The Boy and the Heron soars into Toronto to open the 48th edition of the Festival

Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron soars into Toronto to open the 48th edition of the Festival

TIFF is thrilled to announce that Studio Ghibli’s long-awaited fantastical epic feature film, The Boy and the Heron, from Academy Award-winning visionary director Hayao Miyazaki, will be the Opening Night Gala Presentation for the 48th Toronto International Film Festival® on Thursday, September 7, at Roy Thomson Hall. The original story was written and directed by the Japanese filmmaker and produced by Oscar®-winning Studio Ghibli, which Miyazaki co-founded.

Several films from Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli have screened at Toronto – including The Red Turtle (2016), The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2014), The Wind Rises (2013), From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), Spirited Away (2002), and Princess Mononoke (1999) – but it will be the first time a Japanese film or an animated film has opened the festival.

“We are honored to open the 48th Toronto International Film Festival with the work of one of cinema’s greatest artists,” Cameron Bailey, TIFF chief executive CEO, said in a statement. “Already acclaimed as a masterpiece in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki’s new film begins as a simple story of loss and love and rises to a staggering work of imagination. I look forward to our audience discovering its mysteries for themselves, but I can promise a singular, transformative experience.”