GKIDS and the New York Film Festival announced on August 17, 2023, that Miyazaki’s latest film ‘The Boy and the Heron’ will have its American premiere at the 61st New York Film Festival.
THE BOY AND THE HERON (Hayao Miyazaki) | U.S. Premiere
The first film in a decade from Hayao Miyazaki is a ravishing, endlessly inventive fantasy that is destined to be ranked with the legendary animator’s finest, boldest works. #NYFF61 pic.twitter.com/QW9JJ1VyXu
— 61st New York Film Festival (@TheNYFF) August 17, 2023
The New York Film Festival takes place this year from Sept. 29 to October 15 and is presented by Film at Lincoln Center.
According to the NYFF’s website, “The first film in a decade from Hayao Miyazaki is a ravishing, endlessly inventive fantasy that is destined to be ranked with the legendary animator’s finest, boldest works.”
The synopsis for ‘The Boy and the Heron’ as written on the NYFF program: While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother’s tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy’s mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the “long-awaited one.” Indeed, an extraordinary and grand fate is in store for our young hero, who must journey to a subterranean alternate reality in the hopes of saving Natsuko—and perhaps himself.
The Boy and the Heron (Source: NYFF and GKIDS)
