Isao Takahata, 1988, 89 min.

 
Written and directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES is considered a masterpiece and a landmark in animation. Roger Ebert has called it "an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation. It belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made." 

Told in flashback, it is an emotionally powerful and very personal film about the devastation of Japan during the final months of World War II as seen through the eyes of two children. This achingly sad anti-war movie is one of Studio Ghibli's most profoundly beautiful, haunting works.

Hayao Miyazaki, 1988, 86 min.

 
One of the most endearing and internationally renowned films of all time, a film that Roger Ebert called "one of the five best movies" ever made for children, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is a deceptively simple tale of two girls, Satsuki and Mei, who move with their father to a new house in the countryside. They soon discover that the surrounding forests are home to a family of Totoros, gentle but powerful creatures who live in a huge and ancient camphor tree and are seen only by children. Based on Miyazaki's own childhood imaginings, Totoros look like oversized pandas with bunny ears and they take the girls on spinning-top rides through the tree tops and introduce them to a furry, multi-pawed Catbus - a nod to Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat.

But beneath the film's playfulness and narrative simplicity lie depths of wisdom. As with much of Miyazaki's work, at its core MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is about human-kind's relationship to the Earth. The film is infused with an almost spiritual reverence for the power of nature (a philosophy tied to the ancient Shinto belief that every object in nature has a soul). Everything that surrounds us, from light-dappled tree groves, to the marvelous clouds, echoes the density and lusciousness of life. Protected by the Totoros, we know no harm will come to our two heroines in the forest's sunlit glades and mysterious shadows. The girls may be awed by the power and majesty around them but they understand instinctively that nature has no malice. The viewer is left with a sense of wonder at the beauty, mystery and preciousness of the world all around us.

Hayao Miyazaki, 1992, 94 min.

 
This unsung treasure from Hayao Miyazaki nestles a tale of morality and identity inside a soaring airborne adventure - a tribute to early aviation and the reckless flyboys whose home was the open sky.

Set in a mid-war Italy swept by fascism, the film follows the life of Marco, a world-weary flying ace-turned bounty hunter who plies his trade above the waters of the Adriatic. Somewhere along the way a curse has transformed Marco's head into the head of a pig, reflecting his loss of faith in humanity. Marco meets his polar opposite in the innocent and energetic 17-year-old Fio, an aspiring airplane designer, and the two are catapulted into an airborne adventure pursued by air pirates, the Italian army, and an egotistical American flying ace.

Miyazaki fans will be familiar with the writer/director's fascination with flight; in this film, Miyazaki indulges his passion to the fullest. An avid aviation buff, Miyazaki's airplane designs conform scrupulously to the technology of the period. But most impressive are the exhilarating aerial scenes: sweeping panoramas of wind, cloud, smoke and water and the breathtaking feeling of soaring though the air in an open cockpit.

Hayao Miyazaki, 1997, 134 min.

 
PRINCESS MONONOKE is a landmark of animation and a film of unsurpassed power and beauty. An epic story of conflict between humans, gods, and nature, the film has been universally acclaimed by critics and broke the box office record on its original release in Japan.

While defending his village from a demonic boar-god, the young warrior Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a curse that grants him super-human power in battle but will eventually take his life. Traveling west to find a cure or meet his destiny, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest where he meets San (Princess Mononoke), a girl raised by wolf-gods who is waging battle against the human outpost of Iron Town, on the edge of the forest. The girl Mononoke a force of nature - with blood smeared lips, riding bareback on a great white wolf, doing battle with both gods and humans, she is as iconic a figure as any from film, literature, or opera.

Isao Takahata, 1999, 104 min.

In a break from the frequently mythical storytelling of Studio Ghibli, director Isao Takahata wryly tweaks the everyday activities of family life with his depiction of the irresponsible, slovenly, and lazy Yamada family and their unassuming way of life. With cartoon-like characters and visual design unlike anything else in the Ghibli canon, the film is illustrated in a series of rough sketches and outlines, which are then filled with soft colors that evoke watercolor painting.

Hayao Miyazaki, 2001, 125 min.

 
Hayao Miyazaki's Academy Award?-winning masterpiece SPIRITED AWAY was the biggest box office hit of all time in Japan and a film that helped redefine the possibilities of animation for American audiences and a generation of new filmmakers.

Wandering through an abandoned carnival site, ten-year-old Chichiro is separated from her parents and stumbles into a dream-like spirit world where she is put to work in a bathhouse for the gods, a place where all kinds of nonhuman beings come to refresh, relax and recharge. Here she encounters a vast menagerie of impossibly inventive characters - shape-shifting phantoms and spirits, some friendly, some less so - and must find the inner strength to outsmart her captors and return to her family. Combining Japanese mythology with Through the Looking Glass-type whimsy, SPIRITED AWAY cemented Miyazaki's reputation as an icon of inspired animation and wondrous, lyrical storytelling.

Hiroyuki Morita, 2002, 75 min.

 
In this sequel to WHISPER OF THE HEART, a quiet suburban schoolgirl, Haru, is pitched into a fantastical feline world and must find her inner strength to make her way back home. Walking with her friend after a dreary day at school, Haru eyes a cat with a small gift box in its mouth attempting to cross a busy street. The cat fumbles the package in the middle of the road as a truck is rapidly bearing down. Haru manages to scoop the cat away to safety. To her amazement, the cat then gets up on its hind legs, brushes itself off, and thanks her very politely.

Strange behavior indeed, but this is nothing compared to what happens later that evening when the King of Cats shows up in a feline motorcade replete with vassals, maidens, and even Secret Service cats. In a show of gratitude for saving his son's life, the king cat showers Haru with gifts - including a large supply of individually wrapped live mice - and decrees that she shall marry the cat prince and come to live as a princess in the secret Kingdom of Cats.

Hayao Miyazaki, 2004, 114 min.

 
Sophie, an average teenage girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. But after this chance meeting, the young girl is turned into a 90-year old woman by the vain and conniving Witch of the Waste.

Embarking on an incredible adventure to lift the curse, she finds refuge in Howl's magical moving castle. As the true power of Howl's wizardry is revealed, and his relationship with Sophie deepens, our young grey heroine finds herself fighting to protect them both from a dangerous war of sorcery that threatens their world. HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE was the second Studio Ghibli film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.

Goro Miyazaki, Japan, 91 min.

GKIDS is extremely proud to present the highly anticipated new film from Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, and many other animated masterpieces. Written by legendary studio founder Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Goro Miyazaki, From Up on Poppy Hill marks the first feature film collaboration between father and son. The results are stunning - a pure, sincere, nuanced and heartfelt film that signals yet another triumph for the esteemed studio.

Isao Takahata, Japan, 137 min.

Legendary Studio Ghibli cofounder Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko) revisits Japan's most famous folktale in this gorgeous, hand-drawn masterwork, decades in the making. Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter (James Caan) and his wife (Mary Steenburgen), a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady (Chlo? Grace Moretz). The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her - but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.