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U.S. audiences get to enjoy a new Studio Ghibli film in theaters for potentially the last time.

The famed Japanese studio released its latest work today.

Your guide to the best Internet animation available via streaming and video-on-demand.

Acting instructor Ed Hooks explores the acting and performance in each of this year's Oscar-nominated animation features.

New York-based foreign animation distributor GKIDS has acquired North American rights to "When Marnie Was There", the latest film by Japan's Studio Ghibli.

February 3rd will see the release of three Studio Ghibli films on BluRay for the first time. Porco Rosso, the tale of a World War I flying ace, is a beloved Hayao Miyazaki classic. The other two are by other Studio Ghibli directors—Isao Takahata’s environmental saga PomPoko, and Tales from Earthsea, Goro Myazakis take on the Ursula K. Leguin fantasy The Farthest Shore. Good viewing!

 
Synopsis:                                 POM POKO
Studio Ghibli presents a film about the clash between modern civilization and the natural world from acclaimed director Isao Takahata. The raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans. In often hilarious ways, the raccoons use their powers to try to scare off the advance of civilization. But will it be enough? Or will the raccoons learn how to live in balance with the modern world? Celebrate the magic of the forest and the beauty of the creatures who live among us in “Pom Poko”—now on Disney Blu-ray for the first time ever.

 

PORCO ROSSO
Take flight with “Porco Rosso,” a valiant World War I flying ace! From tropical Adriatic settings to dazzling aerial maneuvers, this action-adventure from world-renowned animator Hayao Miyazaki is full of humor, courage and chivalry. When “Porco”—whose face has been trans- formed into that of a pig by a mysterious spell—infuriates a band of sky pirates with his aerial heroics, the pirates hire Curtis, a rival pilot, to get rid of him. On the ground, the two pilots compete for the affections of the beautiful Gina. But it’s in the air where the true battles are waged. Will our hero be victorious? For the first time ever on Disney Blu-ray, “Porco Rosso” is a thrilling ride you’ll never forget!

 

 

TALES FROM EARTHSEA
An epic animated adventure directed by Goro Miyazaki, “Tales From Earthsea” features the voices of Timothy Dalton, Willem Dafoe, Cheech Marin and Mariska Hargitay. Based on the classic “Earthsea” fantasy book series by Ursula K. Le Guin, “Tales From Earthsea” is set in a mythical world filled with magic and bewitchment. In the land of Earthsea, crops are dwindling, dragons have reappeared and humanity is giving way to chaos. Journey with Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a master wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, on a tale of redemption and self-discovery as they search for the force behind the mysterious imbalance that threatens to destroy their world. Featuring a timeless story and magnificent hand-drawn animation, “Tales From Earthsea” is now available for the first time ever on Disney Blu-ray.

 
US Cast:                                  POM POKO  – Clancy Brown (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “Starship Troopers”) as Gonta, J.K. Simmons(“Spider-Man,” “The Closer”) as Seizaemon, Jonathan Taylor Thomas (“The Lion King,” “Home Improvement”) as Shokichi, John DiMaggio (“Futurama,” “Adventure Time”) as Ryûtarô and Olivia d’Abo (“The Wonder Years,” “Conan the Destroyer”) as Koharu.
 
PORCO ROSSO – Michael Keaton (“Batman,” “Toy Story 3”) as Porco Rosso, Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride,” “Saw”) as Curtis,Kimberly Williams-Paisley (“According to Jim,” “Father of the Bride”) as Fio, Susan Egan (“Hercules,” “13 Going on 30”) as Gina, David Ogden Stiers (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Pocahontas,” and TV’s “M*A*S*H”) as Grandpa Piccolo and Brad Garrett (TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Ratatouille,” “Finding Nemo”) as Mamma Aiuto Boss.
 
TALES FROM EARTHSEA  – Mariska Hargitay (“Law and Order: Special Victims,” “Leaving Las Vegas”) as Tenar, Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man,” “Finding Nemo”) as Cob, Timothy Dalton (“The Living Daylights,” “License to Kill”) as Ged, Cheech Marin (“The Lion King,” “Nash Bridger”) as Hare.
 
