Renoir (Directed by Chie Hayakawa)

Opening at IFC Center on May 29, 2026, Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa’s latest film RENOIR.

In her sophomore feature, emerging auteur Chie Hayakawa (director of the 2022 film PLAN 75) crafts a tender, often unsettling portrait of childhood grief and the sinuous imagination of an inquisitive young girl. Set in suburban Tokyo, 1987, an imaginative eleven-year-old Fuki begins her summer break lonely and adrift – her kind, terminally ill father has landed once again in the hospital and her mother, distracted by the inevitability of his diagnosis, hasn’t much time for her daughter. Fuki responds to the situation not with tears but with placid curiosity about the prospect of death – becoming fascinated by the occult and experimenting with hypnotism. As the summer passes, Fuki encounters a string of lonely, imperfect adults, all of whom nudge her closer to an emotional truth she isn’t quite ready to name yet. Led by transfixing newcomer Yui Suzuki as Fuki, RENOIR “delicately articulates the girl’s inner child in a way that allows us to feel it expand across the season,” (IndieWire) and “steps to a delicate rhythm whose echo isn’t heard until the very end” (RogerEbert.com).

After premiering in the main competition at Cannes Film Festival 2025, RENOIR has played numerous festivals around the world and in North America – including Toronto Int. Film Festival, Vancouver Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival, Palm Springs Int. Film Festival, and more where it’s been universally praised for Susuzki’s guileless performance and for its deft handling of childhood grief. The film will have its theatrical premiere in NYC at IFC Center on May 29 with director Chie Hayakawa in attendance May 29-30.

“RENOIR— with its faint traces of sentiment, and complete absence of sentimentality — delicately articulates the girl’s inner child in a way that allows us to feel it expand across the season.” - IndieWire

“[S]weetly reticent…. What distinguishes Hayakawa’s approach is a principled refusal of the obvious; she doesn’t strain to make Fuki relatable, or diagnose her, or problematize her occasional flights of fantasy.” - The New Yorker

“RENOIR rewards patience with fragmented narratives and surrealist touches. Part of the reason Renoir, despite its modesty, hits emotionally is because of Suzuki’s compelling performance. The newcomer has a wide-eyed, penetrating stare that at once communicates the reality of Fuki’s innocence and the depth of her curiosity.” - The Hollywood Reporter

“[A]n elegant, thoughtful piece of filmmaking that digs into the guilt and confusion that underpins a child’s struggle to process death.” - Screen International

“RENOIR is a coming-of-age story that will be familiar to fans of Hirokazu Kore-eda, but there’s little (if any) of his sentimentality here. Hayakawa’s gaze is as consistent as it is observant, presenting the joys and perils of a formative summer in equal light. The result is a rich and gradually rewarding bildungsroman….” - The Film Stage

A Film Movement release.