Hayao Miyazaki’s farewell film The Boy and the Heron ruffled a few feathers with Studio Ghibli’s no-marketing policy leading up to its release in Japan on July 14 — but the studio is quickly making up for it now but dropping official images to tantalize international fans. A dozen new stills have debuted, as the film continues to set regional premieres and prestige festival placements around the world.
One still, seen at top, was debuted by the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, which will screen the film out of competition following the opening night gala of its seventh edition on September 22. This is the fourth Miyazaki feature to screen at the festival, but the first Official Selection. Previously, Spirited Away and Ponyo screened in the Velodrome section and The Wind Rises in the Perlak; Ghibli’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (directed by Isao Takahata) and The Red Turtle (Michael Dudok de Wit) have also run in the Perlak program.
Additionally, it was announced Thursday that The Boy and the Heron will have its U.S. Premiere during the 2023 New York Film Festival (September 29-October 15) as part of the 61st NYFF Spotlight selections. Here is how the program describes the film:
The first film in a decade from Hayao Miyazaki is a ravishing, endlessly inventive fantasy that is destined to be ranked with the legendary animator’s finest, boldest works. While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother’s tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy’s mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the “long-awaited one.” Indeed, an extraordinary and grand fate is in store for our young hero, who must journey to a subterranean alternate reality in the hopes of saving Natsuko —and perhaps himself.
Uniting the countryside surreality of My Neighbor Totoro with the Alice in Wonderland–like dream logic of Spirited Away and the personal historical backdrop of The Wind Rises (NYFF51), yet fabricating something ingeniously original, The Boy and the Heron is a deeply felt work of eccentric beauty brimming with inspired images that lodge in the mind, from the adorable to the grotesque. Moving from earthbound serenity to a universe of boundless imagination, Miyazaki’s long-anticipated film seeks, once and for all, a world without malice. A GKIDS release.
Check out the previously released official stills for The Boy and the Heron here. The film will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7 before its nationwide release through GKIDS later this year. Despite the lack of publicity for the film in Japan, the movie has made over $43 million at the box office in its home country since its release more than a month ago. The Boy and the Heron had a very strong opening weekend ($13.2 million/1.83 billion yen), a record for a Studio Ghibli movie in Japan.
