Following its debut in Dakar last December, Chanel’s 2022/2023 Métiers d'art just touched down in Tokyo, and the mood of the moment has been captured by director Mati Diop and actress and model Mama Sané for the short film, Tokyo Trip. The last time these two talents worked together it was on the achingly romantic supernatural film, Atlantics, which saw the French Senegalese director walk away with the Grand Prix at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

This project is the latest in a series of cultural initiatives the French luxury house has undertaken to celebrate Senegalese creativity and craftsmanship spinning out from its landmark show. Another is the ‘Sur le fil’ exhibition, currently on view at la Galerie du 19M in Paris.

For this three and a half minute short, Diop conjures up some of the same romance as a pastel-haired Sané navigates life in Tokyo dressed head-to-toe in Chanel’s unmistakable tweeds. “I imagined a sort of travel journal of Mama's trip to Tokyo,” says Diop. “Somewhere between a documentary and an hallucinated ‘trip’, her silhouette in the streets, the way she sees the city and the way the urbanites there see her.”

The lens follows Sané as she is immersed in a checklist of beautiful cinematic moments. Opening with the star on the Tokyo metro, the scenes shift as she makes friends, sits gazing at the glittering skyline, relaxing in what can be a somewhat daunting onsen experience and strolling through the warm light as the sun sets – before the film takes in Mount Fuji, Tokyo Tower and playful school students. Back on the train, we see Sané opening her eyes and wonder whether everything that came before really happened or was it simply a magical fantasy.

“I dreamt of going to Japan for a very long time and I've been very touched by this first fleeting encounter with Tokyo, through the eyes of Mama, for whom it’s also the first time,” says Diop. “It has been a truly unique experience for us, almost subliminal, and I hope the film reflects this.”