Directors:                               POM POKO – Isao Takahata (“Grave of the Fireflies”, “Heidi: A Girl of the Alps”)
PORCO ROSSO – Hayao Miyazaki (“Spirited Away,” “Princess Mononoke”)
TALES FROM EARTHSEA – Goro Miyazaki (“From Up on Poppy Hill”)
 
Original Story and              POM POKO – Isao Takahata (“Grave of the Fireflies,” “Heidi: A Girl of the Alps”)
Screenplay:                           PORCO ROSSO – Hayao Miyazaki (Concept)
TALES FROM EARTHSEA – Based on the “Earthsea” series by Ursula K. Le Guin (Novel), Inspired by “Shuna’s Journey” by Hayao Miyazaki (Concept), Screenplay by Goro Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa (“The Secret World of Arrietty,” “From Up on Poppy Hill”).
 
Producers:                             POM POKO – Ned Lott (“My Neighbor Totoro,” Howl’s Moving Castle”), Toshio Suzuki (“Spirited Away”, “Princess Mononoke”)
                                                      PORCO ROSSO – Rick Dempsey (“Howl’s Moving Castle”, The Real Ghost Busters”) and Toshio Suzuki (“Spirited Away”, “Princess Mononoke”)
TALES FROM EARTHSEA – Steve Alpert (“Spirited Away,” Princess Mononoke”), Javier Ponton (“Malachance,” “Souvenir Views”) and Toshio Suzuki (“Spirited Away”, “Princess Mononoke”)
 
Release Date:                       February 3, 2015
 
Bonus Features:                  POM POKO – Original Japanese Storyboards, Original Japanese Trailers
PORCO ROSSO – Original Japanese Storyboards, Original Japanese Trailer, Interview with Toshio Suzuki, Behind the Microphone
TALES FROM EARTHSEA – Original Japanese Storyboards, Original Japanese Trailers & TV Spots, the Birth of the Film Soundtrack, Origins of Earthsea
                                                                    

GKIDS announced today that they have entered into a distribution agreement with Studio Ghibli for the North American rights to "The Tale of The Princess Kaguya," the new film by 78-year-old director Isao Takahata.

Earlier today in Tokyo, Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki held a press conference attended by over 600 journalists to formally announce his retirement. He acknowledged that he has said he would quit before: “I’ve mentioned that I would retire many times in the past, so a lot of you must be thinking ‘Oh, not again.’ But this time I am quite serious.”

Miyazaki explained his reasons for why he no longer wants to direct animated features:

I’m not sure you all know exactly what an animation director does. And even if you say ‘animation director’ everyone has their own way of working. I started as an animator, so I have to draw. If I don’t draw, I can’t express myself.

So what happens is, I have to take my glasses off and draw like this. I would have to do that forever. No matter how physically fit and healthy you are, it’s a fact that year after year the amount of time you’re able to concentrate on that decreases. I have experienced this personally, so I know. So, for example I leave my desk 30 minutes earlier compared to during Ponyo. Next I guess it’ll be one hour earlier than that.

Those physical issues that occur with age, there’s nothing you can do about them, and hating them doesn’t make a difference. There’s the opinion that i should just do things a different way, but if I could do that I would have already done a long time ago, so I can’t. Therefore, all I can do is persist in doing things on my terms, and I made the call that feature films would be impossible.

Miyazaki is leaving feature animation on a high note. His new film Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) is Japan’s top-grossing film of 2013. At the conference, Miyazaki said that he will continue going into the studio “as long as I can drive and commute back and forth between my home and the studio.” He expects to work for at least another ten years on projects of his choosing, but refused to divulge what those might be, other than hinting that he would become more involved with organizing exhibitions at the Ghibli Museum.

In a self-effacing moment, one of many during the conference, he related what happened when he told his wife that he was retiring:

So, this is the way the conversation about my retirement with my wife went—I said, “Please keep making my bento,” and she said, “Hmph…at your age it’s unheard of to have someone still making your lunch everyday.” So I said, “I am terribly sorry, but I’ll still leave it to you.” I don’t know if I said it that politely.

Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki, 72, has retired, say reports from the Venice Film Festival. The announcement was made by Koji Hoshino, the president of Studio Ghibli. “Miyazaki has decided that Kaze Tachinu will be his last film and he will now retire,” Hoshino said.

As industry observers know, this is not the first time that Miyazaki or someone from his camp has announced his retirement. We posed the question on Twitter, and most people seem to believe that Miyazaki has announced his retirement at least three times.

Is anyone keeping track of how many times Hayao Miyazaki has retired?

