Secret of Cerulaean Sand

SECRET of CERULEAN SAND

Secret of Cerulean Sand is a 26-episode anime television series that ran in 2002. The main character is a 15-year-old English girl named Jane Buxton, who dreams of building a flying machine. The series documents her journey across the Near East to find her brother. It is set in the late 19th century where impossible technologies such as landships and "floating liquid" exist side by side in a steampunk world. 

The series is loosely based on two works by Jules Verne — his posthumous 1919 novel The Barsac Mission (L’Étonnante Aventure de la mission Barsac, consisting of two volumes—Book 1, Into the Niger Bend, and Book 2, City in the Sahara) as well as his 1896 novel Facing the Flag (Face au Drapeau).

Jane's mother dies when she is born, and her father, a rich English aristocrat, soon remarries to a woman with a son, William, who despises his new father and brother. George and Jane grow up with a dream to make a flying machine. George believes the distant Asian sands hold a secret: a mysterious cerulean sand that can make machines fly. He goes on an expedition to find it and soon is reported executed for treason. William disappears too. After she receives an unsigned letter holding a handful of pale-blue sand that floats in the air, Jane is sure her brother is alive and leaves to the East to find him and prove him innocent. There are many mysteries to unravel in store for Jane and her new friends on her journey. But perhaps a mystery should forever remain a mystery...

▶ Watch the Entire Series "Secret of Cerulean Sand"

WIND PRINCESS - OFFICIAL TRAILER

NAUSICAA of the VALLEY of the WIND

This is not an official licensed product. This independent non-profit short film is entirely self-funded and was made in Brazil as a tribute to the great artist Hayao Miyazaki, who has always been an inspiration to me. We are not a large company. Rather, we are a group of friends who have been working on this project for almost four years, fueled only by our love of the art. We are proud to finally release our first teaser trailer. We will release the film online free of charge, as our only aim is to pay homage to Mr. Miyazaki and the entire wonderful team at Studio Ghibli. Our dream is to donate all of our costumes and props (such as the glider, gun, etc) to the Ghibli Museum (in Tokyo, Japan), as a token of appreciation and also as a testament to the great influence Miyazaki has on Brazilian fans and artists who share his passion for fantastical story-telling. WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP US COMPLETE OUR FILM? We are still in post-production and in search of partners to help push us over the finish line. If you are interested in participating, please contact me directly. My social networks are below.

INSTAGRAM: CHRIS_TEX 

VIMEO: CHRIS TEX 

FACEBOOK: CHRIS TEX 

YOUTUBE: CHRIS TEX 

TWITTER: CHRISTEX_ 

E-MAIL: christiano.tex@gmail.com

Miyazaki's First U.S. Museum Show in 2019

Hayao Miyazaki’s First Major U.S.

Museum Show Will Be In Los Angeles

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, set to open in late 2019, will debut with a retrospective devoted to Hayao Miyazaki.

Presented in collaboration with Studio Ghibli, the Academy is calling the Miyazaki show “unprecedented” and “the first major exhibition of his work presented in the United States.” It is curated by Jessica Niebel.

More details:

The exhibition will take visitors on a thematic journey through his cinematic worlds using original production materials from Studio Ghibli’s archives, and features such films as My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Spirited Away (2001). The exhibition will present more than 200 concept sketches, character designs, storyboards, layouts, cels, backgrounds, film clips, and immersive environments. A catalogue, film series, and public events will accompany the presentation, and unique Studio Ghibli merchandise will be sold at the museum’s shop.

Located at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, the Academy Museum will be located in the historic May Company Building, originally completed in 1939. Designed by Renzo Piano, the museum will have six floors including exhibition spaces, a 288-seat theater, an education studio, special event spaces, conservation areas, a café, and store. A new spherical addition will connect to the May Building via glass bridges and will feature a 1,000-seat theater and rooftop terrace.

In addition to the temporary Miyazaki exhibition, the museum will launch with the permanent exhibit “Where Dreams Are Made: A Journey Inside the Movies” (working title), a 30,000-square-foot, two-floor survey of the art and science of motion pictures. Some concept paintings of the permanent exhibit are shown below:

Concept painting by Erik Tiemens of the “Where Dreams Are Made” exhibit.

Concept painting by Erik Tiemens of the “Where Dreams Are Made” exhibit.

Concept painting by Erik Tiemens of the “Where Dreams Are Made” exhibit.

