Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron

In 2016, Japanese anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki began work on The Boy and the Heron, a film with strong autobiographical elements. The film was supposed to be finished in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic threw a spanner in the works; ultimately, the film did not premiere until 2023. Both commercially and artistically, this anime story was a huge success. Miyazaki won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, among other awards. It was a fitting end to a brilliant career, as the now 84-year-old Miyazaki has stated that this will be his last film.

Documentary filmmaker Kaku Arakawa followed Miyazaki for seven years during the creation of The Boy and the Heron. The result is an intimate portrait of one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of recent decades. It is a film about creativity, obsession and grief, a film about a man who, despite all adversity, keeps going thanks to his urge to create.