— Cartoon Brew (@cartoonbrew) September 1, 2013

Hoshino promised that more details would be revealed at a press conference next week in Tokyo.

As reported by Anime News Network, documentary filmmaker Mami Sunada (Ending Note: Death of a Japanese Salaryman) is nearing completion on the Studio Ghibli documentary Kingdom of Dreams and Madness. The film follows studio producer Toshio Suzuki, and directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) as they work on two upcoming Studio Ghibli films, Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) and Kaguya-hime no Monogatori (The Tale of Princess Kaguya).

When discussing her film’s title, Sunada explains: “I think that having a dream entails having a bit of madness, no matter what the profession. There are times when you will go to extremes, and times when you are feared by others for that.”

The Wind Rises, which is the first Miyazaki directed film in five years, debuts this weekend in Japan. Centering on Zero fighter designer Jiro Horikoshi, it is inspired by a manga Miyazaki created for Gekkan Model Graphics magazine and based on the novel of the same name by Tatsuo Hori. The Tale of Princess Kaguya, directed by Takahata is an adaptation of the Japanese folk story, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Originally slated to premiere simultaneously with The Wind Rises, Kaguya’s release date was postponed due to production snags, and as a result, Sunada continues to film in the studio to cover the extended production. Sunada’s documentary will premiere this fall in Japan.

Blue Sky’s Epic, directed by Chris Wedge, opened its U.S. box office run in fourth place with a respectable weekend take of $33.5 million. If you add in earnings from Monday, which was a holiday in the States, Epic’s 4-day total stands at $42.8M.

The film was based on a story by children’s author/illustrator Bill Joyce, whose movie projects have had difficulty capturing the attention of audiences. Similarly, Epic is the weakest opening ever for a Blue Sky feature. While Epic outperformed the dismal openings of the last two films based on Joyce properties—DreamWorks’ Rise of the Guardians ($23.8M) and Disney’s Meet the Robinsons ($25.1M)—it still failed to match the opening weekend of the Blue Sky/Bill Joyce collaboration Robots which had a 3-day total of $36 million in 2005.

Fox president of dommestic distribution, Chris Aronson, was optimistic about the film’s long-term potential, telling the Hollywood Reporter, “I think it’s a fantastic start. We have a four week run before Monsters University opens, and I’m very bullish on where Epic goes.”

In other box office news, after ten weeks in theaters, DreamWorks’ The Croods continues to show great legs and remains in the top ten. The film took ninth place last weekend with $1.2 million. As of yesterday, its U.S. total stands at $179.6 million and its foreign total is $383.4 million for a grand total of $563 million.

Finally, GKIDS is headed for its first million dollar-grossing release in the U.S. with Goro Miyazaki’s From Up on Poppy Hill. The film earned $17,281 last weekend pushing its grand total to $958,610.

After a successful UK premiere and a short run in Tokyo, Whole Hog Theatre’s stage version of Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke will return to London’s New Diorama Theatre next month due to “unprecedented demand.” The production is a collaboration between the British theatre troupe and Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli and features large scale puppetry and a recreation of Joe Hisaishi’s original film score.

Miyazaki, who is known for refusing the re-versioning of his films into theatrical productions, approved the project after being presented with a video proposal from Whole Hog by way of Aardman’s Nick Park. As recalled by Studio Ghibli producer, Toshio Suzuki, he gave his consent “a couple of seconds” into viewing the presentation. Suzuki was equally impressed: “I wanted to watch a strange ‘Princess Mononoke’, he told the Wall Street Journal.

With puppets by Charlie Hoare and costumes by Yoseph Hammad, the show translates the film’s eco-friendly theme and inherent Asian aesthetic by use of reclaimed materials and a form of Japanese textile work called Boro, which involves the patch-working of rags into garments.

“Being a big Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki fan myself, I have no desire to alter the film’s narrative and atmosphere, or to add a ‘new spin’ on the story. I only want to re-tell it in a different form,” director Alexandra Rutter told Film-book.com. “However, whilst audiences can expect to see much of the film’s narrative happen onstage, they should also expect the techniques we use to tell the story to be quite different.” And her artistic objective has paid off as the production has been picking up positive word of mouth, selling out entire runs and was even featured as one of Lyn Gardner’s theater picks in The Guardian.

