Studio Ghibli Honorary Palme d’or of the 77th Festival de Cannes © Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli, the acclaimed Japanese animation studio, will receive an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 14 to 25. This will be the first time the award has been given to a collective as opposed to an individual.
In announcing the selection, Festival of Cannes president Iris Knobloch was joined by its general delegate Thierry Frémaux in issuing a joint statement: “For the first time in our history, it’s not a person but an institution that we have chosen to celebrate. Like all the icons of the Seventh Art, these characters 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 after the debut of Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and began underwriting its own feature films in 1992 with Porco Rosso. The collective has sense created more than a score of features, including such iconic animations as Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor the Yamadas, The Wind Rises, and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Studio Ghibli has won two Oscars for Best Animated Feature, for Spirited Away and The Boy and the Heron. The studio was recently acquired by Nippon TV.
In acknowledging the award, Toshio Suzuki, one of Studio Ghibli’s cofounders, said: “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. 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.”
Suzuki added, “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.”
Last week, Time Magazine named Studio Ghibli’s cofounder Hayao Miyazaki as one of the world’s most influential people, in the Icons category. Another honorary Palme d’Or will be presented at Cannes this year to George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars.
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