Yahoo News TIFF 2023 to Open with ‘The Boy and the Heron,’ Hayao Miyazaki’s First Movie in 10 Years
The Toronto International Film Festival will open its 2023 edition on September 7 with “The Boy and Heron,” the first movie in 10 years from veteran Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. The selection, first reported by IndieWire last week, marks the first time in the festival’s 48-year history that it will open with an animated feature (in 1998, “Antz” was the closing film).
While the plot has been a secret since its inception, “The Boy and the Heron” opened earlier this month in Japan under the title “How Do You Live?” and has been earning strong reactions as an emotional and visual experience unique to the auteur behind such revered classics as “Spirited Away” and “Princess Mononoke.”
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TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, who traveled to Tokyo in early July to screen the movie, addressed speculation that the project was intended as the 82-year-old Miyazaki’s swan song. “If this has to be his final statement on screen, I think it’s a perfect one,” Bailey said in an interview with IndieWire this week. “It’s very much an adult vision of life, very much about loss and how we deal with that. It just felt like this is a movie from a master filmmaker.”
The plot has been kept a tight secret in promotional materials following its Japanese release, but “The Boy and the Heron” reportedly takes place against the backdrop of the Pacific War and follows the experiences of a grief-stricken teenager who uncovers a hidden world. After Miyazaki’s 2013 feature “The Wind Rises” found him working in a more muted register, this one promises a return to the more fantasmagorial aspects of his work. “This one goes deeper and darker than Miyazaki has before in terms of the journey the main character is on,” Bailey said. “The images are just dazzling, almost hallucinogenic.”
Announced against the backdrop of the SAG and WGA strikes that have created much uncertainty around how the fall festival season will unfold, the programming of the Miyazaki movie sets the stage for a potential awards season contender from outside the Hollywood system. “It’s a great film and hope it gets all the attention it deserves in terms of Best Animated Feature,” Bailey said. “But in a perfect world, I think it’s also a Best Picture contender, and I hope people see that.”
Released with no advance publicity in Japan on July 14, the movie earned $13.2 million on its opening weekend, breaking a record for producer and distributor Studio Ghibli. GKIDS will open “The Boy and the Heron” in North America this year at an unspecified date following its TIFF premiere. “I was just floored by the film,” Bailey said. “His films are transportive and full of such incredible fantasy. This film just hit me harder for some reason. I don’t want to spoil anything for people who will discover it, but it starts in one way and goes somewhere else entirely. It’s the full Miyazaki vision.”
Bailey said the decision to secure “The Boy and the Heron” for opening night predated the SAG strike, though the festival could see more emphasis on its international programming as a whole this year if some major Hollywood actors are unable or unwilling to promote their work. “If the international filmmakers and cast that can come to Toronto show up, they will find an audience ready to embrace and celebrate their work,” Bailey said. “It’s a big opportunity for the films from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere.”
The opening night selection follows several lineup announcements this week, including a star-filled gala and special presentations slate that features new work from Michael Keaton, Anna Kendrick, Viggo Mortensen, and others, as well as a documentary slate that includes mainstays like Alex Gibney and Frederick Wiseman.
The festival was working to determine which projects with SAG members involved could secure waivers for talent to promote their work. Last week, Amazon Studios pulled Venice opener “Challengers” from the festival and pushed its release date to 2024. Bailey said that there were a few potential TIFF films that pulled out of the lineup due to shifting release dates, but none that have already been announced.
“The big distinction that we’re getting more detail every day on is about films from AMPTP companies versus films that are independent,” he said. “Independent films need an interim agreement. If they have that, then they are allowed to promote it.”
Regardless, one person not expected to attend TIFF this year is Miyazaki himself, though some of the voice cast may be there. “We’ve been told he will not come,” Bailey said. “He rarely travels, and this would be a long trip for him to make. But he knows there is a large audience for his work in North America, and there will be a lot of attention on this film.”
TIFF 2023 runs September 7 through 17, 2023.
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