Never-Ending Man: The Miyazaki Documentary

GKIDS and Fathom Events began streaming an English-subtitled trailer on Tuesday for their screening of the Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (Owaranai Hito Miyazaki Hayao) television documentary special. GKIDS and Fathom Events will screen in more than 500 United States theaters on Thursday, December 13 and Tuesday, December 18. All screenings will be English-subtitled and at 7:30 p.m. local time. Tickets are on sale via GKIDS' website.

Documentary Shows Hayao Miyazaki at Work

GKIDS describes the documentary:

In 2013, film director and animator Hayao Miyazaki suddenly announced his retirement at the age of 72. But he couldn't shake his burning desire to create. After an encounter with young CGI animators, Miyazaki embarked on a new endeavor, his first project ever to utilize CGI. But the artist, who had been adamant about hand-drawn animation, confronted many challenges. The film even faces the danger of being cancelled. Can an old master who thinks he's past his prime shine once again? This program goes behind the scenes over two years as Miyazaki overcomes struggles to create his short film using CGI.

The documentary premiered on NHK TV in Japan in 2016, and it debuted on the NHK World channel and website with English subtitles in 2017. The Japan Society screened the special in New York in September 2017. 

In the program, Miyazaki reported that he wants to return to making an anime feature film, after retiring from directing feature films in 2013. The documentary shows Miyazaki working on "Kemushi no Boro" (Boro the Caterpillar), a planned CG short for the Ghibli Museum. 

Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki revealed in August that Hayao Miyazaki's upcoming Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka (How Do You Live?) feature film will open in "about three or four years." Suzuki also noted that the film has been in production for two years, and that the studio is doing things in the film that it could not do before. 

Miyazaki himself had stated in October 2017 that he would need three or four years to complete his action-adventure fantasy film. Miyazaki derived the film's title from writer Genzaburō Yoshino's 1937 masterpiece of the same name. He added that this book is a story that has great meaning to the protagonist of his film. Yoshino's book centers around a man named Koperu and his uncle, and through Koperu's spiritual growth, it discusses how to live as human beings.

The Miyazaki Documentary

Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki

In 2013, film director and animator Hayao Miyazaki suddenly announced his retirement at the age of 72. But he couldn't shake his burning desire to create. After an encounter with young CGI animators, Miyazaki embarked on a new endeavor, his first project ever to utilize CGI. But the artist, who had been adamant about hand-drawn animation, confronted many challenges. The film even faces the danger of being cancelled. Can an old master who thinks he's past his prime shine once again? This program goes behind the scenes over two years as Miyazaki overcomes struggles to create his short film using CGI.

Coming Soon - Winter 2018 

Ghibli Co-Founder Isao Takahata Dies at age 82

Isao Takahata

(October 29, 1935 - April 5, 2018)

Director of Grave of the Fireflies and Princess Kaguya

Co-Founder of Studio Ghibli

[Source: AnimeNewsNetwork) Anime director and Studio-Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata passed away in a Tokyo hospital on Thursday. He was 82. 

 

The Japanese websites Sanspo and NTV News 24 reported the news, and both cited unnamed related parties who said that Takahata had been in declining health since last summer. 

Takahata joined Toei Douga (now Toei Animation) in 1959 after graduating from the University of Tokyo. He had a long career directing such classics as Little Norse Prince Valiant (Taiyō no Ōji - Hols no Daibōken), Alps no Shōjo Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, and Panda! Go, Panda! before he co-founded Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki. He went on to create the feature films Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, and My Neighbors the Yamadas. 

Takahata's final film as director was The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which debuted in 2013. Takahata told entertainment news website Variety in 2016, "I have several projects that I still have in mind that I am currently working on to get closer to realizing. Whether those will be finalized as films is something that no one, myself included, can know."

Tales from Earthsea - Power of a Name

The Power of a Name

Tales from Earthsea, known as Gedo Senki in Japan, was a polarizing fantasy film from Studio Ghibli, and debut feature of Goro Miyazaki - son to the most beloved animator of all time. In this video, we take a look at how it came to be, why it was so divisive and exactly what is in the power of a name. 

