Bean Cake by David Greenspan (2001) (Japan)

Bean Cake won the the Palm d'Or for Best Short Film in 2001. The language is Japanese (with English subtitles) but it was made by the American filmmaker David Greenspan. Greenspan spent a year of his USC degree in Kyoto, Japan. It was there that he made this simple tale about a young boy's indoctrination into both the Japanese Empire and the world of girls. Filmed in black & white, it has a purposefully old-fashioned feel to it (consider Ozu's Tokyo Story).