The legendary Japanese animators Studio Ghibli will receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May, organisers said on Wednesday.
Hayao Miyazaki co-founded the Oscar-winning company 40 years ago, and it is known globally for films including “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” and “Howl’s Moving Castle.”
It will be the first time that Cannes presents an award to a group rather than an individual.
Miyazaki makes few public appearances, and his longtime partner, Isao Takahata, died in 2018.
Toshio Suzuki, the other founder, said he was “truly honoured and delighted” to receive the prize.
Ghibli’s “characters populate our imaginations with prolific, colourful universes and sensitive, engaging narrations,” according to the Cannes organisers.
“With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity,” they went on to say.
Miyazaki, 83, has announced his retirement several times, but he returned to theaters last year with “The Boy and the Heron,” which won the Oscar for best animated picture last month, his second since “Spirited Away” in 2003.
It was previously revealed that George Lucas, the creator of “Star Wars,” would get an honorary Palme during this year’s festival, which runs from May 14 to 25.