Tales from Earthsea is based off a series of books known as the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin - to avoid confusion between the two we refer to the film under it's Japanese name during the video

'Mary & The Witch's Flower' coming January 2018

Mary and The Witch's Flower

[Source: aintitcool] Mr. Miyazaki has retired about a million times now, and so far it may be permanent this time! Japanese director Hiromasa Yonebayashi (“The Secret World of Arrietty”, “When Marnie was There”) adds “MARY” to his collection of Ghibli-style works he has directed. He did a great job holding a candle to Miyazaki himself in storytelling in “The Secret World of Arrietty”. His direction is a little different than what we are used to, but still manages to maintain the whimsy and charm of Miyazaki films we know and love.

Studio Ponac, founded by ex Ghibli employee Hiromasa Yonebayashi, gets to label “MARY” as their first film. They even got several of the key animators from Ghibli on board, as you can see from the art.

“MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER” will be select theaters DUBBED January 18th, and then will go nationwide on January 19th! 

Studio Ghilbi has new Leadership

Kiyofumi Nakajima Appointed
as Studio Ghilbi President

[Source: Variety] Japanese anime powerhouse, Studio Ghilbi has appointed a new president, Kiyofumi Nakajima, who was director of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo since 2005. He replaces Koji Hoshino, who moves into the chairman spot after serving as Ghilbi president since 2008.

As president Nakajima is in charge of the studio’s business side, including the construction of a projected theme park in Aichi Prefecture in Western Japan. Studio co-founder Toshio Suzuki will continue to serve as head of production, focusing on the new Hayao Miyazaki film now in the works. Titled “Kimi-tachi wa Do Ikiru ka” (literally, How Do You Live?), it officially started production in October with a completion date set some time in the next three or four years.

Miyazaki's New Theme Park

STUDIO GHIBLI PARK

[Source: blastr] Fans, start saving your dollars, and keep your eye on the price of yen. In 2020, we’ll be getting a theme park based on the works of Studio Ghibli, workplace of Japan's Walt Disney, Hayao Miyazaki.

According to Vice, the announcement was made by Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki and Aichi prefectural governor Hideaki Oomura. The theme park will be housed in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, former site of the Expo 2005 World’s Fair. This is the site of a current (and well-regarded) Miyazaki experience: the home of Satsuki and Mei from My Neighbor Totoro.

JapanTimes writes that Ghibli Park will include a homage to My Neighbor Totoro, with “restage[d] situations and landscapes” from the 1988 film. And … that’s it, which means this announcement is light on details. (Vice says that Ghibli's other epics, like Spirited Away, will also be included.)

But there are some obvious experiences to be had from Totoro (about two girls exploring their new home and its surroundings), such as a cat bus ride and fun with a flying top. Here’s hoping for a full-on Studio Ghibli extravaganza. After all, who doesn’t want to ride in Howl’s Moving Castle? It's one of my geek dreams.

So until 2020, we’ll just have to content ourselves with visiting the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo and attending the 2017 Ghibli film festival.

Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter

Amazon Prime Video

Launches Original Kids Series

Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter 

on January 27 in the US and UK

International Emmy Award-winning animated series

based on children’s novel by Astrid Lindgren,

author of Pippi Longstocking

English version narrated by Gillian Anderson,

series directed by Gorō Miyazaki

and presented by Studio Ghibli and Saltkråkan

[Source: ToonZone] Amazon today announced its original kids series, Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter, is set to premiere on Prime Video on January 27 in the US and UK. An animated adventure for kids and families, the new series is narrated by Golden Globe Award-winning actress Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), directed by Gorō Miyazaki (Up on Poppy Hill, Tales from Earthsea), and presented by the Academy Award-winning Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) and Saltkråkan (the Astrid Lindgren Company). Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter is already a full-fledged hit in Japan, winning the International Emmy Award for “Best Kids Animation.” The series is based on the wildly-popular children’s fantasy book of the same name by noted Swedish author Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking), which has sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide since its release in 1981, and been translated into 41 languages and adapted for film and television internationally. 

Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter is an epic 26-part story of 10-year-old Ronja (Teresa Gallagher), born on a stormy night in a mountain fort, surrounded by her father (Rufus Hound), mother (Morwenna Banks) and a loving band of robbers. She grows to be a strong girl, and discovers that the forest is both a beautiful and frightening place inhabited by strange creatures. She befriends Birk (Kelly Adams), the son of her father’s rival, and so begins the drama of her friendship and family loyalties. Viewers follow along as she explores and understands these key factors in her life, and discovers that seemingly irresolvable choices can finally be made with the help of love and understanding.

