By: Kristi Alexandra

Animated fantasy feature The Boy and the Heron is set to open the 48th annual edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as its opening night gala presentation on September 7.

The film is Oscar-winning Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature in 10 years, although he is legendary in the industry for animated and family-friendly classics My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. The Boy and the Heron revolves around a teenager who enters a fantastical world and meets a talking heron after moving to a new town. 

The TIFF screening will be the feature’s international premiere, although it was previously released in Japan—without promotion, marketing or even so much as a logline—to record-breaking success. It also marks the first time an animated film has opened TIFF in the festival’s 48-year history.

The Boy and the Heron was written and directed by Miyazaki and produced by Japan’s Studio Ghibli, with a musical score from Miyazaki’s long-time collaborator Joe Hisaishi. New York-based GKIDS, which distributes all of Studio Ghibli films, has added the new feature to its catalogue.

Studio Ghibli co-founder Miyazaki was recently honored at TIFF’s Pop Japan showcase, celebrating the convergence of the cult, pulp and popular in Japanese film and art.

Previous Studio Ghibli films that have screened at TIFF include The Red Turtle (2016), The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2014), The Wind Rises (2013), From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), Spirited Away (2002), and Princess Mononoke (1999).

TIFF used to have a bigger presence in the kids industry, running its Toronto Kids International Film Festival for three- to 13-year-olds for about 20 years before shuttering it in 2018. Features for kids from around the world used to screen at the event, which also opened up opportunities for creators to pitch companies such as Sesame Workshop.  

Nowadays, the festival doesn’t program much in the way of kids content. In its documentary lineup this year, the festival is screening kids industry-adjacent feature Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe. This Amazon Original, produced by marblemedia and the CBC, is about the iconic Canadian kids show host. 

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen Daily‘s sister newsletter publication Playback Daily. With files from Ryan Tuchow.