Nathan Studios’ International Collaboration “Renoir” Premieres at Cannes

The Philippine film industry is gaining renewed hope for global recognition as Nathan Studios continues its international success. For the third consecutive year, the studio has made its mark—this time by co-producing Renoir, a Japanese art film that premiered over the weekend at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

Renoir is an international collaboration between 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. International sales are managed by Goodfellas.

Filipino actress and producer Sylvia Sanchez-Atayde, CEO of Nathan Studios, expressed her gratitude for being part of the project. She noted that co-producing Renoir has opened doors for international partnerships and expanded their reach in the global market—while also giving them another opportunity to walk the red carpet in 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 naka pag 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 collaboration with other foreign producers.”

Two of Nathan Studio’s earlier movies — psychological thriller Cattleya Killer in 2022 and action flick Topakk in 2023 — also premiered in the Cannes Film Festivals that starred both by veteran actor Quezon City first district reelected Congressman Juan Carlos “Arjo” Atayde which gained the attention of international film buyers, film aficionados, and distributors for the last three years.

Sanchez-Atayde, who celebrated her birthday in a European country, said also that she is “ecstatic” that the “Renoir” film is part of the main competition of 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 have borne fruit!” she added.

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 which has a potential shot of winning the highly coveted Palme d’Or or grand prize.

“Renoir,” an art film directed by noted Japanese auteur Chie Hayakawa (Plan 75), tells the story of Fuki, whose father is fighing a terminal illness and a mother being stressed out from caring on him. She later becomes fascinated with telepathy and leads herself into her own fantasy world.

The art film is a multinational production from Japan, France, Qatar, Singapore, Indonesia, and Philippines, with Nathan Studios co-financing the film. It was already released and shown in the highly-respected red carpet film festival Cannes over the weekend (May 17).

It will be released in Japan on June 20.

The film 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 diffuse 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 meditatin” on a crucial summer of Fuki as she.