The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival due to take place from 14 to 25 May 2024. American filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig will serve as jury president for the main competition. French actress Camille Cottin will host the opening and closing ceremonies.
The renowned animation powerhouse, Studio Ghibli, famous for timeless classics such as Spirited Away and most recently, the Academy Award-winning The Boy and the Heron, is set to receive an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival. Along with that, the anime feature film adaptation of Takashi Imashiro’s Ghost Cat Anzu manga will also premier at the festival.
Studio Ghibli to be awarded Honorary Palme D’Or at Cannes Film Festival
The Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli, will receive an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 77th Festival de Cannes, marking the first time an organization has been awarded such a non-competitive recognition. The festival, which will take place from May 14 to 25, 2024.
Toshio Suzuki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has thanked the Festival for the honor. He stated that Studio Ghibli will continue to take on new challenges, with its staff carrying on the spirit of the company.
“I am truly honored and delighted that the studio is awarded the Honorary Palme d’or. I would like to thank the Festival de Cannes from the bottom of my heart. Forty years ago, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and I established Studio Ghibli with the desire to bring high-level, high-quality animation to children and adults of all ages,” Suzuki said.
He further continued, “Today, our films are watched by people all over the world, and many visitors come to the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka and Ghibli Park to experience the world of our films for themselves. We have truly come a long way for Studio Ghibli to become such a big organization. Although Miyazaki and I have aged considerably, I am sure that Studio Ghibli will continue to take on new challenges, led by the staff who will carry on the spirit of the company. It would be my greatest pleasure if you look forward to what’s next.”
Iris Knobloch, the President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, the General Delegate, also commented on how Studio Ghibli has inspired cinematography. He said, “For the first time in our history, it’s not a person but an institution that we have chosen to celebrate. Like all the icons of the Seventh Art, these characters populate our imaginations with prolific, colorful universes and sensitive, engaging narrations. With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity.”
Ghost Cat Anzu anime film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival
The anime feature film adaptation of Takashi Imashiro’s Ghost Cat Anzu will screen at the Directors’ Fortnight program at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival from May 14-25, 2024. The competition, known for focusing on auteurism, will be the world premiere screening of the film before its theatrical release in Japan on July 19, 2024.
The film is co-produced by Japanese animation studio Shin-Ei Animation and French studio Miyu Production and is co-directed by Atsuhiro Yamashita, whose recent work is a live-action film adaptation of Yama Wayama’s Karaoke Iko! comedy manga and Yoko Kuno, who worked on the 2015 film The Case of Hana & Alice as rotoscope director.
Yamashita posted his hand-written message on the film’s official Twitter, saying “I thought it was some kind of a joke at first,” and added, “I think this is all thanks to the hard work of the animation director, Yoko Kuno-san. So I would like to treat Kuno-san to some seafood at Cannes.”
Meanwhile, Kuno said, “I had no idea that Anzu-chan was the ghost cat that would take us to Cannes…! For the past year and a half, our Japanese and French staff have worked hard on this animated film, but we were really surprised that it was spotted in this way, as we never expected it. I am very happy to be able to give a wonderful report to the people who were involved in this very hand-made, hand-searched film!”
The film’s official website describes the story as:
“During a thunderous downpour.
A monk at a temple finds a kitten mewling in a cardboard box. The kitten was named Anzu and was carefully brought up. Strangely, however, it did not die even after 10 or 20 years. After 30 years, it somehow became a ‘ghost cat’ that speaks human language and lives like a human. His means of transport is a moped. He works part-time as a masseuse. He is now 37 years old.
After a quarrel between father and son, the monk’s son, who has been missing for a long time, returns with his 11-year-old daughter Karin. However, he has another fight with the monk and leaves her behind. Karin is always a very “good” girl in front of adults. Anzu is asked to look after her and reluctantly does so, but there are signs that things are not going to be straightforward…”
ALSO READ: Jujutsu Kaisen: Who Is Kenjaku Aka Noritoshi Kamo? Character Explored
