Trailer for Hayao Miyazaki Documentary Exposes the Raw Side of Japan’s Greatest Animator

An upcoming documentary featuring legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has released its first trailer.

The world-renowned Japanese animation director who co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 rose to international fame for his critically-acclaimed, box-office hits “My Neighbour Totoro” and “Spirited Away”.

Titled “Never Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki”, the docu-film follows the director’s recent projects over the last few years, reports Vice.

The film covers his surprise retirement announcement in 2013, when he announced that he has become “a weak, used up old man,” as well as his mesmerizing comeback which sees him finally embracing computer animation late in his career.

The program documents how Miyazaki while being inspired by the new medium, wrestles with the use of CGI in his movies. The 76-year-old filmmaker has used traditional animation throughout his career, although parts of “Princess Mononoke” was painted digitally in order to meet release deadlines.

While the same technique would similarly be used for subsequent films, Miyazaki later went back to traditional hand-drawn animation for “Ponyo” and the rest of his newer movies, saying “hand drawing on paper is the fundamental of animation.”

Made over the course of two years, the film documented Miyazaki’s “struggle with his life’s true purpose” during the period.

The film is set to be shown on Japanese TV on June 3 and 4. A wider release outside of Japan has not been made known at the time of this writing.

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