“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Studio Ghibli on their first television series, excited to have the talented Gillian Anderson narrate, and proud to bring Astrid Lindgren’s well-loved novel to life,” said Tara Sorensen, Head of Kids Programming at Amazon Studios. “We look forward to sharing this incredible story of love, family and friendship with our customers.”

“With Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter, Astrid Lindgren seems to be telling children to believe in their own power to grow, whilst telling adults to learn more from children,” said Director Gorō Miyazaki. “Mutual respect will attain freedom in the true sense of the word.”

Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter is part of Prime Video’s growing line-up of award-winning and critically-acclaimed Originals for kids and families. The series will be available for Prime members to stream and enjoy using the Amazon Video app for compatible TVs, connected devices, including Amazon Fire TV and mobile devices, or online at www.amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost to their membership. Prime members can also download select titles to mobile devices for offline viewing. Eligible customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream. Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter will also be available as part of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, the all-you-can-eat subscription service designed from the ground up for kids. FreeTime Unlimited is available exclusively on Amazon devices, including Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets, and a year-long subscription is included with every Fire Kids Edition.

GKIDS to Release Studio Ghibli’s “Ocean Waves”

THE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED FEATURE WILL BE IN THEATERS STARTING DECEMBER 28th AT IFC CENTER IN NY AND ONE NIGHT ONLY AT EGYPTIAN THEATRE IN LA

[Source: ToonZone News] GKIDS, the producer and distributor of award-winning animation for both adult and family audiences, announced that it will release Studio Ghibli’s OCEAN WAVES, which has been unreleased in the U.S. until now. The film will play starting on December 28th at IFC Center in New York, and one night only in Los Angeles at the Egyptian Theatre, in a new 4K restoration. The film will then be released on home video formats in Spring 2017.

OCEAN WAVES is directed by Tomomi Mochizuki and written by Kaori Nakamura, which was adapted from a novel of the same name by Saeko Himuro. The film was originally made in 1993 for Japanese television.

SYNOPSIS
Rarely seen outside of Japan, OCEAN WAVES is a subtle, poignant and wonderfully detailed story of adolescence and teenage isolation. Taku and his best friend Yutaka are headed back to school for what looks like another uneventful year. But they soon find their friendship tested by the arrival of Rikako, a beautiful new transfer student from Tokyo whose attitude vacillates wildly from flirty and flippant to melancholic. When Taku joins Rikako on a trip to Tokyo, the school erupts with rumors, and the three friends are forced to come to terms with their changing relationships.

OCEAN WAVES was the first Studio Ghibli film directed by someone other than studio founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, as director Tomomi Mochizuki led a talented staff of younger employees in an adaptation of Saeko Himuro’s best-selling novel. Full of shots bathed in a palette of pleasingly soft pastel colors and rich in the unexpected visual details typical of Studio Ghibli’s most revered works, OCEAN WAVES is an accomplished teenage drama and a true discovery.

ABOUT GKIDS
GKIDS is the acclaimed producer and distributor of award-winning feature animation for both adult and family audiences. Since 2010, the company has scored an unrivaled eight Best Animated Feature Oscar nominations – second only to Disney/Pixar – with The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, and Boy and the World and When Marnie Was There in 2016. GKIDS is an executive producer of Cartoon Saloon’s The Breadwinner, which is slated to release stateside in 2017. GKIDS also handles North American theatrical distribution for the famed Studio Ghibli library of films, one of the world’s most coveted animation collections with titles Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and others. www.gkids.com

Hayao Miyazaki - The Essence of Humanity

"What drives animation is the will of the characters."
- Hayao Miyazaki

 

 

Amazing Student Film Honors Miyazaki

Celles et Ceux des Cimes et Cieux

"Girls and Guys from Summits and Skies"

There's a beautiful animated short making the rounds—and knocking the socks off Studio Ghibli fans—and while it looks like it was made by a team of animators, it was created primarily by one person: a French art student named Gwenn Germaine.
 

Developed for a final project at the Parisian university Créapole, Celles et Ceux des Cimes et Cieux (aka "Girls and Guys from Summits and Skies") tells the story of a young man who lives in a giant tree and needs to find his way back home after he falls into the forest below. It's an obvious (and beautiful) love letter to legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, with homages to Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and even a cameo from a man who looks quite a bit like Miyazaki himself. Kudos to Germain—this is one hell of a final project.

