Studio Ghibli has announced that its 72-year-old animation master and director Hayao Miyazaki is officially retiring.
The news was broken at the Venice Film Festival in Italy by Studio Ghibli president Koji Hoshino. Not many details were given about Miyazaki’s retirement, other than the fact he is retiring from feature-length films and that The Wind Rises will be his last feature. Miyazaki will talk about his retirement in a press conference in Tokyo on September 6.
It seems this week has been filled with announcements of directors being taken off films, famous animators leaving their longtime studios, and now this. Miyazaki was considered the “Japanese Walt Disney” and has been praised for his numerous whimsical films over the years. He also has been an inspiration to legions of animators and directors in Hollywood including Pixar’s John Lasseter, Brad Bird, and countless others.
Of Studio Ghibli’s 18 films, Miyazaki directed ten of those, including:
- Castle in the Sky
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Porco Rosso
- Princess Mononoke
- Spirited Away
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Ponyo
- The Wind Rises
Miyazaki has had a wonderful, long, prosperous and successful career. The official word is that he has retired from feature films, so maybe that leaves the door open for him to work on other projects such as short films. Whatever those may be, we wish Hayao Miyazaki the best in his future endeavors and want to thank him for the incredibly creative slate of animated films he has brought the world over his career.
The Wind Rises opened in July in Japan and will have its North American premiere at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival. Disney will distribute the film in North America, but no official US release date has been set.
via Crunchy Roll
