an honorary Palme d’Or to the legendary animation studio Ghibli, co-founded by Miyazaki

Studio Ghibli is behind masterpieces such as “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Princess Mononoke.”

Legendary Japanese animation studio Ghibli, co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki, will receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May, organizers announced.

Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro... Epic and poetic, the emblematic films of Ghibli are considered masterpieces of cinema, which have contributed, over forty years, to giving animation its letters of nobility.

Rather than only decorating Hayao Miyazaki, the studio’s best-known figure, whose public appearances are extremely rare, the festival chose for the first time to award a collective Palm of Honor to the studio, including the other big name, Isao Takahata, died in 2018. His third figure, producer Toshio Suzuki, aged 75, said “truly honored and happy”upon the announcement of this distinction.

“Like all cinema icons, (the characters in these films) populate our imaginations with abundant and colorful universes and sensitive and committed stories. With Ghibli, Japanese animated cinema is experienced as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity”declared Iris Knobloch and Thierry Frémaux, heads of the Cannes Film Festival, in a press release.

Rain of prizes

At 83, Hayao Miyazaki announced his artistic retirement on several occasions, before returning to the drawing board. His latest film, The Boy and the Heronwon the Oscar for best animated film, his second after that won by Spirited away in 2003. Ghibli became a subsidiary of the Japanese television channel Nippon TV at the end of last year, which is committed to respecting its autonomy.

Another honorary Palme d’Or will be awarded during the festival (May 14-25) to another figure of popular culture and legend of the 7th art, on the Hollywood side: George Lucas, the father of the Star Wars saga.