Miyazaki Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

L I F E T I M E   A C H I E V E M E N T   A W A R D

H A Y A O   M I Y A Z A K I

Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan.  After graduating from Gakushuin University in 1963 with a degree in Political Science and Economics, Hayao Miyazaki joined Toei Animation Company as an animator.  He worked under the director Isao Takahata for scene planning and key animation for the production of THE LITTLE NORSE PRINCE VALIANT (1968).  He then moved to the animation studio A Production with Takahata in 1971 where he worked on the original concept, screenplay, layout design and key animation for PANDA! GO PANDA! (1972).  Miyazaki worked at various studios including Zuiyo Eizo with Takahata, Nippon Animation, and Telecom, and did scene planning and layout designs for the TV series HEIDI, A GIRL OF THE ALPS (1974) and FROM THE APENNINES TO THE ANDES (1976), and directed his first TV series CONAN, THE BOY IN FUTURE (1978).  He debuted as a director of theatrical features with THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (1979).  In 1984, Miyazaki wrote and directed his feature NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND, based on his original graphic novel serialized in the monthly animation magazine “Animage”.

Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Takahata, and has directed nine feature films since, including CASTLE IN THE SKY (1986), MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988), KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (1989), PORCO ROSSO (1992) and PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997).  SPIRITED AWAY (2001) broke every box office record in Japan, and garnered many awards, including the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2003 U.S. Academy Awards.  HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (2004) received the Osella Award at the 2004 Venice International Film Festival.  Miyazaki was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2005 Venice International Film Festival.  He wrote and directed PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA (2008).  He contributed to the planning and wrote the screenplays for Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s ARRIETTY (2010) and Goro Miyazaki’s FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (2011).  In 2012, Miyazaki was named a “Person of Cultural Merit” by The Government of Japan.

Miyazaki has published a number of books of essays, drawings and poems, including “Shuppatsuten 1979-1996 (Starting Point: 1979- 1996, 1996)”.  He has designed several buildings, including the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, which opened in 2001, for which he serves as Executive Director.  His new film, THE WIND RISES, opened in July 2013 in Japan.

TV Series
CONAN, THE BOY IN FUTURE (Mirai Shonen Konan), 1978

Feature Films
THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (Rupan Sansei Kariosutoro no Shiro), 1979
NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä), 1984
CASTLE IN THE SKY (Tenku no Shiro Laputa), 1986
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Tonari no Totoro), 1988
KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (Majo no Takkyubin), 1989
PORCO ROSSO (Kurenai no Buta), 1992
PRINCESS MONONOKE (Mononoke Hime), 1997
SPIRITED AWAY (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), 2001
HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro), 2004
PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA (Gake no Ue no Ponyo), 2008
THE WIND RISES (Kaze Tachinu), 2013

Honorary Oscars presented to Harry Belafonte, Maureen O'Hara, 

Hayao Miyazaki

From left: Honorees Harry Belafonte, Hayao Miyazaki, Jean-Claude Carriere and Maureen O'Hara pose onstage during the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' 2014 Governors Awards, at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on November 8, 2014 in Hollywood

[Source: CBSNews] LOS ANGELES - A constellation of stars gathered in Hollywood for an off-camera celebration of four stalwart film talents.

Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Kevin Costner, Mark Wahlberg, Sidney Poitier, Ed Norton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Rock, Eddie Redmayne, Ron Howard and Hilary Swank were among the celebrities toasting the first Oscar winners of the season at the film academy's Governors Awards Saturday night.

Actress Maureen O'Hara, filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere and actor and activist Harry Belafonte accepted honorary Oscars at the private dinner ceremony at Hollywood & Highland's Ray Dolby Ballroom.

Jessica Chastain, Warren Beatty, Octavia Spencer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Duvall, Robert Downey Jr. and Tilda Swinton, sporting a platinum faux-hawk, also attended the three-hour celebration.
 

24 Photos

Oscar honors animator Hayao Miyazaki

Pixar chief John Lasseter presented Miyazaki with an Oscar statuette, calling the Japanese animator "the most original filmmaker to ever work in our medium."

Accepting the trophy, Miyazaki said through a translator that he considered himself lucky, adding, "My greatest luck is that I got to meet Maureen O'Hara today."

The 94-year-old O'Hara was introduced by Liam Neeson and Clint Eastwood, each of whom confessed to having a crush on the Irish-born beauty. Neeson described her as "one of the true legends of cinema" and "one of the most adventurous women who ever lived," explaining the actress was a pioneer in doing her own stunts on screen.

