In August, Hayao Miyazaki will become the first animation film director to receive the Honorary Golden Lion award for professional achievements at the Venice International Film Festival.
Miyazaki, 64, will also be the first Japanese to receive the coveted award for career achievements. He plans to attend the award ceremony, to be held as part of the 62nd festival, film producer and distributor Toho Co. said Wednesday.
"I sincerely thank my friends all over the world who made efforts to release my films and everyone in the world who highly appreciated my work," Miyazaki said.
The Golden Lion is given to a director who has created many outstanding films. Such internationally praised directors as Federico Fellini, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick and Clint Eastwood are former recipients.
The Venice International Film Festival -- the world's oldest film fest -- began in 1932. It's one of the three largest international film festivals; the other two are held annually in Cannes and Berlin.
Miyazaki's style displays romanticism and humanism in spectacular narratives, Venice festival director Marco Muller said. The fictitious worlds shown by Miyazaki always contain something eye-opening, and his films draw the imagination of adults, awakening their "inner child," Muller added.
The festival director plans to make September 9 "Miyazaki Day" in Venice and screen some of his films. Miyazaki's most recent film, Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl's Moving Castle), was shown in Venice last year. Studio Ghibli, the animation studio which produces his films, received the Osella award for the advanced techniques used.
-------------------------
"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
(This post was edited by eminovitz on Feb 9, 2005, 3:09 PM)
