The amazing films from Studio Ghibli Forever!

Are your kids fans of anime? My son is an anime aficionado, but he’s not familiar with Hayao Miyazaki’s work. This Spring Break we are going to watch a couple of these films for a little family fun.

It’s been ten years since Hayao Miyazaki — the world’s greatest animator — released his last film, The Wind is Rising, and announced his retirement. Happily he changed his mind, and will unveil How Do You Live? later this year. There is no better time to revisit the spellbinding fairy tales which have enchanted audiences for four decades and made Studio Ghibli the most revered animation studio in the world.

In the first installment of the complete Ghibli retrospective, the VIFF focuses on the years 1984-1999. These first dozen films, including many of the studio’s most beloved titles, will screen across spring break, March 13-25. Each title will screen twice, once as a matinee in an English language dub, and then again, the following evening, in the original Japanese with English subtitles. All ages are welcome!

Fans will need no encouragement to dive back into these lovely movies on the big screen. Newcomers are invited to expect a fantastical cinema imbued with a palpable sense of the sublime, featuring plucky, curious heroines, fabulous contraptions, endearing, mythical creatures, and a living, breathing world which is both familiar and thrillingly unexpected.

Family Fun time. Check out some of the Studio Ghibli films!

My Neighbor Totoro

Mar 15 – 3PM, Mar 16 – 8:15PM, Mar 19 – 5:10PM

Two little girls and their father move into a beautiful old house in the countryside. Largely left to fend for themselves, Mei and her big sister Satsuki encounter a strange and beautiful world of forest sprites. Miyazaki’s most beloved film.

Princess Mononoke

Mar 24 – 7:40PM, Mar 25 – 12PM

A mystical fight between humans and the Animal Gods of the forest. Ashitaka, the last prince of a dying race, struggles to find a way for both sides to co-exist. But the fighting only becomes more and more bloody and all hope seems to be lost…

Grave of the Fireflies

Mar 18 – 8:30PM, Mar 19 – 8PM

After their mother is killed in an air raid, and with their father serving Japan during WWII, Seita and his little sister Setsuko are forced to fight for survival in the devastated countryside. Rated PG for violence; frightening scenes.

Wait… there’s more!

• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• Castle in the Sky
• Kiki’s Delivery Service
• Only Yesterday
• Porco Rosso
• Ocean Waves
• Pom Poko
• Whisper of the Heart
• My Neighbours the Yamadas

Learn more about all the films and their show times here.

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