Goodfellas Boards Japanese Director Chie Hayakawa’s ’Renoir’

EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas has acquired world sales rights for Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa’s Tokyo-set drama Renoir ahead of the project’s presentation.

The film is Hayakawa’s second film after dystopian euthanasia drama Plan 75, which debuted in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2022, garnering a Special Mention in the Caméra d’Or contest for best first film.

The drama went on to play in more than 30 film festivals  and was selected as Japan’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

Renoir is set in suburban Tokyo in 1987 and revolves around 11-year-old Fuki, whose father is battling cancer, and is in and out of hospital.

With her mother stretched between caring for him and holding down a full-time job, Fuki is left to her own devices. Turning to her rich imagination, she becomes fascinated by telepathy and falls ever deeper into her own fantasy world.

The project reunites Hayakawa with Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Jason Gray at Tokyo-based Loaded Films Ltd (To The Ends Of The Earth, Ten Years Japan), who produced Plan 75.

French producer Christophe Bruncher at Ici et Là (Women Do Cry) and Singapore-based producer Fran Borgia at Akanga Film Asia (Tiger Stripes) are on board as co-producers in partnership with ARTE France Cinema.

Further partners include Japanese film companies Happinet-Phantom Studios, which has taken distribution rights for Japan, and Dongyu Club.

Eurozoom has taken French distribution rights.