Ghibli at GFC 2024: Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) 35th Anniversary
Director: Hayao Miyazaki Run Time: 103 min. Rating: G Release Year: 1989
Starring: Debbie Reynolds, Janeane Garofalo, Kirsten Dunst, Matthew Lawrence, Phil Hartman, Tress MacNeille
Country: Japan
Language: English; select screenings in Japanese with English subtitles
Celebrate the magical worlds of Studio Ghibli, this Spring Season at Gateway Film Center!
See the Ghibli at GFC 2024 lineupAbout the film:
Celebrate this beloved coming-of-age story from the legendary Studio Ghibli and Academy Award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, about a resourceful young witch who uses her broom to create a delivery service, only to lose her gift of flight in a moment of self-doubt.
It is a tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and fly off into the wide world to learn their craft. When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her new journey with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside village, where her unique skills make her an instant sensation. Don’t miss this delightfully imaginative and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world.
“a benign guided tour of femininity… gently broaching universal coming-of-age issues such as independence, insecurity, and even – more boldly than any Western children’s movie would contemplate – sexuality.”
—Steve Rose, Guardian
About the filmmaker:
One of Japan’s most distinctive filmmakers, Hayao Miyazaki’s stories consider the conflict between human progress and nature with the existence of the spirit world alongside the mundane. Before founding Studio Ghibli, he worked for various animation studios and crafted his first feature films Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1979) and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984). With fellow animator and longtime collaborator, Takahata Isao, he launched Studio Ghibli in 1985 and began producing some of most iconic hand-drawn animated films of all time, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013). In 2015, Miyazaki received an honorary Academy Award for his impact on animation and cinema, and his most recent film The Boy and the Heron (2023) won Best International Feature.
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