Isao Takahata

A documentary that chronicles the making of The Boy and the Heron, filmed with exclusive access to Studio Ghibli across an astonishing seven years.

A documentary that focuses on Hayao Miyazaki’s deep connection to nature and the environmental themes expressed through his films.

Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.

A documentary about the Ghibli Museum. It features Goro Miyazaki speaking with Isao Takahata about the "charm" of the museum and its various influences. Goro tours the viewer around the museum, explaining the intricate details that his father, Hayao Miyazaki made during its construction. The documentary highlights the strong European influences in the museum's architecture, featuring footage of the medieval mountainous city of Calcata in Italy and the historic port city of Genoa, which Miyazaki had visited in the past. These trips would go on to influencing the imagery seen in Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and Spirited Away.

For his first film in fourteen years, animation director Isao Takahata embarked on a visually sumptuous adaptation of The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter. A dream project for the director that would hopefully establish the recently formed Ghibli Studio 7, created to meet the demands of a new type of modern animation process. But, almost immediately, the epic production is faced with difficulties and falls dramatically behind schedule. In this compelling and insightful documentary, we follow Isao Takahata and his dedicated team of artists as they frantically strive against adversity to make their vision a reality and bring Studio Ghibli into a new era.

No synopsis available yet.

This documentary by Hubert Niogret looks at the revival of Japanese cinema during the 1990s.

A partially-animated documentary about the preservation and restoration of the canal system in Yanagawa, Fukuoka

Studio Ghibli is Japan's most successful animation studio, with helmers Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro") and Isao Takahata ("Grave of The Fireflies," "The Tale of Princess Kaguya") creating a bonanza for producer/prexy Toshio Suzuki. Generously adorned with clips from their films and their influences, the docu follows Ghibli's arc from a mid-'60s rebellion against working conditions at Toei Co. to its present powerhouse position, complete with public fun park. All interviews are illuminating, but Miyazaki is teasingly confined to pic's tete-a-tete finale with esteemed French comic artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. Meeting of the wizened European, whose imprint is on films from "Blade Runner" to "The Fifth Element," and the apparently relaxed Nipponese helmer makes an interesting contrast, and will be of special interest to Francophiles. All credits are impeccable

A documentary produced by NHK following the production of "The Boy & The Heron" over 7 years.

No synopsis available yet.

A promotional film by Studio Ghibli about the work on the film "The Cat Returns" (directed by Hiroyuki Morita)

From July 21 through September 10th, 2007, the Museum for Contemporary Art Tokyo held an exhibition honouring Kazuo Oga, the art director and background artist for many famed works from Japan's Studio Ghibli. Over 600 works from the artist were on display, and numerous fans flocked to the one-of-a-kind exhibition celebrating the lush, gorgeous background artwork typifying many a work from Hayao Miyazaki and other Ghibli filmmakers. International fans of Oga and Studio Ghibli have not been left out, however. A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition - The One Who Drew Totoro's Forest allows fans the opportunity to attend the exhibition, as well as watch interviews and testimonials with Oga's contemporaries and collaborators, all subtitled in English.

A short documentary dedicated to |sao Takahata, composed of archive images, released following his death in April 2018.

In this documentary we travel to the Swiss Alps and to the Canadian Prince Edward Island looking at the origins of the two classic TV series - Heidi, the Girl of the Alps and Anne of Green Gables. We will also learn how the Japanese scenery found its way into the latter. As the documentary was released as part of the From up on Poppy Hill promotion, a portion of it is dedicated to Yokohama, where the events of the film by Goro Miyazaki take place.

This August 2010 NHK documentary explores the influence of selected children's literature on Miyazaki and Takahata's body of work and on Studio Ghibli as a whole. Also included is a conversation between Miyazaki and Japanese author and TV personality Sawako Agawa.

Aki Asakura, an actress who played the voice of Princess Kaguya, travels around Japan to visit the scenery that appeared in Takahata's work. The documentary also includes an interview with Director Takahata. This documentary is composed from the fragments of a program, aired by BS Nippon Television TV station on the 1st of January 2014, dedicated to the release of The Tale of Princess Kaguya.

