Made-with-Singapore film Renoir to compete for top prize

Renoir, a film with Singapore participation, will compete for the top Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 13 to 24 in France.

- John Lui

Another film with Singapore participation, the social satire A Useful Ghost, has been selected for the Critics' Week section of the festival.

Renoir, co-produced by Singapore-based Akanga Film Asia with support from the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA) Singapore Film Commission, is the second film with Singapore participation to compete for the Palme d'Or, after local filmmaker Eric Khoo's drama My Magic (2008).

Directed by Chie Hayakawa, the Japan-Singapore-France-Philippines-Indonesia production is set in 1987 Tokyo. The coming-of-age story follows Fuki (Yui Suzuki), an 11-year-old girl living with a terminally ill father and a harried mother.

It is Japanese filmmaker Hayakawa's second feature after the critically acclaimed Plan 75 (2022), a speculative film set in a future Japan that has enacted dystopian policies to cope with its ageing population. It won the Camera d'Or Special Mention for Best First Feature at Cannes in 2022.

Producer Fran Borgia, founder of Akanga Film Asia and a producer on Renoir, says his team is excited to be part of the film.