In a first, Cannes Film Festival to award Honorary Palme d'Or to a group, Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli

Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli will be awarded with an honorary Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival for their beautiful animated films.

In a first ever, the upcoming Cannes Film Festival will give an Honorary Palme d'Or for a group – Studio Ghibli -- well known for its brilliant animation cinema. The house has in its basket such gems as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and The Boy and the Heron (which won an Oscar this year).

Studio Ghibli has produced some beloved movies such as My Neighbour Totoro.

The Honorary Palme is usually given to individuals, which included Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas and Harrison Ford in recent times. This year, at the Festival's 77th edition, Star Wars' creator George Lucas will also get the Honorary Palme.

About Studio Ghibli

Ghibli is synonymous with the renowned Japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki, who founded the Studio in 1985 along with Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki.

Miyazaki returned from his retirement to make The Boy and the Heron, which is set during World War II and follows the sorrowful journey of 12-year-old Mahito Maki, who coming to terms with the tragic death of his mother in a Tokyo hospital fire, grapples with his new life that includes his father and stepmother. An encounter with a mystical grey heron leads him towards solace and understanding of his grief.

Miyazaki’s movies have always premiered at Venice, Toronto and the Berlin (where Spirited Away won the Golden Bear in 2002) but Takahata’s The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya was shown in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2014 and The Red Turtle, Ghibli’s first collaboration with a European production company, played in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2016.

High-quality animation

Suzuki said: “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. Today, our movies are watched by people all over the world, and many visitors come to the Ghibli Museum and Ghibli Park to experience the world of our films.

“We have truly come a long way for Studio Ghibli to become such a big organisation. 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.”

Iris Knobloch, President of the Festival and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, said: “Like all the icons of the Seventh Art, these animated characters populate our imaginations with prolific, colourful universes and sensitive, engaging narrations. With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity".

Cannes will run from May 14 to 25.