| Director: | Leo Favier |
|---|---|
| Production: | Les Bons Clients (Loïc Bouchet, Thibaut Camurat), ARTE France Tag Film (Christian Popp), Emi Gueydan-Hiraoka |
| Running Time: | 82' |
| Language: | English, Japanese, French |
| Country: | France |
| Main Cast: | Toshio Suzuki, Goro Miyazaki, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Philippe Descola, Timothy Morton, Susan Napier, Shin-Ichi Fukuoka, Seiji Kanoh - as themselves |
| Screenplay: | Léo Favier, Léo Brachet |
| Cinematographer: | Robin Gobert, Ian Mosley-Duffy, Marcus Robinson |
| Editor: | Mathilde Morières |
| Music: | Camille Delafon |
| Sound: | Amélie Canini |
| Visual Effects: | Arnaud Viémont |
Cinema
Miyazaki, l’esprit de la nature
Venice Classics
Synopsis
For over 50 years, Hayao Miyazaki has been enchanting the world with his films. Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro), Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke), Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away), or his latest film Kimitachi wa dō ikiru ka (The Boy and the Heron), to name only a few of eleven feature films, ten short films, several manga, and also through Studio Ghibli, a museum and a theme park. They form a luminous body of work and characters that have become cult classics. Miyazaki’s films, often autobiographical, also reflect the state of the world and the turmoil of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, made of wars and ecological disasters. He was born in Japan in 1941, during World War II. As a child, he immersed himself in drawing manga until he had a revelation upon discovering Hakuja den (The White Snake Enchantress), the first Japanese colour animated film by Taiji Yabushita. From then on, he decided to devote his life to animation, this magical art capable of overcoming the darkness that had always deeply inhabited him... Thanks to exceptional access granted by Studio Ghibli to numerous film excerpts and rare Japanese television archives, we discover the life of Miyazaki as well as a profoundly ecological body of work that questions our relationship with the natural world and living beings. Thinkers like anthropologist Philippe Descola or philosopher Timothy Morton, as well as close associates, his son and film director Gorō Miyazaki, and Toshio Suzuki, his longtime producer and friend, bring us closer to this tireless, obsessive, and mysterious artist.
Director's statement
I discovered the cinema of Miyazaki in 2000, and Mononoke-hime was a shock that left a lasting impression on me. I remember the emotion I felt in front of the images of a sublime and furious natural world. A fragile world, on the verge of disappearing. Today, I introduce Tonari no Totoro to my children. I rediscover these films that, like before, make me question: What is at play here? With Miyazaki, l’esprit de la nature I want, on one hand, to tell his life story. A film like a great journey through the twentieth century, where the magic of animation appears as an intimate way to counter reality. On the other hand, I want to highlight the worldview conveyed by these films. With the help of biologists, philosophers, or anthropologists I aim to reflect on this work that resonates so vividly with our world, faced with the climate crisis, the collapse of biodiversity, and wars... A context that compels us to question our relationship with living beings as humanity.
Production/Distribution
PRODUCTION 1: LES BONS CLIENTS / ARTE – Loïc Bouchet, Thibaut Camurat
26 rue de Gramont
75002, PARIS, France
Tel. +33 699450573
equipe@lesbonsclients.fr
www.lesbonsclients.fr
PRODUCTION 2: TAG FILM - Christian Popp
122 rue Amelot
75011, Paris, France
Tel. +33 675670311
christian@tagfilm.fr
WORLD SALES: BALANGA - Cloë Pinot
9 rue du Mont Aigoual
75015, Paris, France
Tel. +33 606970711
c.pinot@balanga.tv
PRESS OFFICE: Manlin Sterner
Tel. +46 76 376 9933
manlin@manlin.se
