Hayao Miyazaki to Direct a CG-Animated Short Film

The man might have retired (for real) from feature films, but he still finds the time to do a pet project every now and then. His latest one will come as a bit of a surprise.

According to Cartoon Brew, legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, arguably one of the biggest supporters/contributors to the the medium of hand-drawn animation, will direct his first computer-animated project.

The short film (which clocks in at only ten minutes) doesn’t have a release date, but another report says that it could take Miyazaki three years to make. Don’t get you hopes up for any kind of wide release (at least, not right away), as this short film will only be displayed at the Ghibli Museum.

His son, Goro Miyazaki, explained the reasoning behind this new project at a June 16 event at the Ghibli Museum:

“[Hayao] gets bored when his goal is maintaining [the Ghibli Museum], so he needs things to fiddle around with.”

As I said above, Miyazaki is famous for his contributions to the hand-drawn medium and hasn’t been afraid to speak his mind about the state of 2D animation. But, when asked about Goro switching from hand-drawn to CG for his latest project (a TV series titled Ronia the Robber’s Daughter), he said this:

“I think talent decides everything. More than the method, what’s important is the talent using it. There’s nothing inherently wrong or right about a method, whether it be pencil drawings or 3-D CG.”

He did reiterate in that same interview (and many others) his fears about hand-drawn animation being a “dying” art form, but his stance does suggest that there is as much work and talent to be found in both mediums.

Again, don’t expect to see this short film any time soon (unless you live in Japan). But, as a commentator on Cartoon Brew pointed out, Carnegie Hall did screen some Studio Ghibli shorts a couple years ago, so one can always hope!

What do you think? Do you have any thoughts on Miyazaki’s first CG project?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes