Ghibli at GFC 2025: Ponyo (2008)
- Sun, Jun 22
- Mon, Jun 23
- Tue, Jun 24
- Wed, Jun 25
Director: Hayao Miyazaki Run Time: 100 min. Rating: G Release Year: 2008
Starring: Betty White, Cate Blanchett, Frankie Jonas, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Matt Damon, Noah Cyrus, Tina Fey
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese with English subtitles | Matinee screenings presented in English
A Film Center tradition, embark on a magical journey into the enchanting world of Studio Ghibli with Ghibli at GFC 2025 this spring.
About the film:
Perfect for audiences of all ages, Ponyo (2008) centers on the friendship between five-year-old Sosuke and a magical goldfish named Ponyo, the young daughter of a sorcerer father and a sea-goddess mother. After a chance encounter, Ponyo yearns to become a human so she can be with Sosuke.
As to be expected with Miyazaki, the film is awash in pure unbridled imagination and visual wonder — but it is the tender love, humor, and devotion exhibited by Ponyo and Sosuke that form the emotional heart of the film.
“This poetic, visually breathtaking work by the greatest of all animators has such deep charm that adults and children will both be touched. It’s wonderful…”
—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
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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