The second UK run of Whole Hog Theatre’s Princess Mononoke is scheduled for June 18th-29th at the New Diorama Theatre in London. The cast is led by Mei Mac as San/Princess Mononoke and Maximillian Troy Tyler as Prince Ashitaka. The production also features musical direction by Kerrin Tatman and design by Polly Clare Boon.

Click the thumbnails above to see images from a few of the new animated feature film premieres at The 16th Annual NY International Children’s Film Festival. The event runs March 1st through the 24th at seven New York locations: Asia Society and Museum, DGA Theater, Elinor Bunim Munroe Film Center, French Institute Alliance Française, IFC Center, Scholastic Theater and the SVA Theatre.

Opening night is the US Premiere of the exquisite hand drawn French feature, Ernest And Celestine; US Premiere’s of Ghibli’s From Up On Poppy Hill, Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou & The Men & The Women, India’s Hey Krishna, Mamoro Hosoda’s Wolf Children, and many others.

This event has become a vital stop for many foreign animated features en route into the US. Tickets to the screenings are now on sale at Gkids.com. Below is the complete press release with all the details.

16th ANNUAL EVENT RUNS MARCH 1-24
OSCAR®-QUALIFYING FOR ANIMATED & LIVE ACTION SHORTS
25,000+ ATTENDEES EXPECTED FOR 100 FILMS

NEW YORK, NY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013 – The critically acclaimed New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival has announced its full slate and jury for the 16th annual edition, which runs March 1-24 at seven Manhattan locations. The nation’s largest festival for kids and teens will present four weeks of ground-breaking and thought-provoking new works for ages 3-18, with 100 new films, opening and closing galas, premieres, six short film programs, filmmaker Q&As, filmmaking workshops, A-list jury, audience voting, and the NYICFF Awards Ceremony. NYICFF is an Oscar®–qualifying festival –recipients of NYICFF’s jury prizes are eligible for Oscar® consideration in the Best Animated and Live Action Short Film categories.

DATES: March 1- March 24

LOCATIONS: Asia Society and Museum, DGA Theater, Elinor Bunim Munroe Film Center, French Institute Alliance Française, IFC Center, Scholastic Theater, SVA Theatre

TICKETS: Tickets for all events are now on sale at www.gkids.com. As in past years, all screenings are expected to sell out, so advance purchase is highly recommended.

NYICFF 2013 JURY:

· John Canemaker – Academy Award®-winning animator

· Geena Davis – Academy Award®-winning actor (The Accidental Tourist, Thelma & Louise)

· Tomm Moore – Academy Award® nominated animator/director (The Secret of Kells)

· Lynne McVeigh – Associate Professor of Children’s Media at NYU Tisch School of the Arts

· Matthew Modine –Award-winning actor (Full Metal Jacket, The Dark Knight Rises)

· Michel Ocelot – Award-winning writer/director/animator (Kirikou & the Sorceress, Tales of the Night)

· Dana Points – Editor-in-Chief, Parents Magazine

· Susan Sarandon – Academy Award®-winning actor (Dead Man Walking, Arbitrage)

· James Schamus – Award-winning writer/producer (Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm)

· Evan Shapiro – President, Participant Television

· Christine Vachon – Award-winning producer (Boys Don’t Cry, Mildred Pierce)

· Gus Van Sant – Academy Award® nominated director (Milk, Good Will Hunting)

· Taika Waititi – Academy Award® nominated writer/director (Two Cars One Night, Boy)

· Jeffrey Wright – Award-winning actor (Basquiat, The Ides of March)

NEW FEATURES (ALPHABETICAL):

· Approved for Adoption – North American Premiere, Belgium/France/Switzerland, Laurent Boileau/Jung Henin. In this fascinating animated autobiography a series of gorgeously animated, sepia-toned vignettes – some humorous and some poetic – trace filmmaker Jung Henin from the day he is adopted from Korea by a Belgian family, through elementary school, and into his teenage years, when his emerging sense of identity begins to create fissures at home and to inflame the latent biases of his adoptive parents. The filmmaker tells his story using his own animation intercut with snippets of super-8 family footage, archival film, and new footage. The result is an animated memoir like no other: clear-eyed and unflinching, humorous and wry, and above all, inspiring in the capacity of the human heart.

In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 11 to adult .

