Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata are celebrated for their feature-length animations. Miyazaki’s films revolve around complex legends, often with children navigating magical and precarious terrains; Takahata explores ordinary life with a hardheaded objectivity. Despite an underlying sense of darkness, their remarkable films impart a sense of hope for new beginnings. The two filmmakers, who became friends in the late 1960s while working at Toei Animation, collaborated on a number of projects, including Little Norse Prince Valiant (1968) and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), before joining with Toshio Suzuki to create Studio Ghibli, now an independent production company. This exhibition features 13 films from 1968 to the present, including the North American premiere of Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle (2004).
Organized by Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Media.
The exhibition is supported by Walt Disney Studios, The Japan Foundation, and The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art. Special thanks to Fabienne Stephan, Andrew Maerkle, and Anri Yasuda