Apr
17,
2024
Master storyteller Hayao Miyazaki, the force behind the beloved Studio Ghibli is setting a new record at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Studio Ghibli is set to be honored for his visionary work this year at the Cannes film festival.
Studio Ghibli’s impressive catalog has drawn the eyes (finally) of some of the toughest film critics in the world, The Cannes Film Festival. This will mark the first time Cannes has given its highest award to a company instead of an individual.
“For the first time in our history, it’s not a person but an institution that we have chosen to celebrate,” said Cannes Festival president Iris Knobloch and general delegate Thierry Frémaux, announcing the honor on Wednesday. They praised Ghibli’s animated features as filled with characters who “populate our imaginations with prolific, colorful universes and sensitive, engaging narrations. With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity.”
Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. Now, Studio Ghibli has in the past 40 years, “achieved what seemed to be an impossible feat: Independently producing pure masterpieces and conquering the mass market,” the festival said. The Toyko production house has delivered a steady stream of animated classics, from Grave of the Fireflies and My Neighbor Totoro to Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001) and last year’s Oscar winning film The Boy and The Heron. Many of Studio Ghibli’s animated features have been both critically acclaimed and box office sucesses. Spirited Away earned more than $350 million worldwide when it debuted.
“I am truly honored and delighted that the studio is awarded the Honorary Palme d’or. I would like to thank the Festival de Cannes from the bottom of my heart,” said Toshio Suzuki. “Forty years ago, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and I established Studio Ghibli with the desire to bring high-level, high-quality animation to children and adults of all ages. Today, our films are watched by people all over the world, and many visitors come to the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka and Ghibli Park to experience the world of our films for themselves. We have truly come a long way for Studio Ghibli to become such a big organization. Although Miyazaki and I have aged considerably, I am sure that Studio Ghibli will continue to take on new challenges, led by the staff who will carry on the spirit of the company. It would be my greatest pleasure if you look forward to what’s next.”