· The Day of the Crows – East Coast Premiere, Canada/France, Jean-Christophe Dessaint. Raised like an animal since birth and knowing only the ways of the wild, a nameless boy has been forbidden by his father to venture beyond the edge of the forest that is their home. But when his father is injured, the boy goes to a nearby town for help – where he experiences the wonders of human contact and civilized living for the first time. With tips of the hat to the enchanted forest worlds of Hayao Miyazaki and François Truffaut’s The Wild Child, this lushly animated film travels the blurred lines between animal and human, nature and civilization, and the realms of the living and of spirits.

In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult.

· Ernest & Celestine, Opening Night Film – US Premiere, Belgium/France, Renner/Patar/Aubier. NYICFF kicks off the 2013 festival with the extraordinary new film from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress, Triplets of Belleville and The Secret of Kells. Fresh from standing ovations at Toronto and Cannes, Ernest & Celestine joyfully leaps across genres and influences to capture the kinetic, limitless possibilities of animation. Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets and tucked away amongst winding tunnels, lives a civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer – and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for grumpy troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond and are soon living together as outcasts in a winter cottage. Like a gorgeous watercolor painting brought to life, a constantly shifting pastel color palette bursts and drips across the screen, while wonderful storytelling and brilliant comic timing draw up influences as varied as Buster Keaton, Bugs Bunny and the outlaw romanticism of Bonnie and Clyde.

In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult – or all ages for French speaking audiences.

· From Up on Poppy Hill – US Premiere, Japan, Goro Miyazaki. The newest feature from the legendary Studio Ghibli has written by studio founder Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Goro Miyazaki, marking the first feature film collaboration between father and son. The results are stunning – a pure, sincere, nuanced and heartfelt film that signals yet another triumph for the esteemed studio. Set in Yokohama in 1964, the film centers on an innocent romance developing between two high-school kids caught up in the changing times, as the country picks itself up from the devastation of World War 2 and prepares to host the 1964 Olympics. Star-filled voice cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Christina Hendricks, Ron Howard and Anton Yelchin.

In English – Recommended ages 9 to adult

· Hey Krishna – North American Premiere, India, Vikram Veturi. Packed with iridescent hues, outrageous characters, epic battles and endearingly loopy Bollywood-style musical interludes, Hey Krishna is a vibrantly colorful cartoon retelling of the life of the child Krishna – the naughty prankster with the beautiful blue hue and long eyelashes. A prophesy foretells that the tyrant Kans will be killed by Krishna, the eighth child of his sister Devaki, and so Kans has Devaki imprisoned. But the infant Krishna is spirited away to a nearby village and raised by peasants – and when Kans hears that Krishna has escaped his fate, he sends out demons and monsters to finish the job.

In English – Recommended ages 8 to adult

· Kauwboy – East Coast Premiere, Netherlands, Boudewijn Koole. The Netherlands’ official entry for this year’s Oscars® and winner of the Best First Feature award at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, Kauwboy is a tender portrait of a boy struggling to come to terms with a family that’s not what it once was. With his country-singer mother absent, Jojo lives alone with his security guard father, a man of few words, who is quick to anger and has seemingly no affection for his 10-year-old son. Left to his own devices, Jojo finds an abandoned baby crow in the woods near their house – and finds solace in caring for this small creature, who is even more alone and vulnerable than he is.

In Dutch with English subtitles – Recommended ages 10 to adult

· Kirikou and the Men and the Women – North American Premiere, France, Michel Ocelot. The pint-sized, quick-footed child hero Kirikou returns in the new feature from world-renowned animator/director/storyteller Michel Ocelot, who NYICFF audiences should be well familiar with from Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar, and Tales of the Night. In this third film in the Kirikou trilogy, Ocelot’s almost impossibly vibrant use of color is everywhere on display – as a collection of short form fables are woven together, mixing traditional storytelling and mythology with bits of humor and wit, and backed by an upbeat musical score from Malian, Togolese and French artists.

In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult – or all ages for French speaking audiences.

· Meet the Small Potatoes – World Premiere, USA, Josh Selig. Like This is Spinal Tap for the pre-school set, this musical mockumentary follows a group of singing spuds from humble beginnings on an Idaho potato farm to their meteoric rise to international pop stardom. Animation features the adorably animated characters placed in live action archival settings (1960’s era Coney Island in particular is a real treat), and true to the rock-doc form, musical numbers are punctuated with interviews with fans, a former manager, and the southern DJ who helped them to early success.

