First Footage From Miyazaki’s ‘Boy And the Heron’ Released

Hayao Miyazaki has been capturing the hearts of children and adults everywhere for years. With this film, that will supposedly come to an end.

Miyazaki is well-known for directing movies like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Ponyo through his company, Studio Ghibli. His works explore deep themes like family, magic, and the destructive forces wrought by unhampered industrialism. Still, there’s a contradiction in Miyazaki; as his films often reject modernity while they are also obsessed and fascinated by aspects of it. Miyazaki channels those contradictions into something beautiful, time after time.

Although he had announced retirement multiple times, Miyazaki is now 82 years old. His latest “final” film is The Boy and the Heron, which tells the story of a young boy by the name of Mahito. Mahito lost his mother in a bombing during World War II. In real life, Miyazaki also escaped a bombing as a young boy. His father became an airplane mechanic, just like Mahito’s. In The Boy And The Heron, Mahito is visited by a talking Heron who tells him that his mother is still alive. The Heron draws him into a new world of magic and mystery, on the search for his mother.

After months of anticipation (and absolutely no footage of the film being made available to the public) The Boy and the Heron trailer is finally out:

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Here is Studio Ghibli’s official description of the film:

A young boy named Mahito

yearning for his mother

ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.

There, death comes to an end,

and life finds a new beginning.

A semi-autobiographical fantasy

about life, death, and creation,

in tribute to friendship,

from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

The Boy and the Heron is scheduled to open in theaters (and in IMAX) on December 8. The film will premiere tomorrow at the Toronto International Film Festival.