It’s the first film in ten years, and probably the last, from Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. The Boy and the Heron will be premiered at the Lumière festival in Lyon on October 17, a few days before its French release, we learned from the organizers on Wednesday.
The director of Spirited Away, released in 2001, was awarded the Oscar for best animated film. The European premiere is due to take place on September 22, at the opening of the San Sebastian festival in Spain. Its release in France is scheduled for November 1st.
Hayao 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 again The Wind is rising. In 2014, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
The Boy and the Heron was released in July in its home country. It will also be presented at the Toronto Film Festival in early September. The story of the film takes place in Japan during World War II. A boy named Mahito leaves Tokyo with his father and settles in 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.
As a precursor to this event, the Institut Lumière de Lyon organized a Miyazaki retrospective in June and July, in anticipation of the release of the new film, bringing back 11 of his feature films.
