Studio Ghibli Awarded Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival

Cannes, May 21 (News On Japan) - Studio Ghibli was awarded the Honorary Palme d'Or in recognition of its long-term contributions to the film industry at the Cannes International Film Festival held in France on May 20.

Goro Miyazaki, the eldest son of director Hayao Miyazaki, attended the ceremony.

The Honorary Palme d'Or is a prize that honors long-term contributions to the film industry. In previous years, it was awarded to Tom Cruise the year before last and Michael Douglas last year. This is the first time an organization has been selected for this award.

The festival's organizers praised Studio Ghibli's work, stating, 'For 40 years, they have brought a fresh breeze to animated films. Their works, full of poetry, humanism, and environmental consciousness, have captivated audiences.'

Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, along with producer Toshio Suzuki. The studio was established after the success of Miyazaki's 1984 film, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," which, while not officially a Ghibli production, set the tone for the studio's future works.

The name "Ghibli" was inspired by the Arabic word for a hot desert wind, reflecting the founders' intention to bring a new breeze to the Japanese animation industry. The studio quickly gained recognition for its high-quality animation and storytelling, often emphasizing themes of nature, humanity, and the supernatural.

In 1986, Studio Ghibli released its first official film, "Castle in the Sky," directed by Miyazaki. This was followed by Takahata's "Grave of the Fireflies" and Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" in 1988, both of which solidified Ghibli's reputation for producing emotionally resonant and artistically stunning films.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Studio Ghibli produced several critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989), "Porco Rosso" (1992), "Princess Mononoke" (1997), and "Spirited Away" (2001). "Spirited Away" became a landmark film, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and becoming the highest-grossing film in Japanese history at the time.

The studio continued to produce notable films such as "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004), "Ponyo" (2008), and "The Wind Rises" (2013). In 2014, Ghibli announced a brief hiatus from feature film production, but later resumed with new projects under the guidance of both veteran and new directors.

Source: ANN

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