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Ghibli's Takahata to Present Kaguya at France's Annecy
posted on by Andre Pappas
France's annual Annecy International Animation Film Festival announced on Friday that The Tale of Princess Kaguya, the latest film from Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday,Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), will open the festival. Takahata will appear during the screening on June 9.
The festival will also give Takahata an Honorary Award to salute his career and contributions to animation. “Filmmaker of an exceptional scale, Mr. Takahata is also a great humanist whose work has become a reference for those who believe in the greatness of animation as a cinematic art form," said Festival Artistic Director Marcel Jean.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is based on the famous Japanese folktale Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), which centers on a princess named Kaguya who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. The film won the Animation Film Award at the 68th Mainichi Film Awards.
Distribution company GKIDS will release the film in North America this year. The company maintains a Facebook page for updates.
The Studio Ghibli film premiered last November in Japan and topped box office charts during its opening weekend. The film sold 222,822 tickets to earn 284,252,550 yen (about US$2.8 million) on 456 screens.