In English – Recommended all ages

· The Painting – World Premiere English-Language Version, France, Jean-François Languionie. This breathlessly beautiful tale has received unanimous critical praise since it made its US premiere at NYICFF 2012 (as French title Le Tableau) and NYICFF is thrilled to present the first screening of the new English-language version. In this wryly-inventive parable, the characters from a painting burst through the canvas and find themselves in the Painter’s studio. The abandoned workspace is strewn with paintings, each containing its own animated world – and in a feast for both the eyes and imagination, they explore first one picture and then another, attempting to discover just what the Painter has in mind for his creations.

In English – Recommended ages 7 to adult

· Pinocchio – North American Premiere, Italy, Enzo D’Alò. Enzo D’Alò’s colorful and musical re-telling of this classic tale hews much closer to both the spirit and plot of Carlo Collodi’s original story than the Disney version, with Pinocchio remaining for most of the picture a rambunctious and easily-distracted little scamp who dances and trips from one strange adventure to the next in a surreal, Alice in Wonderland-like ride.

In English – Recommended ages 5 to 10

· NYICFF EN ESPANOL –¡Rompe Ralph! (Wreck-It Ralph)– Special Event, USA, Rich Moore. Whether Spanish is your native tongue or you just want to experience a great film a new way, NYICFF is pleased to kick off a new festival section for our Hispanic audience members, with the special Spanish language screening of the multi-award winning, Oscar nominated Wreck-It Ralph. The film will be shown in Spanish, with English subtitles, so all can enjoy!

In Spanish with English subtitles – Recommended ages 6 to adult

· GIRLS’ POV – Starry Starry Night – Taiwan, Tom Shu-yu Lin. A day-dreamy seventh-grader whose life seems to be falling apart around her, Mei immerses herself in a fantasy world of her own creation, populated by oversized origami animals and shadowy beasts that tag along with her on what would otherwise be dreary daily excursions. Meanwhile, shuffled from home to home by his mother, troubled newcomer Jay avoids contact with his new schoolmates and becomes an instant target for their derision and taunting. Brought together by their shared loneliness and love of shoplifting, Mei and Jay sneak away to Mei’s grandfather’s isolated cottage in the countryside in an attempt to escape a reality that nonetheless, comes crashing in on them. Screened as part of NYICFF’s Girls’ POV program, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In Mandarin with English subtitles – Recommended ages 9 to adult

· GIRLS’ POV – Strong! – New York Theatrical Premiere, USA, Julie Wyman. “Can you imagine being huge – but graceful and beautiful and just gorgeous?” Tipping the scales at 300 pounds, Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Hawthorn defies conventional notions of female beauty. Yet, whether she is working with her Olympic trainer, cooking at home with her mom in Savannah, or laughing about the difficulty of doing simple things like buying a dress or finding a chair that won’t collapse under her weight – it is precisely her strength and beauty that shine through. In our fitness-obsessed culture, Cheryl’s success makes us rethink how we see the female body and expands our notion of what it means to be powerful, healthy, and beautiful. Screened as part of NYICFF’s Girls’ POV program, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In English – Recommended ages 9 to adult

· Welcome to the Space Show – US Premiere English-Language Version, Japan, Koji Masunari. NYICFF favorite Welcome to the Space Show returns in a brand new English-language version! With an intergalactic cast of thousands, Koji Masunari’s colorfully explosive debut feature sets a new high for visual spectacle and sheer inventiveness of character design – in what has to be one of the most gleefully surreal depictions of alien life forms ever portrayed in cinema.

In English – Recommended ages 7 to adult

· Wolf Children – US Continental Premiere, Japan, Mamoru Hosoda. NYICFF is thrilled to present the brilliant third feature from Mamoru Hosoda, whose Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time have established him as one of the world’s top creative forces in animation. When college student Hana discovers her new beau is part wolf, she accepts him for who he is. Before long she gives birth to two children, Ame and Yuki, rambunctious bundles of joy who transform into wolves when excited and whose little ears are as adorable as their fangs are sharp. When the neighbors begin to notice their wolf-like tendencies, Hana moves to the countryside and into a dilapidated farmhouse, where each child is free to pursue its wolfish and human sides. Brimming with Hosoda’s trademark visual splendor, Wolf Children is his most emotionally resonant film to date, a stunningly animated and heart-felt fable about growing up, growing apart, and the choices faced along the way.

