Since the time of Gabrielle Chanel, CHANEL has maintained a deep and enduring relationship with cinema—one rooted in a commitment to creativity and artistic expression. In 2024, the House launched its mentorship programme CHANEL AND CINEMA – TOKYO LIGHTS, developed in collaboration with acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda. Designed to support the next generation of filmmakers, the initiative offers a rare platform for emerging voices in Japanese cinema.

Now, the programme enters a new phase with CINEMA WEEKS, a public screening event taking place from April 24 to May 24, 2026, at CHANEL Nexus Hall in Tokyo. More than a showcase, the event reflects a broader question: how can cinema be sustained, nurtured, and passed on to future generations?

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A Legacy Between Fashion and Film

For CHANEL, cinema is not merely a cultural association. From its earliest history, the House has engaged with film as a medium where fashion, narrative, and the body converge. Costume, movement, and time—cinema has long been a space in which CHANEL’s aesthetic and philosophy find resonance.

The TOKYO LIGHTS programme extends this legacy into the present, shifting the focus from collaboration to cultivation.

A Space for Transmission

At the heart of the programme is a mentorship framework built around dialogue and practice. The inaugural masterclass, held in November 2024, brought together a remarkable group of mentors, including Koreeda, actors Tilda Swinton and Sakura Ando, actor Koji Yakusho, and director Miwa Nishikawa.

Over two days, participants engaged in discussions and practical sessions that explored cinema as what is often called the “seventh art,” fostering both discovery and the transfer of knowledge across generations.

From this process, three emerging directors—Rin Shuto, Sakura Tanaka, and Aoi Furukawa—were selected to develop original short films.

From left: Koji Yakusho, Miwa Nishikawa, Hirokazu Koreeda, Tilda Swinton, Sakura Ando
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The Meaning of Opportunity

The films presented during CINEMA WEEKS are not simply award-winning works. For emerging directors, opportunities to create are often limited by access to funding, infrastructure, and collaborative networks. The programme addresses this reality by providing a continuous framework—from learning to production to public presentation.

In this sense, what is being offered is not only visibility, but the conditions necessary for creation itself.

From left, Rin Shuto, Sakura Tanaka, Aoi Furukawa
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Stories of Human Connection

Across the three films, a shared concern emerges: the complexity of human relationships. Encounters with strangers, the shifting dynamics between sisters, and the tension carried from past connections—each narrative explores intimate yet universal emotional landscapes.

As Tilda Swinton notes, the question of human connection remains one of the most urgent themes for contemporary art to address. Through the perspectives of a new generation, these films approach that question with quiet intensity.

"KIND STRANGER" Director: Rin Shuto
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Cinema as a Woven Form

The programme’s symbolic trophy, inspired by CHANEL’s iconic tweed, offers a compelling metaphor. Just as tweed is formed by weaving together multiple threads, cinema is constructed through the intersection of people, emotions, and time.

This idea captures the collaborative and layered nature of filmmaking—an art that exists through accumulation rather than singular authorship.

"THE QUIET HOURS" Director: Sakura Tanaka
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A Programme That Gains Meaning Through Continuity

The significance of CHANEL AND CINEMA – TOKYO LIGHTS lies in its continuity. As Koreeda has noted, the experience is intended not as an endpoint, but as a stepping stone for the participating directors to move forward in their careers.

For CHANEL, too, the programme represents an ongoing commitment—one that extends beyond a single initiative to support the evolution of cinema over time.

"A VISITOR AT DUSK" Director: Aoi Furukawa
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Lighting the Future of Cinema

Ultimately, TOKYO LIGHTS proposes a way of thinking about cinema that extends beyond finished works. It asks how films come into being—through relationships, environments, and the gradual accumulation of experience.

In doing so, the programme offers a quiet yet precise perspective on the future of filmmaking—one shaped not only by talent, but by the conditions that allow that talent to emerge.