As part of its 15th anniversary celebrating its career as a producer and distributor of award-winning and artist-driven animation from around the world, GKIDS announced a milestone first for the company with its latest film, Hayao Miyazaki’s THE BOY AND THE HERON, opening the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival.
While this highly anticipated new film from the legendary Academy Award-winning director marks the first GKIDS title to open TIFF, the company’s films have screened at the festival for over a decade, including the Oscar-nominated features Song of the Sea (2014), My Life as a Zucchini (2016), The Breadwinner (2017), and Wolfwalkers (2020), as well as the Studio Ghibli’s The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2014). Other Studio Ghibli titles that have screened at TIFF include The Red Turtle (2016), The Wind Rises (2013), From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), and Spirited Away (2002) which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
GKIDS will debut THE BOY AND THE HERON in North American theaters later this year. The hand-drawn, animated masterpiece is director Miyazaki’s first film in ten years. Based on an original screenplay by Miyazaki, it also features a musical score from his long-time collaborator Joe Hisaishi and was produced by his Oscar-winning Studio Ghibli partner and co-founder, Toshio Suzuki. Earlier this month, Studio Ghibli released the film exclusively in Japan without any promotion, marketing materials or film description and opened to record-breaking success. TIFF will celebrate the international premiere of BOY AND THE HERON on Thursday, September 7th with a gala presentation at Roy Thomson Hall, offering the first opportunity for audiences outside of its home country to experience the film for themselves.
In addition to Miyazaki’s film, GKIDS is releasing the critically acclaimed, Japan Academy prize-winning box office hit, THE FIRST SLAM DUNK—in both its original Japanese language with English subtitles and an all-new English dubbed version—in theaters across the U.S. starting this Friday, July 28th. One of the all-time highest grossing, record-breaking films in Japan, the film is written and directed by its original creator Takehiko Inoue, whose beloved Slam Dunk manga (serialized 1990-1996) is one of the best-selling manga series of all time with over 170 million copies sold globally and popular adaptations into various media, video games, and a hit anime series (1993-1996). THE FIRST SLAM DUNK marks Inoue’s award-winning directorial debut and the first new feature-length film from the globally cherished franchise in over 28 years.
On GKIDS’ fall slate is ERNEST & CELESTINE: A TRIP TO GIBBERITIA, opening in select theaters nationwide—in both its original French language with English subtitles and a new English dub—on Friday, September 1st. This latest entry into the franchise is the delightful and joyous follow up to the 2014 Academy Award nominated Ernest & Celestine, which GKIDS also released theatrically ten years ago. Co-directed by Jean-Christophe Roger and Julien Chheng, ERNEST & CELESTINE: A TRIP TO GIBBERITIA was nominated earlier this year for Best Animated Feature at France’s 48th César Awards.
Let us know in the comments below if you will be seeing THE BOY AND THE HERON when it releases in U.S. theaters later this year!