In Japanese with English subtitles – Recommended ages 9 to adult

· Zarafa – France, Remi Benzançon/Jean-Christophe Lie. Inspired by the true story of the first giraffe to visit France, Zarafa is a sumptuously hand-animated and stirring adventure set among sweeping vistas of parched desert, windswept mountains and open skies. Under the cover of night a small boy, Maki, loosens the shackles that bind him and escapes into the desert night. Pursued by slavers across the moon-lit savannah, Maki meets Zarafa, a baby giraffe – and an orphan, just like him – and he vows to protect the giraffe. Wandering alone in the desert, the two are taken under the protection of the Bedouin prince Hassan. Hassan brings them to Alexandria for an audience with the Pasha of Egypt, who promptly orders them to deliver the exotic animal as a gift to King Charles of France.

In French with English subtitles – Recommended ages 7 to adult

SHORT FILM PROGRAMS – Six programs for ages 3 to 18, featuring the best short films from around the world, selected from over 3,000 entries. Jury-selected winners will be eligible for Oscar® consideration in animated and live action short film categories. Full lineup at www.gkids.tv/intheaters
·Shorts For Tots – (Ages 3 to 6)
·Short Films One – (Ages 5 to 10)
·Short Films Two – (Ages 8 to 14)
·Flicker Lounge: For Teens & Adults Only – (Ages 12 to adult)
·Heebie Jeebies: Spooky, Freaky & Bizarre – (Ages 10 to adult)
·Girls’ POV – (Ages 10 to adult)

ABOUT NYICFF:
Established in 1997, NYICFF is an Oscar®-qualifying event and North America’s largest film festival for children and teens. The 2012 edition attracted a sold-out-in-advance audience of 25,000 and generated 100 million media impressions. NYICFF 2013 takes place March 1-24, with 100+ films from around the world, plus gala premieres, retrospectives, filmmaker Q&As, filmmaking workshops, audience voting, and the NYICFF Awards Ceremony. Festival sponsors include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Club Med, Meredith, HBO, and Scholastic, , with funding support by National Endowment for the Arts, NY State Council on the Arts, and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. In addition to the annual March festival, NYICFF presents year-round film programming both in New York and nationally.

Gkids is releasing Studio Ghilbi’s From Up On Poppy Hill to U.S. theaters on March 15th. The English dub of Goro Miyazaki’s film sounds pretty good…

From GKids press release:

Set in Yokohama in 1963, as Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics, the story centers on Umi and Shun, two high school kids caught up in the changing times. But a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart. With its rich color palette, stunning exteriors, sun-drenched gardens, bustling cityscapes and painterly detail, From Up on Poppy Hill provides a pure, sincere, and nuanced evocation of the past, and marks yet another creative triumph for Studio Ghibli.

I know nothing of video games or Playstation… but this trailer for the just-released Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch has me very intrigued.

Not sure if this is Ghibli’s first foray into video games, but it’s the first one I’ve seen that looks like the real deal (even the music is by Miyazaki stalwart Joe Hisaishi). I’d love to hear more about the game itself from those who’ve already played it.

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: May 22, 2012

In celebration of the Walt Disney Studios and the legendary Studio Ghibli release of THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY on Blu-ray & DVD Combo Pack we present you with clips from the film and bonus material.

Classic anime style, beautiful scenery and music, a strong female character, loss & friendship—this is everything you want your children to watch.

“”The Secret World of Arrietty,” as fans of “The Borrowers“ will have sussed out, is based on the first of five books Mary Norton wrote about tiny people who primarily live off what they appropriate from human beings (or “beans,” as they call them). … Part of the charm of the Borrowers books, a quality shared by the movie, is the theme of the tiny making wonderfully do in a world inhabited by, and made for, the big (like parents). … [W]hile she’s 14 going on 15, and three or so inches going on four, Arrietty seems bigger because her courage, along with her fluid form and softly dappled world, come by way of the famed Japanese company Studio Ghibli, where little girls rule, if not necessarily as princesses. … Studio Ghibli and Arrietty have a way of taking you where you may not expect, whether you’re scrambling through rooms as large as canyons or clambering into the safety of an outstretched hand, a simple gesture that says it all.” — Manohla Dargis via The New York Times

