The Aso, a family of four, live in the old town of Nara. On the day of the Jizo Festival in the dizzying heat of midsummer, Kei, one of the Aso’s twin boys suddenly disappears, as if he had been spirited away…

Wonderfully intimate and deeply affecting, Shara is a family drama that tiptoes around a central tragedy with grace and wisdom. Its meditative, poetic pace draws us gently into the characters’ world, where the understated beauty of the everyday is imbued with a lingering sense of spiritualism.