rather than hiding them. Between play and curiosity, Mao begins to help her grandmother and is drawn into a world that has always been a part of her family. As she immerses herself in this ancestral practice, she discovers that her grandmother's craft has very ancient roots. Originally from Takayama, a city famous for its handicrafts, Chie grew up in a house and workshop where her father and brothers worked as lacquerers, a noble and complex profession that she, as a woman, was never able to pursue. When Mao finds a beautiful lacquered hair clip tucked away in a drawer, she decides to unravel its secrets and embark on a journey with her grandmother to Takayama, following the traces of her family's past. The story of three women from different generations, forced to confront the legacy of their ancestors and make different choices at each stage of their lives, intertwines with the story of Japan, a country marked by the ruin and devastation of World War II, but also by the hope for a better future.