Hayao Miyazaki is arguably the greatest living animator, having influenced countless artists in his native Japan, as well as those working in Hollywood. He is best known for his films Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, the latter of which is currently the highest-grossing film in Japanese box office history and an Academy Award winner for Best Animated Film.
Nausicaä is based on a manga comic created by Miyazaki when he was unable to get funding for his screenplay, and though he was eventually able to produce the film on his own, he published 6 more volumes, concluding in 1994. The story is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, where much of the planet is uninhabitable. The title character is a princess from a peaceful community, who frequently explores the widespread toxic wastelands to study the animal and plant life. Her village is soon thrown into the middle of a power struggle between two larger kingdoms, who are attempting to activate a long-dormant and dangerous biological weapon.
Like many of Miyazki's stories, there is a lot of attention paid to humanity's relationship to the environment and natural world, something which sets Nausicaä apart from most of its contemporaries as well as popular anime to follow. Other elements that would become tropes in Miyazaki's filmography are present here as well: a strong lead female character, anti-war stance, aviation, and a combination of pre and post-industrial technology. Nausicaä also marks the beginning of a still-going collaboration between Miyazaki and the music composer Joe Hisaishi, who has won six Japanese Academy Awards for his film scoring.
The success of Nausicaä allowed Miyazaki and fellow director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Firefiles) to found Studio Ghibli, a banner under which all their subsequent films have been released. A deal in the late 1990's with the Walt Disney Company has allowed Ghibli's films to find an even wider audience, courtesy of Disney and Pixar animation head John Lasseter (who names Miyazaki as a major influence). Nausicaä to this day is still held in high regard by anime fans, and routinely places high on polls of the greatest animated films.
For various reasons, we will be screening Nausicaä in its dubbed English version, which features voice work from Uma Thurman, Patrick Stewart, Alison Lohman, Edward James Olmos, and Mark Hamill.
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