Yasuo Ōtsuka was the mentor of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, the man who taught them to feel the joy of animation. As the supervising animator of their films and through the creation of superb scenes such as Lupin leaping from turret to turret in Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro, Ōtsuka made the impossible believable, and touched people’s emotions. To look back at the many works he was involved in is to review the history of Japanese animation after WWII. This film is a must for anime fans who want to learn how Japanese animation evolved.

A making of documentary on the Studio Ghibli film Only Yesterday

A documentary film following Isao Takahata to Canada to meet Frédéric Back.

A contemporary look at the creation and evolution of Studio Ghibli, from ‘The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun’ (1968) to ‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997).

Documentary about Yasuo Otsuka, famous Japanese animator and mentor of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Featuring interviews with Japanese animation legends such as Masaaki Osumi, Youichi Kotabe, Sadao Tsukioka and Isao Takahata.

Nippon Television "Super TV Information Frontline Exclusive Coverage of 15 Months! The Secrets of the Rumored Movie "My Neighbors the Yamadas""

NHK documentary about "Grave of the Fireflies" and 7 notebooks written by Isao Takahata that were found after his death. The film was based on a novel, but also on the director's personal experience, who fled the bombings with his sister.

After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.

A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.

Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthrals all who encounter her. But, ultimately, she must confront her fate.

The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.

The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.

In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.

In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.

Young Horus lives in a mythical Scandinavia of the Iron Age. Recovering the stolen Sword of the Sun from a rock giant, he learns he must travel to the lands of his ancestors, encountering the beautiful but enigmatic Hilda as his journey leads to a series of adventures.

Cheerful Mimiko’s small family grows when she adopts a talking baby panda and his full-grown papa. Despite Mimiko's best efforts, the appearance of Panny and Papa Bear disrupts the quiet pace of life in town, prompting zookeepers to reclaim the escaped bear pair.

Chie Takemoto is a dependable girl who struggles to help her troublesome father run a small tavern in Osaka. Unbeknown to her dad, she occasionally visits her mother who left him not too long ago. She plans on trying to reunite them, but not until her father gets a job.

Chie Takemoto is a dependable girl who struggles to help her troublesome father run a small tavern in Osaka. Unbeknown to her dad, she occasionally visits her mother who left him not too long ago. She plans on trying to reunite them, but not until her father gets a job.

Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing.

Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing.

Mimiko, Papa Panda, and Panny make friends with a baby tiger from the circus — just in time for a flash flood to throw the whole town into chaos.

In this movie that summarizes the first six episodes of Anne of Green Gables, we follow the story of Anne, an orphan full of imagination. When she arrives at her new home, she learns that sometimes you have to be a sensible person, while her unique character changes, or at least attracts, the people around her.

In this movie that summarizes the first six episodes of Anne of Green Gables, we follow the story of Anne, an orphan full of imagination. When she arrives at her new home, she learns that sometimes you have to be a sensible person, while her unique character changes, or at least attracts, the people around her.

Cheerful Mimiko has a wonderfully strange family—a Panda for her Papa; and his son Panny, calls her Mom! When Panny follows Mimiko to school, he must pretend to be a teddy bear so Mimiko won't get into trouble. Despite his efforts to behave, Panny causes trouble in school and now the school is after Panny! Then, Panny makes a new friend, Tiny, a baby tiger who's wandered off from the circus.

Heidi (1974) Japanese anime series by Zuiyo Eizo (now Nippon Animation) based on the Swiss novel Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning by Johanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata A feature-length film Heidi in the Mountains, aka The Story of Heidi, was edited from the series by Zuiyo (which by then was a separate entity from Nippon Animation, which employed many of the TV series' animation staff) distributed in 1979. All cast were replaced excluding Heidi and the grandfather. This movie is also the only incarnation of the Heidi anime to have been released commercially in the United States in English (on home video in the 1980s). Isao Takahata remarked "Neither Hayao Miyazaki nor I are completely related to any shortening version" on this work.

TV pilot based on an original manga by Tetsuya Chiba, about a 10-year old girl named Yuki. An orphan who's being adopted by a family.

A partially-animated documentary about the preservation and restoration of the canal system in Yanagawa, Fukuoka