Animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ to open TIFF 2023 | Globalnews.ca

Influential Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature in 10 years will open this year’s Toronto International Film festival.

“The Boy and the Heron” is hand-drawn, written and directed by Miyazaki. The coming-of-age film is centered on a boy whose mother is killed during the Second World War, and the magical world he enters.

Miyazaki, who won an Oscar for the critically acclaimed and commercially successful 2001 film “Spirited Away,” is considered a brilliant storyteller and has inspired animators around the world.

“The Boy and the Heron” set box office records in Japan when it opened earlier this month despite no promotion or marketing from Studio Ghibli.

Miyazaki is also behind the 2013 Oscar-nominated drama “The Wind Rises” and the 1988 classic “My Neighbor Totoro.”

TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said in a statement it’s an honour to open the festival with the work of “one of cinema’s greatest artists.”

Previous opening night films include Sally El Hosaini’s “The Swimmers,” and Stephen Chbosky’s “Dear Evan Hansen.”

The festival will run from Sept. 7 to 17.