Hidari lands Keanu Reeves and feature financing at Annecy's Cannes showcase

At the Annecy Animation Showcase during Cannes' Marche du Film (May 2026), writer-director Masashi Kawamura and producer Noriko Matsumoto presented the feature-length plans for Hidari, the carved-wood stop-motion samurai film in development by dwarf, Whatever and puppet-fabrication studio TECARAT, whose 5-minute 2023 pilot is catalogued here as Hidari. Keanu Reeves is now cast to voice the title character, Jingoro Hidari, named for the legendary Edo-period wood sculptor. Financing comes via the Japan Arts Council's "Film Frontier" development program and content financier Questry, and the studios put the feature's production at roughly four years once formally greenlit, targeting a 2029 completion. Kawamura described the tone as "John Wick set in feudal Japan and performed by wooden puppets." Folded into the Wood as a puppet material wiki page as a new financing/timeline paragraph.