Studio Ghibli president Koji Hoshino has announced that acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker and studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki will retire following a prolific career that has spanned some fifty-two years. No formal date was set for Miyazaki's retirement, but Hoshino confirmed The Wind Rises to be the animation visionary's final film.
Miyazaki began his career in 1963 at Toei Animation, where, in 1968, he served as chief animator on director Isao Takahata's Hols: Prince of the Sun. In 1971, Miyazaki re-teamed with Takahata to co-direct fourteen episodes of the Lupin III television series. In 1979, Miyazaki would direct his first feature film: The Castle of Cagliostro, followed in 1984 by fan-favorite Nausicaδ of the Valley of the Wind, which remains one of his finest films.
Rising high on the critical and financial success of Nausicaδ, Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, along with Takahata and Toshio Suzuki. Ghibli has since released eighteen feature films, of which Miyazaki was directly involved in eleven as director, writer and/or producer. There are currently nine Studio Ghibli films available on Blu-ray, Grave of the Fireflies being the only one not credited in some way to Miyazaki:
•Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
•Grave of the Fireflies
•Castle in the Sky
•My Neighbor Totoro
•Whisper of the Heart
•Howl's Moving Castle
•Ponyo
•The Secret World of Arrietty
•From Up on Poppy Hill
Miyazaki has received accolades for two films above all else, both of which have yet to arrive on Blu-ray in North America: Princess Mononoke, having earned several best director awards (among many others) and a Japanese Academy Award for Picture of the Year, and Spirited Away, a stunning coming-of-age story that garnered dozens of prestigious awards throughout the international film community, up to and including an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards.
Source: blu-ray.com
Miyazaki began his career in 1963 at Toei Animation, where, in 1968, he served as chief animator on director Isao Takahata's Hols: Prince of the Sun. In 1971, Miyazaki re-teamed with Takahata to co-direct fourteen episodes of the Lupin III television series. In 1979, Miyazaki would direct his first feature film: The Castle of Cagliostro, followed in 1984 by fan-favorite Nausicaδ of the Valley of the Wind, which remains one of his finest films.
Rising high on the critical and financial success of Nausicaδ, Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, along with Takahata and Toshio Suzuki. Ghibli has since released eighteen feature films, of which Miyazaki was directly involved in eleven as director, writer and/or producer. There are currently nine Studio Ghibli films available on Blu-ray, Grave of the Fireflies being the only one not credited in some way to Miyazaki:
•Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
•Grave of the Fireflies
•Castle in the Sky
•My Neighbor Totoro
•Whisper of the Heart
•Howl's Moving Castle
•Ponyo
•The Secret World of Arrietty
•From Up on Poppy Hill
Miyazaki has received accolades for two films above all else, both of which have yet to arrive on Blu-ray in North America: Princess Mononoke, having earned several best director awards (among many others) and a Japanese Academy Award for Picture of the Year, and Spirited Away, a stunning coming-of-age story that garnered dozens of prestigious awards throughout the international film community, up to and including an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards.
Source: blu-ray.com
