The greatest director of animated feature films is retiring.
At the Venice Film Festival it was announced that Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki latest feature, The Wind Rises which premiered at the festival, is to be his last. The news came from Studio Ghibli president Hoshino Koji, who did not elaborate any further except ot say that there will be a special news conference later this week in Tokyo.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Miyazaki has announced his retirement. Previously, 1997’s Princess Mononoke was to have been his last film, but he then went on to create Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo for Ghibli. Spirited Away went on to win an Academy Award in 2001 for Best Animated Feature and 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle was also nominated in that category.
