(Madrid) The latest animated film by famous Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki will premiere in Europe on September 22 at the opening of the San Sebastian festival in Spain, organizers announced on Thursday.
The Boy and the Heron, working title How Do You Live?, is the first film in ten years—and probably his last—from the director of Spirited Away, released in 2001 and winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. ‘animation.
“This is the fourth time that a film by the Japanese filmmaker has been programmed at the San Sebastian festival, but it is the first time that it will be part of the official selection”, said in a press release the organizers of the 71st. edition of the event, which will last from September 22 to 30 in this city of the Spanish Basque Country.
Miyazaki, 82, founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with director Isao Takahata, who died in 2018. He has directed a dozen feature films, including the famous Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo on the Cliff or The Wind Rises (2013). In 2014, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
“The Boy and the Heron,” released in July in its home country and also shown at the Toronto Film Festival in early September, is set in Japan during World War II. A boy named Mahito leaves Tokyo with his father and moves to the countryside after the tragic death of his mother. There he meets a gray heron who takes him to a fantastic universe where he gradually discovers the mystery of his mother’s death and her family history.
The selection of the San Sebastian festival will also be able to count on the French Robin Campillo who returns after the success of “120 beats per minute” with “L’Île Rouge”, a film about French colonization in Madagascar released earlier this year in France .
Also in competition are the Argentinians María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat, with their film Puan, but also Martín Rejtman, with “The Practice”, or the American director Raven Jackson (ll Dirt Roads Taste of Salt).
The festival will pay tribute to Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who will receive an honorary award although his attendance has not been confirmed due to the Hollywood actors’ strike.
