An animation film festival was held in Croatia last June 10 called Animafest Zagreb. Studio Ghibli’s animated feature film The Red Turtle won in the Grand Prix – Feature Film category. The film’s award-winning animator and director Michael Dudok de Wit has also won an award in this event. MAPPA and Sunao Katabuchi’s film In This Corner of the World was one of the nominees in the said category.
The film is Dudok de Wit’s latest work and is co-produced by Wild Bunch (a French film distribution and production company) and Studio Ghibli. The film premiered in September last year which was followed on November in Los Angeles and New York for a cinematic run to be nominated for the Oscars. On January 20, the film officially premiered in North American theaters. The film was officially one of the nominees for the 89th Academy Awards but wasn’t able to win.
For him to work on the film and to complete the storyboards, de Wit moved to Tokyo temporarily to coordinate well with the Studio Ghibli staff in its headquarters. Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli’s director, served as the film’s “artistic producer” while the script was done by Pascale Fernan.
The Red Turtle received an award for Best Animated Feature- Independent at 44th Annie Awards in February and it also won the Special Jury Prize at the un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2016. The film opened the 40th Annecy International Animation Film Festival held last June 2016.
Studio Ghibli is one of Japan’s renowned animation studios known for its anime masterpieces like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, When Marnie was There, Ponyo, and Grave of the Fireflies to name a few. Spirited Away was recorded as the highest-grossing animated feature film in Japan. Its gross-sales were recently beaten by Makoto Shinkai’s anime film masterpiece, Kimi no na wa which broke theater records not only Japan but also in different theaters across the world.
With all these awards given to Japanese animated films, there will be more to come in the future. Be sure to catch The Red Turtle as it premieres in theaters near you.
Source: Studio Ghibli Unofficial Fan Site.