“Just as there are those who look forward to every new Pixar animated film, there are also those who cannot wait for the new releases from Japan’s Studio Ghibli. … The Secret World of Arrietty, based on Mary Norton’s children’s book series The Borrowers, is about a tiny family who are part of a secret world of four-inch people who live underneath the floorboards of homes, “borrowing” things they need from human “beans” that won’t be missed. … As with all Ghibli films, whether it is tiny people in Arrietty, a goldfish princess in Ponyo, or forest spirits in Totoro, the fantastical living in tandem with normal humans never feels weird or questionable. And though you never know where it’s going and how it’s going to end up, the ride is always interesting because nothing ever feels contrived or predictable. Rather there is a quiet gentleness and a deep beauty that resonates no matter if you’re a child or an adult. It speaks to all without needing to be labeled a particular genre—other than animation.” — Zorianna Kit via Huffington Post

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

French newspaper Le Figaro confirms that Oscar-winning Dutch short filmmaker Michael Dudok de Wit (Father and Daughter, The Monk and the Fish) is directing his first feature film The Red Turtle. Dudok de Wit is long overdue for his shot at helming a feature, and whatever he comes up with, it’s surely guaranteed to be thoughtful, original, and high quality.

More intriguingly, Studio Ghibli is co-producing the film, along with French companies Why Not Productions and Wild Bunch. A few months ago, animator Roger Mainwood posted a 6-second animation test from the film:

(via Catsuka)

Cartoon Brew | Permalink | 2 comments | Post tags: Michael Dudok de Wit, Studio Ghibli, The Red Turtle, Why Not Productions, Wild Bunch

Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty opens today and Disney is quite excited about it. It’s the biggest US release of a Ghibli film (1200 screens), and the feature will be shown in selected theatres in Japanese with subtitles, as well as the more common English dub. The press reviews are looking good – The LA Times says the film is “imeccable and pure”; The Village Voice calls it “pure magic”.

As longtime fan, follower and one-time distributor of Ghibli films allow me to add my two-cents and say that Arrietty is one my personal favorites from the Ghibli factory. It’s a gentle film, a beautiful film and, yes, it may be the most accessible story for Western audiences to grasp. It should be, as it is a relatively faifthful adaptation of Mary Norton’s 1952 book, The Borrowers. Who knew this would fit so perfect into the Miyazaki canon?

The comments on this post are open only to those who have seen the film and wish to share their opinion of it. If you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you to go see it this weekend – and tell us what you think.

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Studio Ghibli

First, there’s the book and then there’s the movie.  Where to encounter the narrative first is always the question!  Most of us ‘older’ folk tend to encounter the narrative first in a book, and then later in the movie version.  But for today’s children and for me — especially in the case of Japan’s Studio Ghibli movies at any rate — it’s often the movie first.    When I first got wind of Studio Ghibli’s movie release, Arietty (it came out in Japan in 2010, DVD release July 2011) I noted quickly that it was based on Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1953).  The directors at Studio Ghibli — notably Hayao Miyazaki and son, Goro Miyazaki — have occasionally gone to British children’s books for inspiration for their movies.  Their previously released Howl’s Moving Castle was based on Diana Wynne Jones’ book of the same title (published in 1986) and it was through that movie, that I was introduced to Wynne Jones’ writing.

Thanks to Studio Ghibli again, my daughter and I have had a chance to experience The Borrowers by Mary Norton.  I picked up a hardback edition of the novel at a used book sale in Nishinomiya where I lived and began reading it at night to my daughter.  The Borrowers are little people who live under a house in England, and who ‘borrow’ things from the much larger humans that dwell above them.  The family in the first series of the Borrowers books is a small one comprising of the father, Pod, the mother, Homily, and their fourteen year old daughter, Arietty (on whom the movie title is based.)    My daughter and I got about halfway through the novel before she got to see the movie (we rented the DVD in Japan just before the day we left) and it was clear from the snippets I saw of it that the Studio Ghibli team was well into animating the tiny world of the Borrowers with its signature, detailed and colorful animation for which it is famous.  I hope Arietty makes it into the North American viewing market soon, but barring that, The Borrowers still make a great read for parents and children alike.

Opening in several major U.S. cities today (New York, L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, etc.) is Studio Ghibli’s Tales of Earthsea, from director Goro Miyazaki (Hayao’s son).

The L.A. Times was not impressed. The San Francisco Chronicle praised its many action sequences. The New York Times found it “stolid and humorless”. The big question is, to our readers who’ve seen it, what did you think?