The master of animation Hayao Miyazaki will open the San Sebastian Festival with his latest film

2023-08-17 12:08:53

An animated movie ‘The Boy and the Heron’, latest work by Japanese Hayao Miyazakithe Oscar-winning director of the successful ‘Spirited Away’, will open on September 22 the 71 San Sebastian Film Festival.

The film, which is presented out of competition in the Official Section, will be screened in the Kursaal auditorium after the opening gala of this edition, which will close on Saturday the 30th.

It will be the European premiere of Miyazaki’s new title after its passage through the Toronto Festival on September 7, the San Sebastian contest has reported in a note, which explains that ‘The Boy and the Heron’ is an original story by the Japanese directorwhose soundtrack is signed by the usual composer of his films, Joe Hisaishi.

Miyazaki (Tokyo, 1941) founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata and, since then, He has directed films such as ‘The castle in the sky’ (1986), ‘My neighbor Totoro’ (1988), ‘Nicky, the witch’s apprentice’ (1989), ‘Porco Rosso’ (1992) and ‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997).

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With ‘Spirited Away’, from 2001, he broke all box office records in Japan and garnered numerous awards, including the Berlin Golden Bear and the Oscar for Best Animated Film.

‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ (2004) was also nominated for oscar, he received the Osella Award at the Venice Festival and the following year Miyazaki won the Golden Lion for his lifetime achievement at the Italian festival. Again, in 2013, he earned a Hollywood statuette nomination with “The Wind Rises.”

A year earlier, Miyazaki was named a Person of Cultural Merit by the Government of Japan and, in 2014, he received the honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement and was included in the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame, recalls Zinemaldia.

This is the fourth time that a film by the Japanese filmmaker, who also writes, draws and designs buildings, has been programmed at the San Sebastian Festival, although it is the first in which it is part of the Official Selection.

‘Spirited Away’ and ‘Ponyo on the Cliff’ were projected on the giant screen of the Velodrome, while ‘The Wind Rises’ went through Perlak.

In addition, adds the Festival, two other Studio Ghibli films have been included in this last section, dedicated to films that have stood out in other competitions: ‘The Tale of the Princess Kaguya’, by Isao Takahata, and ‘The Red Tortoise’, by Michael Dudok de Wit.