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Ghibli's Princess Kaguya to Open in NYC, LA, Toronto on October 17
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Film distributor GKIDS will screen Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya film in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto on October 17. Tickets are currently on sale for the New York City screenings at the IFC Center in both English and Japanese (with English subtitles). Other locations include the Arclight Hollywood theater in Los Angeles and the TIFF Bell Lightbox theater in Toronto.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) held the film's North American premiere on September 8. The Fantastic Fest in Texas then hosted the United States premiere, and it gave the movie the Audience Award on Tuesday.
TIFF describes the story from Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko):
Okina (voiced by Takeo Chii) is a bamboo cutter in ancient rural Japan. One day in the forest, he finds a tiny baby in the folds of a bamboo shoot. He brings the creature home to his wife Ounaa (Nobuko Miyamoto) and they decide to keep her and raise her as a princess. She is clearly not of this world. Kaguya (Aki Asakura) grows at an unnatural rate, soon maturing into an uncommonly beautiful young woman. Since Okina has now also found a cache of gold and treasure in the forest, every suitor wants Kaguya. But this is not a fairytale of courtship and marriage. True to the Studio Ghibli that brought us Ponyo and Kiki's Delivery Service, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya follows this strange young female as she creates her own identity.
Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, The 5th Wave) stars as the title character in the English dub. The cast also includes James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Beau Bridges, James Marsden, Oliver Platt and Dean Cain.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is based on the famous Japanese folktale Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), which centers on a princess named Kaguya who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. The film won the Animation Film Award at the 68th Mainichi Film Awards. The film was screened at Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight but did not receive any awards.
Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip
Source: Animation Magazine
