Why Renoir refuses to make viewers cry

Japanese director Chie Hayakawa drew on her childhood experience of her father's terminal illness for her second feature

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The coming-of-age drama Renoir may deal with a parent's death from cancer, but the tone of the film is rarely sad.

Children process grief in their own way and their behaviour can be perceived as being cold or unfeeling, says Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa.

As a child, her own father's decline from cancer was something that would get lost in the rush of daily life and her own preoccupations as a preteen.

"I had to live with a cancer-stricken father for a long time. I had a sense of guilt about the fact he was going to die, but I didn't see it as a sad thing. I just looked for fun things to do," she tells The Straits Times through an interpreter at the Japan Creative Centre on Oct 4.

The 48-year-old writer-director was in town to present Renoir, which opened the Japanese Film Festival Singapore 2025, and to conduct a masterclass. The film received its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it was in the running for the Palme d'Or top prize.