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Ponyo, Sky Crawlers to Compete in Venice Int'l Film Fest
posted on by Egan Loo
The 65th Venice International Film Festival has presented this year's film lineup on Tuesday, and Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (pictured at right) and Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers (pictured below) are both competing for the festival's awards. The festival runs from August 27 to September 6 and is considered among the top film festivals, alongside the ones in Cannes and Berlin. Miyazaki's children's fantasy and Oshii's aerial adventure are two of the three films from Japan in the competition, and the only two animated films in the 21-film lineup. Takeshi Kitano is also submitting his Achilles and the Tortoise film, while Lik-wai Yu has his multinational film Plastic City with Japanese actor Joe Odagiri.
Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle held its world premiere at the same festival in 2004, and it won the festival's Golden Osella Award for Technical Achievement. That same year, Oshii's Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence competed in the Cannes Film Festival. Coincidentally, both directors are releasing their first animated features since 2004. Ponyo is marking its second week at the Japanese box office, while The Sky Crawlers opens in Japanese theaters on August 2.
Images © 2008 Nibariki, GNDHDDT
© Hiroshi Mori/The Sky Crawlers Project
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