Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film The Boy and the Heron will open the 6th Animation Film Festival.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, countless other major studio projects will also be shown along with Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron. This includes Netflix’s highly anticipated sequel Chicken Run Dawn of the Nugget and Disney’s 100th anniversary short film Once Upon a Time. Additionally, Dreamworks Animations’ newest Trolls: Band Together and Sony Pictures Animation/Sony Pictures Imageworks will release their newest Spider-Verse short in North America, The Spider Inside: a Spider-Verse Story.
Because the film’s plot was initially kept secret, the teaser of The Boy and the Heron was shown in early September, giving audiences a glimpse of the plot. As the trailer states, “A boy named Mahito who longs for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.” The film is said to be a semi-autobiographical story by Miyazaki himself, “about life, death and creativity in memory of friendship.” The official trailer, later released by GKIDS, finally gave fans a glimpse of Ghibli’s iconic style in store.
At the Animation Film Festival, festival executive director Matt Kaszanek continued to emphasize the importance of bringing together so many powerful animators and animation studios: “New films from Studio Ghibli and Aardman are seismic cinematic events and a reason for any film buff to rejoice. Joining these titles is a collection of some of the most daring, genre-defying and critically acclaimed films of the year.” It should be noted that The Boy and the Heron has hardly any marketing, other than the official teaser and trailer – Miyazaki’s name and supposed personal connection to the film’s plot are too much. enough to make viewers excited.
Following the announcement of The Boy and the Heron, director Miyazaki announced his retirement, only to return shortly after, much to the relief of Ghibli fans. For those who followed Miyazaki’s career and work, they knew his retirement was a joke; Studio Ghibli Vice President Junichi Nishioka said, “[Miyazaki] Currently working on ideas for a new movie. He comes to his office every day and does that,” while addressing rumors of the director’s retirement.
The Animation Film Festival will celebrate the work of Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki by hosting The Boy and the Heron to officially open the festival from October 18 to October 22 in Hollywood.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter