Quick summary
- Japan’s Dwarf Studios is looking for a new partner for Hidari, a stop-motion samurai film with Keanu Reeves as its lead voice.
- Producer Noriko Matsumoto said talks with a U.S. company stalled, according to a report on the Busan International Film Festival’s market panel.
- The U.S. offer reportedly covered full financing in exchange for complete rights, which Dwarf did not want to give up.
- No release date has been announced, and the film still needs funding.
The stop-motion samurai film Hidari, voiced by Keanu Reeves, is without a financial backer after negotiations with a U.S. company stalled. Producer Noriko Matsumoto of Japan’s Dwarf Studios disclosed the search for a new partner at a Busan panel in October 2026, according to a report on SSBCrack News, which was last updated on 18 October.
What Matsumoto said about the stalled deal
Matsumoto, a co-founder and head producer at Dwarf, spoke at the Asian Contents & Film Market during the Busan International Film Festival. The session was titled “Co-Producing with Japan: Opportunities and Challenges”, the report says.
She told the panel that an unnamed U.S. company had offered to fund the film in full. The catch was that it would have taken complete rights. Dwarf considered the offer generous but wants financing that lets it keep creative control, according to the report.
Talks then went quiet. The report attributes that to the people Matsumoto had been negotiating with being laid off amid upheaval in Hollywood. The U.S. company has not been named, and this account has not been independently confirmed by trade press in the sources reviewed here.
Even with a star attached, Matsumoto said, the project still has to find its money.
What Hidari is
Hidari grows out of a viral stop-motion short by director Masashi Kawamura, who also wrote the script. When the casting was announced in May, The Playlist reported that Reeves voices the lead, Jingoro Hidari. The Playlist credited The Hollywood Reporter as its source.
The story is loosely based on the legend of a master carpenter in Edo-period Japan. He loses his father figure, his fiancée and his right arm to a betrayal linked to the secret reconstruction of Edo Castle. He then seeks revenge with mechanical prosthetic arms he builds himself, alongside an animated wooden companion known as the Sleeping Cat.
The film is a co-production between Dwarf Studios, the Tokyo creative agency Whatever and the animation house TECARAT. Questry Co.’s Tomonobu Ibe is listed on the financing side.
Why money is hard to find
The SSBCrack report says Dwarf made a pilot short in 2023 through crowdfunding, and that pilot led to Reeves joining the project. Ibe told the panel that development funding is crucial.
He also said production committees account for more than 90 per cent of anime financing in Japan. Those committees typically include publishers and advertising firms that want rights to exploit the finished title, which limits what international projects can do. He contrasted that with Korea, where he said investors, distributors and producers have clearer roles and fairer profit sharing.
Stop-motion carries its own hurdle. Matsumoto said part of the budget of a co-production has to be spent outside Japan, which complicates shooting logistics. She added that Japan’s co-production treaties with China and Italy have not worked out well for Japanese stakeholders, though the Japanese government has begun expanding support for international co-productions this year.
Questry has set up a special purpose vehicle to draw in overseas and local investors through a more flexible structure, according to the report.
What happens next
There is no release date. A production listing says the team is in conversation with international partners to greenlight production, and the producers are seeking financing and distribution collaborators. Matsumoto said she will keep looking for collaborators even if she gives up on co-production altogether.
For readers following Reeves’ recent projects, the stall is a reminder that a famous voice does not guarantee funding for an independent animated feature. More on this and similar stories is on our Movies and Celebrities pages, or from the Modus Carry home page.
Frequently asked questions
Who voices the lead in Hidari?
Keanu Reeves voices Jingoro Hidari, according to The Playlist’s May report citing The Hollywood Reporter.
Why did the U.S. deal stall?
Matsumoto said the U.S. company wanted full rights in exchange for full funding, and talks then stalled after her contacts were laid off, according to SSBCrack’s report of the Busan panel.
When will Hidari be released?
No release date has been announced. The film is still seeking financing.
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