Dwarf Studios, a Japanese animation studio, is actively searching for a new production partner for “Hidari,” a stop-motion samurai film featuring voice work by Keanu Reeves. The project had been in advanced talks with a U.S. company willing to finance the entire budget, but negotiations stalled over fundamental disagreements regarding intellectual property ownership and creative control.
According to producer Matsumoto Noriko, speaking at the Busan International Film Festival, the U.S. company’s funding offer came with a significant condition: the studio would retain all rights to the finished film. While Matsumoto acknowledged the company’s respect for Dwarf’s creative vision and willingness to provide adequate compensation, accepting full financing would have resulted in the studio losing control over the project. Dwarf instead sought to retain half the rights while securing Japanese investment for the other half. Before further negotiations could proceed, the individuals leading the U.S. company’s negotiations left their positions amid industry upheaval, prompting Dwarf to pursue alternative partnerships.
Questry, a production finance company, has established a special purpose vehicle to facilitate international co-financing for the film, allowing overseas and domestic investors to contribute simultaneously. Questry’s CEO Ibe Tomonobu emphasized the critical importance of development funding, noting that Dwarf self-financed a pilot short in 2023 partly through crowdfunding—a risky undertaking that ultimately attracted Reeves to the project. Ibe highlighted structural differences between Japanese and international financing models, explaining that the traditional Japanese production committee system, which funds over 90% of domestic projects, proves less suitable for globally ambitious productions.
The production committee model typically involves multiple stakeholders—publishers, broadcasters, streamers, toy companies and advertising agencies—each securing specific exploitation rights or “windows” for their business segments. While effective for projects created primarily for the Japanese market, this approach creates challenges for international co-productions, as overseas companies cannot participate in committees and Japanese companies have limited incentive to invest in projects without domestic market opportunities. Industry data indicates that overseas sales accounted for 56% of anime revenue in 2024, compared to 20% in 2014, underscoring the growing importance of global market potential in production financing decisions.
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