Cannes 2024: Studio Ghibli creates history as it recieves honorary Palme d'Or

The Japanese anime factory, Studio Ghibli, which has been capturing the imagination of fans for the last 39 years with its magical creatures, and floating castles, was given an honorary Palme d'Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

The honour given on Monday (May 20) is historic as, in the 22 years that Cannes has been handing out honorary Palmes, the award for Ghibli was the first for anything but an individual filmmaker or actor.

Hayao Miyazaki, the 83-year-old animation master who founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata and Toshio Suzuki, didn't attend the ceremony, but he spoke in a video message taped in Japan.

“I don't understand any of this," said Miyazaki. “But thank you.”

At Cannes, where standing ovations can stretch on end, the fervor that greeted Ghibli's emissaries — Goro Miyazaki and Kenichi Yoda — was nevertheless among the most thunderous receptions at the festival.

Thierry Fremaux, Cannes' artistic director, walked across the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière filming the long ovation, he said, for a video to send to Miyazaki.

“With this Palme d'Or, we'd like to thank you for all the magic you've brought to cinema,” said Iris Knobloch, the president of the festival, presenting the award.

While the occasion did not see the screening of any new Ghibli project, four earlier shorts that hadn't previously been shown outside Japan were screened at the festival.

The shorts, all of which were made for the Studio Ghibli Museum outside Tokyo, included Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess,a culinary-themed desert for Miyazaki's 2001 film Spirited Away.The other two — House Huntingand Boro the Caterpillar— make musical mini-adventures for forest creatures.

Global recognition for Studio Ghibli

The honorary Palme d'Or came on the heels of Miyazaki's long-awaited The Boy and the Heronwinning the Academy Award in March for best animated film.

Miyazaki sat out that ceremony, too. Goro Miyazaki, whose own films include From Up on Poppy Hilland Tales From Earthsea,said they had to use a hotel towel to wrap the Oscar to bring it home to his father.

On Monday, he was relieved by the portability of the Cannes prize.“I'm reassured seeing the Palme d'Or was in a box,” he said, grinning.

(With inputs from agencies)