The working day of a quiet wedding musician is over before it even begins. Instead of playing music, he finds himself in a courtroom where, all of a sudden, the most intimate aspects of his life are displayed for the public: his marriage, family and relationships with his ill wife. Her adult children are accusing him of malignance. They claim that he might be using her dementia to gain control over her property. However, they agree to drop their accusation under one condition: he has to divorce his wife. Where is the line between care and self-interest? Can you prove your love in a situation where your every gesture may be used against you?

The “burning scent” mentioned in the title of the drama by Harawe, Austrian director of Somali descent, is not just a metaphor – the smoke of incense, that the protagonist (played by Omar Abdi) burns for his wife, fills up the room with a heavy aroma you can nearly touch. This is a quiet gift to love that is being increasingly accompanied by suspicion, fatigue and anticipation of potential loss. In this delicate family drama, Harawe peeks into the gray areas where love meets property, care meets power and private issues meet court verdicts. Harawe is one of the most acknowledged filmmakers of his generation: his work has been screened in Locarno, Clermont-Ferrand, Vienna and elsewhere. His 2024 feature debut, The Village Next to Paradise was included in the Un Certain Regard competition in the Cannes Film Festival. His latest film, working with the same crew as in The Village Next to Paradise, has been supported by the Rotterdam International Film Festival’s Displacement Film Fund, helmed by actress Kate Blanchet. In 2025, Harawe was a jury member of RIGA IFF.