It’s official: Hayao Miyazaki, arguably Japan’s best known and most beloved living filmmaker, is reportedly coming out of retirement to start work on a new Studio Ghibli film.
The animation maestro announced back in 2013 that he was stepping away from directing indefinitely, but now Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki has confirmed that Miyazaki is busy developing on a feature-length project which began as a short film called Kemushi no Boro.
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Suzuki broke the news at a pre-Oscars interview with Pixar director Pete Docter in Los Angeles, where the Ghibli co-produced The Red Turtle is in the mix for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Miyazaki has apparently spent the last few years learning how to animate on a computer, and his comeback will mark his and the studio’s first full venture into CG animation.
We’re not entirely sure what to make of that – especially given that in December 2016 Miyazaki referred to an AI-based CG animation programme as “an insult to life itself”– but it’s certainly an intriguing development. We’ll keep you updated as and when the story develops.