Actress Maureen O’'Hara accepts an Honorary Oscar from actors Clint Eastwood (2nd from right) and Liam Neeson (right) onstage during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' 2014 Governors Awards.

O'Hara came to the stage in a wheelchair and read a brief statement of thanks in which she acknowledged filmmakers Charles Laughton and John Ford, along with her co-star in several films, John Wayne.

When Neeson handed her the Oscar, she asked in disbelief, "What's this?!"

"I only hope it's silver or gold and not like a spoon out of the kitchen," she said.

Carriere accepted his Oscar from "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" director, Philip Kaufman. The French screenwriter lauded the many directors he's collaborated with over his five decades in film, saying, "They're always present, even today. When I'm working, I hear their voices."

Chris Rock and Susan Sarandon introduced Belafonte, who received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his decades of activism for social justice.

"I'm not here to honor you," Rock said. "I'm here to thank you."

Sarandon called the 87-year-old entertainer "a real-life, flesh and blood hero."

Belafonte said he was moved by the recognition.

"To be rewarded by my peers for my work for human rights, civil rights and for peace... It powerfully mutes the enemy's thunder," he said.

He shared the honor with Poitier, whom he referred to as "my elderly friend."

"He redirected the ship of racial hatred in American culture," Belafonte said.

He spoke of Hollywood's progress toward telling stories that offer "deeper insights into human existence," such as "Schindler's List," ''Brokeback Mountain," and "12 Years a Slave," and film's far-reaching ability to influence popular opinion.

"Maybe, just maybe, it could be civilization's game-changer," he said.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences established the Governors Awards in 2009 to celebrate the annual winners of its honorary awards. Highlights from the ceremony will be included in the 2015 Oscar telecast.

Studio Ghibli's Next Movie Coming Summer 2014

"When Marnie Was There"

16-year-old actress Sara Takatsuki (Black President, Otomen, GTO, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Haganai) and 21-year-old actress Kasumi Arimura (Amachan, Hagane no Onna, Clover, Judge) will star as Anna and Marnie adaptation of Joan G. Robinson's English classic children's novel.

Anna hasn't a friend in the world - until she meets Marnie among the sand dunes. But Marnie isn't all she seems...An atmospheric ghost story with truths to tell about friendship, families and loneliness. Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr. and Mrs. Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognizes - and she soon meets a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna's first ever friend. Then one day, Marnie vanishes. A new family, the Lindsays, move into the Marsh House. Having learnt so much from Marnie about friendship, Anna makes firm friends with the Lindsays - and learns some strange truths about Marnie, who was not all she seemed...

In his second film, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi (2010's The Secret World of Arrietty) is shifting the setting from the novel's Great Britain to a Japanese village on the shores of Hokkaido. 

American musical artist Priscilla Ahn is contributing "Fine on the Outside," a song she wrote when she was in high school, as the film's theme song. It is Ghibli's first theme song entirely in English. 

The film will open in theaters in Japan on July 19.

The Simpsons Tribute to Hayao Miyazaki

Springfield's turning Japanese as the show's animators pay homage to a living legend. And if we have to accept the retirement of the man who gave us Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away (among a host of other works of classic animation) after The Wind Rises, at least we can take some comfort in the fact that it's leading to something like this -- frankly, we found it kind of moving -- appearing on prime-time American TV. 

Play spot-the-reference in the video below.

Live-Action Kiki's Delivery Service Movie Trailer

[Source: AnimeNewsNetwork] Fūka Koshiba (Iki mo Dekinai Natsu) plays the title witch girl Kiki in the film. 16-year-old actor Ryōhei Hirota performs the critical role of Kiki's friend Tombo. Co-starring with Koshiba and Hirota is Machiko Ono (Suzaku, Like Father, Like Son) as Osono, the owner of the bakery where Kiki works. Hiroshi Yamamoto plays Osono's baker husband Fukuo, and Miho Kanazawa plays a woman named Saki who visits the bakery. Rie Miyazawa (Oceans, Hana, Peony Pavilion) plays Kiki's mother Kokiri, and Michitaka Tsutsui (Reunion, Ballad: Namonaki Koi no Uta, Shikoku) plays Kiki's father Okino. Additionally, Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Lupin III) will play veterinarian Dr. Ishi.

Satoko Okudera (Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Princess and the Pilot) has written the script for the film.

Filming began on May 23 in a Tokyo studio, and it wrapped up in July. The film will open in Japan on March 1, 2014.