On Now: A Month-Long Studio Ghibli Showcase

A month-long showcase of films by iconic Japanese anime house Studio Ghibli is on now in Australia.

Celebrate! Studio Ghibli will screen all 22 titles including My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away in cinemas across the country.

Helmed by Hayao Miyazaki, the studio has been in operation for more than 30 years, producing intricately hand-drawn feature films, shorts and the occasional television commercial. In 2014, Miyazaki announced his retirement – but he came back to develop an adaptation of Boro the Caterpillar, a computer-generated film originally created for the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo.

Along with the studio’s well-known titles, the month-long program will give audiences a rare opportunity to enjoy lesser-known films from its catalogue, as well as Studio Ghibli doco The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, on the big screen.

Here are some to put on your must-see list.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky
This film, about the search for a legendary floating castle by a young boy and girl, is one of the original and most notable productions from the studio.

When Marnie Was There
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and adapted from the 1967 novel by British author Joan G. Robinson, the film follows Anna, an orphaned girl whose new friend Marnie is invisible to the rest of her village.

Pom Poko
Tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs) rebel against a human-led development threatening their existence and habitat, using sabotage and cunning survival tactics to repel the human oppressors in this entertaining display of courage.

Grave of the Fireflies
A dark, sombre and inspiring story of two orphaned children struggling to survive in the Japanese countryside in the wake of World War II.

*From Up on Poppy Hill *
This is a high-school love story that takes place after the devastation of World War II, with a tale about this generation and their battle to move forward during a testing time in history.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness
This documentary follows filmmakers Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata over the course of one year.

The national film festival is on from August 24 to September 20. For program details and tickets visit studioghibli.com.au/celebratestudioghibli/.

This article was updated on August 28, 2017.