The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in charge of the Oscar Awards, has announced that the film “Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka (The Boy and the Heron)” directed by Hayao Miyazaki in Studio Ghibli, has been the winner in the category of Best Animated Film for the 96th Academy Awards. Making it the second anime film to win an Oscarthe first being “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)” in 2003, and both directed by Miyasaki himself.
- Outperforming its competitors in the category: “Elementary“, “Nimona“, “Robot Dreams” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse“.
‘The Boy and the Heron’ secures the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film! Congratulations, Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/mwoxqfxuO2
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 10, 2024
This is the first film directed by Hayao Miyazaki to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature award since “Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)” at the 86th edition in 2014. Among the works of Studio Ghibli, the 87th edition in 2015 was “Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya)”, the 88th in 2016 was “Omoide no Marnie (When Marnie Was There)” and the 89th in 2017 “The Red Turtle (La Tortue Rogue)” (co-produced with France and Belgium) was also nominated for Best Animated Feature.
“Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka (The Boy and the Heron)” has already managed to be the first Japanese film to win the award for Best Animated Feature Film at the 81st Golden Globe Awards announced in early January 2024. After its release in Japan in July last year, it was screened at film festivals abroad before its world premiere.
The English cast, which includes Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh, has also generated great interest. The film screened in New York beginning November 22, with previews beginning at four theaters in Los Angeles, setting a record for average box office receipts for a Hayao Miyazaki film in the United States.
After being released in 2,205 theaters in the United States and Canada as of December 8, the box office collection in the first three days (December 8 to 10) made it the first original Japanese film to rank first in the weekend box office in North America. He won New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Animated Feature on December 1, 2023, and Los Angeles Film Critics Circle Award for Best Animation and the Boston Film Critics Circle Award for Best Animated Feature on December 10 of the same year, attracting even more attention.
After her victory at the Golden Globe Awards, she became the first Japanese film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 77th British Academy Awards (BAFTAs) announced on January 18. It was also nominated in seven categories and won two of them at the 51st Annie Awards, known as “the Academy Awards of the animation world.”
Synopsis of The Boy and the Heron
A young man named Mahito who misses his mother ventures into a mysterious world shared by the living and the dead with the help of a talking heron. There, life finds a new beginning. A fantasy about life, imagination and adventure.
Fountain: Official site of the Oscars
