Influential filmmaker retires after 11 films.
Japanese animation film studio Studio Ghibli has announced that the master of animated film, Hayao Miyazaki, is retiring from writing/directing feature-length films.
Koji Hoshino, head of Studio Ghibli revealed the news to stunned reporters during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival where Miyazaki’s latest effort, ‘The Wind Rises,’ was screened to enthusiastic response. “Miyazaki has decided that ‘Kaze Tachinu’ (The Wind Rises) will be his last film, and he will now retire,” said Hoshino.
72-year-old Miyazaki is expected to hold a press conference later this week to reveal more details about his retirement.
With a career that started in the 1960′s, Miyazaki is a living legend thanks to more than four decades of hand-drawn classics, including ‘My Neighbor Totoro,’ ‘Spirited Away,’ winner of 2002 animation Oscar, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ and ‘Ponyo.’ Though he did not attend the 2002 Oscar ceremony, the famously reclusive Miyazaki, did travel to Venice in 2005 to receive a Golden Lion for career achievement in 2005.
Set between the two World Wars, ‘The Winds Rises’ is a fictionalised biography of Jiro Horikoshi, the famed designer of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft which served in World War II.