AFI Theatre showcases Miyazaki films in two-month event, “The Masters of Studio Ghibli”
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For the next two months, downtown Silver Spring and Studio Ghibli, known as the Disney of Japan, will have a unique cinema connection.
From April 13 to June 17, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center will host “Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata and the Masters of Studio Ghibli.” The event is co-presented by the Freer Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Japanese Information Center; every location will have various showings of the films. The event is expected to draw audiences from Silver Spring and surrounding areas in appreciation of Japan’s famed film culture.
Todd Hitchcock, AFI’s programming director, took advantage of the traveling series and made sure to bring it to the local theater
Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” (2001) and “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004) are two of the more well-known movies in the United States, and had commercial success when they were first released in theaters.
Miyazaki, one of the most popular and respected Japanese directors of animated films, won an Academy Award for best animated feature in 2002 with “Spirited Away.”
Hitchcock said the main reason he helped bring the series to the theater was to show audiences “high quality animated filmmaking, as well as the opportunity to see it on the big screen; most people only have seen the films on home video.”
While nine weeks seems like a long time for an American movie theater to show Japanese animated films, it is not uncommon at AFI.
“We typically schedule series this way, one or two titles per week over several weeks,” Hitchcock said. “It gives people the opportunity to hang with the series longer and hopefully see more films.”
Susan Bluttman, the media director at AFI, also believes that the film series should have its due time, describing it as amazing and that the theater is excited to be hosting such a renowned group of movies.
Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away,” the story of a young girl trapped in an alternate reality fighting to return to the real world, is anticipated to be the most popular film, according to Hitchcock. Another Miyazaki movie Hitchcock thinks could be a popular draw is “Princess Mononoke.” A film that originally was shown in 1997, “Princess Mononoke” is a story of the struggle between humans and nature, and the hope for a harmonious relationship.
In total, AFI will be showing 13 movies, eight of which were directed by Miyazaki. Isao Takahata directed three and Yoshifumi Kondô and Hiroyuki Morita directed the other two.
Michelle Tran, a sophomore psychology major, said that she would make the trip to watch the film series if only to visit the location.
“It would be a cool experience to check out the AFI Silver Theatre because of its rich history,” Tran said. “I took a film class in high school and we heard about a lot of independent films being shown there.”
Tran also appreciates the display of the series’ Asian culture. “It’s great that AFI has a cultural center, and is having an entire Asian film series,” she said. “It’s important for everyone to experience varying works of art and expose themselves to other cultures.”
Hitchcock, meanwhile, believes that excellent movies simply deserve greater audiences.
“I hope [Asian Pacific Americans] do turn out, as well as everyone else who enjoys quality animation, which is potentially a very large population of film lovers.”
