Prepare to take a deep dive into the life and career of lauded anime creator Hayao Miyazaki in the new documentary Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature. Directed by Léo Favier, the film explores Miyazaki’s connection with nature across his filmography. As well as transporting audiences away to beautifully animated worlds, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s movies often explore the connection between humanity and the natural world, as well as our own tendencies towards violence and the destruction of our planet.
Ahead of its premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, the first trailer for Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature has been released online. As well as archive footage from the director’s early career and various clips from his most beloved movies, the documentary also features personal interviews with authors Susan Napier and Timothy Morton, producer Toshio Suzuki, and Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro Miyazaki (who’s an acclaimed director in his own right).
Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature is far from the first documentary about Hayao Miyazaki’s career. Notable favorites include The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness and 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki. However, it is the first to take such a hyper-focused, ecological approach to his work. Movies like Princess Mononoke, Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind, and Ponyo are all overt in their conservationist viewpoints. But the documentary also covers Ghibli’s more harrowing movies, like Grave of the Fireflies, which, as well as being a devastating movie about World War II, explores the desire for destruction within human nature. Alongside the new trailer, the first poster for Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature has been revealed. Check out the poster below:
Hayao Miyazaki Might Make Another Movie With Studio Ghibli
For the past few years, the words “Hayao Miyazaki” and “retirement” have gone hand-in-hand. The director was long presumed to be retired, before getting the proverbial band back together to create the 2023, Oscar-winning movie, The Boy and the Heron. Following the film’s release, some fans assumed that Miyazaki would go back into retirement. However, it appears as though the fire of creativity is still bright, and Miyazaki could be making another feature film with Studio Ghibli.
Following Studio Ghibli’s Palme d’Or acceptance speech at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Goro Miyazaki revealed that his father is already hard at work developing a new movie. Goro said:
“I think my father has ideas for a new feature film. It made him happy.”
No details have emerged about Hayao Miyazaki’s new movie. Some fans believe it could be a sequel to one of Studio Ghibli’s biggest hits, like Spirited Away. However, as Miyazaki isn’t known for making sequels, it is likely an original idea that will be revealed in the coming years. Fans just hope they won’t have to wait as long for the new film as they did between The Wind Rises (2013) and The Boy and the Heron (2023).
Many of Studio Ghibli’s most beloved movies are streaming on Netflix.
