This Saturday at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards, legendary Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki will be presented with an honorary Oscar in recognition of his incredible career. The 73-year-old filmmaker has retired from the director’s chair, but insists he will remain involved in productions at Studio Ghibli, the world famous animation house he co-founded.
Miyazaki’s feature directing credits include the Oscar winning Spirited Away (2002), nominees The Wind Rises (2013) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2005) as well as Ponyo (2008) and Princess Mononoke, which brought the director to the attention of American theater-goers at the turn of the millennium. Miyazaki has said he plans to turn his attention to short films produced for his Ghibli Museum in Japan.
“One of the good points of making such short films is that I don’t have to worry about it having financial success,” he told the Associated Press through a translator. “The people who come to the museum are forced to see this film when they go into the little theater there. So even if it’s a little bit boring, they’ll probably sit through it and not raise a fuss.”
Highlights from the untelevised Governors Awards, which will also honor actress Maureen O’Hara, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner Harry Belafonte, will be shown during the Academy Awards ceremony in February.
