Danica Davidson
April 17, 2024 
It’s a big day for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli! Time Magazine has named Miyazaki in its list of “The 100 Most Influential People of 2024,” and Cannes, the prestigious French film festival, is giving Studio Ghibli its Honorary Palme d’Or. The Palme d’Or is the top award you can get at Cannes, and in this case it’s being given as an honorary award as opposed to a competitive award.
Cannes explained:
“The Festival de Cannes is honoring a cinema legend, awarding its Honorary Palme d’or for the first time to a group: Studio Ghibli.
Alongside the Hollywood greats, the Japanese studio embodied by two superb storytellers, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and a host of cult characters, has unleashed a fresh wind on animated film over the past four decades.”
In response to this award from Cannes, Studio Ghibli cofounder Toshio Suzuki stated:
“I am truly honored and delighted that the studio is awarded the Honorary Palme d’or. “I would like to thank the Festival de Cannes from the bottom of my heart. Forty years ago, Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and I established Studio Ghibli with the desire to bring high-level, high-quality animation to children and adults of all ages. Today, our films are watched by people all over the world, and many visitors come to the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka and Ghibli Park to experience the world of our films for themselves. We have truly come a long way for Studio Ghibli to become such a big organization. Although Miyazaki and I have aged considerably, I am sure that Studio Ghibli will continue to take on new challenges, led by the staff who will carry on the spirit of the company. It would be my greatest pleasure if you look forward to what’s next.”
Meanwhile, over at Time Magazine, Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro wrote a homage to Miyazaki and his work. He said:
“Miyazaki’s work provokes that rare emotion—the shiver of recognition of a type of beauty that is impossible in the real world and thus exists only in his films. Yet he is also a brutal realist regarding greed, war, and human rage. He knows that we shape and destroy the planet and that humans are the best and the worst of our world.
He is entirely genuine. A one-of-a-kind creator who exists fully in his art. He is the single most influential animation director in the history of the medium, and one of my top 10 favorite storytellers in any audiovisual medium. The Boy and the Heron is a subtle masterpiece that exerts a gravitational pull—and many of us feel that pull intensely.”
Congrats to Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli!
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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