Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa's "Plan 75" won the camera D'OR or special mention at the Cannes Film Festival, and he returned to Croisette with the competition titled "Renoir", an adult drama during the Japanese economic bubble in the late 1980s.

The film follows Fuki, a quirky and sensitive 11-year-old girl played by the newcomer Yui Suzuki, who copes with a sick father and a stressed working mother in a challenging summer. The cast also plays the roles of Hikari Ishida and Lily Franky.

"Renoir" deeply draws on Haichuan's personal experience of losing his father in childhood. “I’ve been thinking about doing this story since I was in my teens or 20s,” Haichuan told type. “But if I did this movie in my 20s, I would have focused more on the kids and it might have been more frustrating – too dark.”

The director believes her current perspective brings valuable insights. "Now I am about the same age as my father and father at that time. I also have two children, so I know how parents live and what kind of thinking. I feel more sympathetic to parents now, and I have different views on the past."

Hayakawa specifically chose to set this story during the Japanese economic bubble in 1987, similar to contemporary society. "At that time, Japan's economy was growing and growing. There was a lot of hope for our future, and we were full of worship and respect for Western culture," she explained. "It's a culture of consumption. Everyone is consuming everything, and the relationship between families is weakening. We are losing what is important to us and what is real."

The film includes symbolic elements that reflect this cultural moment, including a replica of Western paintings purchased by the protagonist’s family – the title renoir. "You'll see a small plot where a family bought a fake copy, but it shows the Japanese's imitation of Western art. Although it's fake, they're happy with it."

"Renoir" represents a major development of Haichuan's international cooperation method. The project, along with Japanese films, Happinet Phantom Studios, Dongyu Club and Kinofaction, brings together Singapore’s Akanga films Asia, French Arte Cinema, Indonesia’s Kawankawan Media and Filipino production company Daluyong, and previously co-produced members of Hayakawa’s “Plan Plan 75” and Nathan, and works with Abraday. “I benefited a lot from producers in France and Singapore during the development process,” Hayakawa noted. “For production, I had record people and thriving operators from France who participated in the entire shooting in Japan.”

This kind of cross-cultural collaboration has proven valuable. She added: "They work very differently and technically I think French sound technology is at a very high level. It's a great learning opportunity for the Japanese crew."

Working with children actor Yui Suzuki, most of his emotional weight is seamless for the director. "This is my first time working with a child actor, so I think it will be very difficult. I wish she needed to be careful in directions, but in reality, it turned out to be easy because she naturally didn't have much direction," Hayakawa explained. "I didn't really give her instructions on how to say a conversation or do facial expressions - she did it naturally. My only direction was about body movement."

Senior actor Lily Franky, who plays a key role in the film, brings a unique cinematic image. “He is great,” Haichuan said. "He was exactly the guy I thought of when I wrote the script. I always thought he was the father. He was the director's eye, so there was no need to even say anything, or sitting in a chair without any conversation, it turned into a cinema, too."

With “Plan 75” and “Renoir,” Hayakawa admits that she has attracted characters who navigate segregation in society. When asked if she consciously established the theme trilogy, she reflected: “Somehow, I’m very interested in human solidarity, so maybe I’ll keep working.”

As for her growing position in Japanese cinemas on the global stage, Haikawa is optimistic. "In the past two or three years, a lot of new Japanese directors have been showing up, so I have a very positive feeling about Japanese cinemas. We know the problems in the Japanese industry very well, so we are trying to change little by little."

She believes her international joint production approach may have an impact on other Japanese filmmakers. "There aren't many Japanese directors working with international co-production, but few Japanese filmmakers are trying to make movies this way. I think my case can be a great example of targeting global markets with international production and targeting. It provides inspiration for people on how to make movies that go beyond the Japanese market."