International collaboration gives hope to the Philippine film industry in its efforts to enter the world market.
This was true again after Japanese art film “Renoir”, co-produced by Nathan Studios, officially became a part of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 17.
“Renoir” is a collaboration among Japan’s Happinet Studios, France’s Ici et Là Productions, Singapore’s Akanga Film Asia, Indonesia’s Kawan Kawan Media, and the Philippines’ Daluyong Studio and Nathan Studios. The international sales are being handled by Goodfellas.
Filipino actress and producer Sylvia Sanchez-Atayde, the chief executive of Nathan Studios, said she is grateful for having co-produced the film as it led to the company getting a chance to foster international partnerships and broaden its international market, aside from achieving another red-carpet appearance in the Cannes Film Festival at the city of Cannes, France.
“This international collaboration creates a massive positive impact to the Filipino film industry, it also gives a lot of hope to Filipino film producers to go to the global market, especially here in Cannes,” Sanchez-Atayde said.
“Malaking impact ito, the mere fact na three years pa lang kami nagpupunta sa Cannes as a producer, isa na kami sa nakapag-partnership sa international productions at nakapag-red carpet muli dito sa Cannes,” she added. “I am hoping for more Filipino film producers to enter the global stage whether it is solo or collaborations, with other foreign producers.”
Two of Nathan Studios’ earlier movies — the psychological thriller Cattleya Killer in 2022 and action flick Topakk in 2023 — also premiered in the Cannes Film Festivals, starred both by veteran actor and Quezon City first district reelected Congressman Juan Carlos “Arjo” Atayde. The movies gained the attention of international film buyers, film aficionados, and distributors for the last three years.
Sanchez-Atayde, who celebrated her birthday in the European country, also said she is “ecstatic” that the “Renoir” film is part of the main competition in Cannes.
“I’m still in disbelief and absolutely ecstatic that Renoir (directed by Chie Hayakawa, and co-produced with Eiko Mizuno Gray and Jason Gray, Christophe Bruncher, Yulia Evina Bhara, and Alemberg Ang) was selected as part of the 2025 Cannes’ competition slate,” Sanchez explained.
“When we were starting out with Nathan Studios, this was only something we dreamt of and aimed for—and now, it is finally here. All the hard work, determination, belief, and prayers finally bore fruit!” she added.
“Renoir” is a coming-of-age drama that depicts a daughter coping with the illness of her father is making waves at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and has the potential of winning the highly coveted Palme d’Or or grand prize.
“Renoir,” directed by noted Japanese auteur Chie Hayakawa (Plan 75), tells the story of Fuki, whose father is fighting a terminal illness, and mother is stressed out from caring for him. She later becomes fascinated with telepathy and leads herself into her own fantasy world.
The film, which will be released in Japan on June 20, stars newcomer Yui Suzuki as the 11-year-old Fuki, alongside Hikari Ishida and Lily Franky.
‘Glowing reviews’
Reviews for the film are glowing, with Deadline’s Stephanie Bunbury noting that while the film is scattered, it does not “detract from the film’s beauty or the strength of the performances,”
“If this story doesn’t coalesce as seamlessly as her first film does, it still has the power to touch and then to haunt us. It does not take a fortune teller to predict that Chie Hayakawa soon will make her masterpiece,” Bunbury noted in her review.
Writing for Variety, Jessica Kiang said that Hayakawa’s film is a “slender but appealingly impressionistic story of an inquisitive young girl’s summer of life, death and amateur parapsychology,”
““Renoir” is a more diffused yet in some ways more interesting sophomore feature, that follows where its lovely, mercurial central character leads and, taking a cue from the painter of the (rather tangential) title, lets the brushstrokes show to deliver a firsthand impression of growing up in 1980s Japan,” Kiang added.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Lovia Gyarkye, on the other hand, said the movie is a “poetic meditation” on a crucial summer of Fuki as she navigated her father’s battle with cancer, her mother’s ambient stress and persistent loneliness.
“Part of the reason Renoir, despite its modesty, hits emotionally of Suzuki’s compelling performance. The newcomer has a wide-eyed, penetrating stare that at once communicates the reality of Fuki’s innocence and the depth of her curiosity. In the actress’ hands, the character becomes someone you come to feel deeply protective of, ” Gyarkye noted.
