Studio Ghibli, the Japanese anime manufacturing facility of surreal ecological wonders that has for 39 years spirited away moviegoers with tales of Totoros, magical jellyfish and floating castles, was celebrated Monday by the Cannes Film Festival with an honorary Palme d’Or.
In the 22 years that Cannes has been handing out honorary Palmes, the award for Ghibli was the primary for something however a person filmmaker or actor. (This yr’s different recipients are George Lucas and Meryl Streep.) Hayao Miyazaki, the 83-year-old animation grasp who based Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, did not attend the ceremony, however he spoke in a video message taped in Japan.
“I don’t understand any of this,” mentioned Miyazaki. “But thanks.”
At Cannes, the place standing ovations can stretch on finish, the fervor that greeted Ghibli’s emissaries – Goro Miyazaki (son of Hayao) and Kenichi Yoda – was nonetheless among the many most thunderous receptions on the competition. Thierry Fremaux, Cannes’ inventive director, walked throughout the stage of the Grand Theatre Lumiere filming the lengthy ovation, he mentioned, for a video to ship to Miyazaki.
“With this Palme d’Or, we would wish to thanks for all of the magic you have dropped at the cinema,” mentioned Iris Knobloch, the president of the competition, presenting the award.
The event wasn’t marked by any new Ghibli movie however 4 earlier shorts that hadn’t beforehand been proven exterior Japan. “Mei and the Baby Cat Bus,” a short follow-up to Miyazaki’s 1989 “My Neighbor Totoro,” expands the Cat Bus of that traditional to a complete fleet of cat conveyances, most notably the mini Baby Cat Bus.
The shorts, all of which have been made for the Studio Ghibli Museum exterior Tokyo, included “Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess,” a culinary-themed desert for Miyazaki’s 2001 movie “Spirited Away.” The other two – “House Hunting” and “Boro the Caterpillar” – make musical mini-adventures for forest creatures.
The Studio Ghibli celebration got here on the heels of Miyazaki’s long-awaited “The Boy and the Heron” winning the Academy Award in March for best-animated film. (A documentary on its making, “Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron,” additionally performed at Cannes.)
Miyazaki sat out that ceremony, too. Goro Miyazaki, whose personal movies embrace “From Up on Poppy Hill” and “Tales From Earthsea,” mentioned that they had to make use of a resort towel to wrap the Oscar to carry house to his father. On Monday, he was relieved by the portability of the Cannes prize.
“I’m reassured seeing the Palme d’Or was in a field,” he mentioned, grinning.
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